Nancy Drew revisited
Since moving to Singapore and starting work, I’ve been going to a local books/supplies store after office to pick up various odds and ends like magnets, pens, desk organizers, and the like. Near the cashier, there’s a few stacks of children’s books and on them are a few Nancy Drew books scattered here and there. I’m sure you’ve probably heard of Nancy Drew at some point in your life, but for the uninitiated, Nancy Drew is a series of books about, well, Nancy Drew. She is a titian-haired amateur teen detective adept at getting into, and out of, close calls with robbers, criminals, and the like. Oh, and solving mysteries.
She was my heroine when I was a child, hungrily devouring the books the moment my mother buys it for us and finishing it in half a day (these days I take about two hours). We have a few couple dozen of the books at home, and frankly, one of my visions of the perfect library once I settle down is one with the complete series. Alright, so sometimes (okay, a lot of times) the stories and the things Nancy gets into are quite out of this world, but hell, it was great fun when I was a child and it’s still great fun even now. I’d collect all, from #1: The Secret of the Old Clock to #56: The Thirteenth Pearl, since those were the “originals”. Yes, they’re all written by ghostwriters, but for some reason, I’ve never looked at the paperbacks seriously.
Only now, I just found out, there are new ones added into the list of books published as “originals” (“my” originals). Apparently, in 2006, Simon and Schuster released numbers 57-64 in yellow hardbacks. And that’s what sucked me into the series again. As with everything here in Singapore, it’s more expensive than if I get it in the Philippines, but I just have to get my Nancy Drew fix, apparently. :P The “new” but “original” books are:
#57: The Triple Hoax
#58: The Flying Saucer Mystery
#59: The Secret in the Old Lace
#60: The Greek Symbol Mystery
#61: The Swami’s Ring
#62: The Kachina Doll Mystery
#63: The Twin Dilemma
#64: Captive Witness
This is a rather shrewd move for them, since it obviously worked on me–after seeing the numbers over #56 (it was like, “zomg the last book!”), I immediately snapped one up: #60: The Greek Symbol Mystery, only because it was the first one I saw. I’m guessing that there are others out there who, while knowing that they they’re all ghost-written, still feel that the hardbacks are “authentic”. (And no, it’s not that I prefer hardbacks; I actually prefer paperbacks over the former usually.)
I would be the first to admit that I’m buying them really only because it’s “authentic Nancy Drew”. The Greek Symbol Mystery was somewhat interesting, but as with everything that’s from early childhood, the magic isn’t the same, if it’s even there. But then, I wouldn’t want it any other way. :)