text added by Kaye Spencer
For #ThrowbackThursday during the month of July, I’m sharing my favorite books from my upper elementary and junior high school years. This was way back in the days when there wasn’t kindergarten for country kids (me), elementary school was 1st through 6th grades, junior high was 7th through 9th grades, and high school was 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.
The only book I remember a teachers reading aloud as we followed along was Hans Brinker an the Silver Skates. In 4th grade, my teacher read The Little House on the Prairie series to us aloud at the end of the day all year long. I suffered through, an I mean suffered through and have the emotional scars to prove it, Black Beauty, Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, Jack London’s stories and books, and all those other “classics” with animals in them and SOMETHING ALWAYS BAD HAPPENED TO THE ANIMALS!!! I consequently have trust issues when I pick up a book and discover there’s an animal in it that plays a significant role in the story. Nope. Won’t read it.
For today, July 27th, the book is…
Everything Edgar Allan Poe wrote.
I was 13-ish when I discovered The Raven followed by Annabel Lee, both of which I immediately memorized and can still recite today with only a little prompting. 😉
From there, I read his stories. Poe’s works certainly didn’t serve as gateway stories for me to read horror genre in general. I’m a scaredy-cat when it comes to thrillers, suspense, and horror. 🙂
However, his poetry and stories remain among my favorites to re-read to this day. I especially like The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Pit and the Pendulum.
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer
Lasterday Stories
writing through history one romance upon a time