When I was a little Gilly, my Ma got roped into a Reader’s Digest Condensed Books subscription. This novel appeared in vol. 217 in 1995 when I was 12. I didn’t have the luxury of attending the library often as a child. Going to the library was a treat because it wasn’t a thing that I was allowed to do frequently.

My Ma never had time to take me to the library because she had other things to do, and keeping my rambunctious kid brother in line at the library was damn near impossible. Our activities had to be a joint event. We wouldn’t do it if it only served one of us. She was also financially averse to library fees because I would forget when they were due. So, how do you keep late fees at bay? Don’t check them out in the first place.

That’s why I’m big on libraries as an adult. Don’t EVER take for granted that you have access to a library. The books I got at the school library were devoured before they left campus, so I never had anything to read by the time I got home. I had my books, but they were rare and eventually fell apart from the rereads.

I distinctly remember doing a book report on Remember Me because I was enamored of the story!

Historical events influencing the present have always fascinated me as a reader and a writer.

Anyway, I recall my teacher politely telling me that I deserved the A+ grade she gave me because I rocked that report. However, because it was a condensed version, I should strongly consider reading the real thing and never turn in another book report on a condensed version of a book ever again haha.

A story is a story, regardless of its form. I continue to think that way in the physical vs. Kindle debate. Quit gatekeeping reading, folks!

I had thought of the book off and on since I first read it, and I finally got around to rereading it as an adult. To be honest, it could have used some fine-tuning in a workshop. I don’t have rose-colored glasses. And though I knew what would happen, I kept turning the pages. After the novel ended, I wondered how suspense works a number on our brains as a genre.

What about it propels us to keep our eyes peeled for clues, read between the lines when a character says something, and maybe overlook how the plot unfolds? Truthfully, I enjoyed the full version, and take my seventh-grade English teacher’s word for it: don’t read condensed versions!

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