Tag Archives: books

I am Christy Miller. Wait, no! I mean, read the Christy Miller books.

(Disclaimer: this is for the wimminfolk. The dudes can read some Terry Pratchett instead.)

Are you a preteen or teenage girl? Have you ever been a preteen or teenage girl? Are you a grown woman who maybe still gets a little weepy when certain commercials come on depicting older couples walking hand-in-hand down beaches at sunrise, or somebody blowing out some candles on a birthday cake? If you fit into any of these categories, then your life is not complete until you’ve read the Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn. She is a Christian author who wrote this series of 12 books for teen girls, starting with “Summer Promise” and ending with “A Promise is Forever”. OK, I know you’re distracted by the “art” on the cover there–but you know what they say–don’t judge a book by the hairdo or clothing choices of the woman on the front. And Christy doesn’t actually wear white polyester pants with hot pink swirlies in the book.

I read them when I was 11 for the first time, and have re-read the series at least a dozen times since then. In fact, I read them all again just last year. They are freshly written, they don’t deal with “topics” (sex, drugs, eating disorders) in a heavy-handed way (I never felt preached at as a young girl)… and you just love the characters! In fact, I refuse to call them “characters”. They are real people and that’s just that. My childhood friend Stacy and I argued passionately over whose imaginary volleyball team Christy and her boyfriend Todd were on–they were real to us. And I should add that Christy and Todd are on my imaginary volleyball team to this day, in case anyone’s asking.

There is an equally wonderful follow-up trilogy to the series called “Christy and Todd: the College Years”—but start at the beginning, my friends. This trilogy is the icing on the cake. And people don’t eat the icing first. At least they’re not supposed to. Ehem. (I mean, I just lick it to be thrifty, I swear! Waste not want not! Icing saved is icing earned!)

I still cry when I read these books. There’s an especially heart-wrenching moment in “Sweet Dreams” (book 11), when Christy and Todd are watching a sunset at the beach, and they’re, like,  holding hands, and, like, she can tell, like, (sniff) something is really bothering him, so she says (sniff)—but I’m not giving it away! (yes, it’s my strategy to draw you in with that well-crafted cliffhanger, why do you ask?)

Robin Jones Gunn just nails the thoughts that go through our heads as women—the insecurities, the hopes, and the confusion. In fact, sometimes I think “maybe I AM Christy Miller!” And then I quickly look around to see if there are any psych-ward clinicians waiting to drag me away. This identity disorder has been with me since 2004, when I emailed the following to my husband from my parent’s apartment in Spain:

“Well darling–I’m going to run downstairs to get my stock of hairclips back up, and then I might retreat a bit into my Christy Miller book. I picked up the first one thinking “this will be good for a laugh”, because I was so obsessed with them as a teenager, and I’ve discovered that though the lessons the author is trying to teach are rather obvious, I still love these books!! Sweetie, it’s time you know this–I was Christy Miller!! I lived in California and hung out on the beach and dated Todd Spencer, the surfer with the screaming silver blue eyes!
Just kidding. But reading Christy does feel like reading my own journal, in a weird but wonderful way. She was my escape world for so long, my alternate life. This is why we want to have daughters (note the coercive/persuasive use
of “we”): so that they can read the Christy Miller books!!!”

These books hold such a special place in my heart. Buy them for a teenage girl in your life. And read them yourself too. Unless you’re a dude. I’m sorry that the covers are so corny. Christy herself is apologizing inside for her spiky do and hairspray-coated bangs. But once you get past that, the inside will melt your heart.

Postscript: My spiky-haired Christy edition is no longer out there … they have revamped Christy’s image and dragged her kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Hooray for modernization!

Terry Pratchett: why I’m addicted, and why you will be too

Terry Pratchett is like candy. But candy that gives you a sugar rush in your intellectual funny bone. I could find his books at the library instead of hauling them around every time we move—but I love just grabbing them off my shelf when I’m in need of some snorts, cackles, and chortles. I need at least two dozen snorts, half a dozen cackles, and three solid chortles per day. And Terry helps me exceed my quota—every time.

My stash

My reading of Terry Pratchett goes in spurts—I’ll read about 4 or 5 of his novels in a row, and then I hit some kind of hilarity-induced state of mental madness and I need a break for about 6 months. And then the whole messy cycle starts again.

He writes about a made-up world called “Discworld”, which (as anyone will tell you) is a flat world that rides on the back of four elephants who in turn stand on a giganto-turtle who swims through space.

It is much like our world. And that’s the gist of the funniness. Terry Pratchett loves drawing out the absurd and comical aspects of our life here on earth by showing us its image in the distorted mirror of his fictional world. As an example, Terry Pratchett will chronicle the advent of a new technology—such as banking, or newspapers/printing, or the Postal service—and show us an alternate history of how it came into being, highlighting how strange and fascinating these systems we’ve developed really are—if you stop and think. And he will make you stop and think. Wait—does that make his books sound boring? Because they’re not! I liken the experience to going to those Fun-Fun-Mirror things at a fair that make your nose strangely bulbous and your legs really bendy and your head oddly egg-shaped—and you’re like “Whoa, the human body is hilariously freakish! [cackle cackle] [snort]” Terry Pratchett is witty and sarcastic, and I probably laugh more with his books than any others.

Within his Discworld novels, there are different character groups: the witches (Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Wyrd Sisters, Equal Rites), Death (Mort, Hogfather, Thief of Time), the Watch (Men at Arms, The Truth, Guards! Guards!), Rincewind the wizard (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic)…I could go on and on. This man is nothing if not prolific. And hilarious. Or did I already say he was hilarious? (I did, but if I repeat it enough I will subliminally brainwash you) “Pyramids” could be a good random one to start with … or maybe you should dive into the witches with “Wyrd Sisters”, which I am reading right now along with “Mort”. Either way, give him a little time, get used to his style, and then go into a dark sound-proof closet where you can laugh your head off without someone asking you “what’s so funny?” every five seconds. Not that anyone I know does that. My husband for the record is very good about letting me read and laugh uninterruptedly. I’m just sayin’.

Any Pratchett lovers out there? Any recommendations that will give a first-time reader some good ole laughing whiplash?