Re-Reads

I read maybe 25 to 30 fiction books a year. Some years more, some years less. Looking back over the past decade, I notice that I’m re-reading an average of about three books a year. Books that I read when I first became an avid reader, way back in that stone age known as the Seventies.

Which led me to thinkin’ and stuff. Like, what books did I read back then that I really should crack open again?

I came up with a list of five.

How about –

Watership Down (1972) by Richard Adams. Phenomenal book that had me captivated throughout most of the spring and summer of sixth grade. Yes, the subject seemed a bit immature, I mean, bunnies! But there was something dark and menacing in the background that hovered uneasily on my still-maturing consciousness.

Roller Ball Murder (1975) by William Harrison. This disappointed me, because what boy in the Seventies wasn’t a fan of that future sports dystopia Rollerball? Cable just came into town and me and my friends would try to sneak a viewing of the R-rated flick. The book itself is actually a bunch of unrelated short stories if I remember correctly. But I still would like to re-read them.

Planet of Death (1967) by Robert Silverberg. C’mon – a spaceship crash-lands on a planet where everything eats everything else. Even the plants have a taste for meat. I still remember the cover, a vivid conjunction of Piscasso and psychedelia.

Uninvited Visitors (1967) by Ivan Sanderson. About UFOs. As a kid, the subject lured me to no end. My mother worked in a library, and I camped out and read every book (all eight of ’em, I guess) in the paranormal section. Remember the title and the author, the contents not so much. But I’m game for a re-read.

Star Wars (1976) by Alan Dean Foster, writing as George Lucas. What 1970s kid didn’t love this movie? And what 1970s kid didn’t carry around the novelization with him all that summer? I even remember reading it on line at the DMV with my grandpa. Wouldn’t mind checking into it again. A lot worse ways to spend three or four hours.

And, as a bonus –

The Great Alphabet Race (1972) by Janet and Roger Campbell. My all-time favorite children’s book when I was a child! Something I’d love to read to Patch, or listen as Little One reads it to her.