Nancy Drew Me In

What book changed your life?

Paranoid me, but I always see that question as a trap. It means you’re about to be judged on your literary taste, so you’d better come up with an OBSCURE BUT SIGNIFICANT work of literature—like a poem by Rilke.

But all I ever come up with is Nancy Drew.

Nancy.  She had great clothes.  She had a blue roadster ... great pals ... a boyfriend ... a doting father ... and a surrogate mother in Hannah-the-housekeeper.

Best of all, she had an unlimited supply of pocket change—which allowed her FREEDOM and ADVENTURE!! She was 18—I was 10 or 11, and I adored her ... envied her.

But Nancy Drew DID change my life. Obviously, I never become a detective—instead, I became a life-long reader. After devouring every book in the series by 13, my friend Mary Phelan Turner got me to read all 1,000+ pages of Gone With the Wind.

That did it: from there on, I was hooked on books. Books were, and still are, my drug of choice.

Something fun for a book club meeting:

• Start your meeting by having each member answer the question:  “What book turned you into a life-long reader ... and why?
• Turn it into a game.  All members write their answers down on a piece of paper, collect and read them outloud, then guess who submitted which title.  (For more book club games under "Run a Book Club".)