I know I made a jab at the Hardy Boys last week, and I can’t reasonably say that the Nancy Drew series was much better written. But this isn’t “books with the bestest ever writing that every critic can accept and fall in love with” week. It’s “books that changed my life” week, which, while it isn’t mutually exclusive, doesn’t have to fall into that category.
My best friend Rachel and I were obsessed with Nancy Drew during elementary and early middle school. I have probably read all of the original series, or at least most of them. We played the computer games through middle school at Rachel’s house, and we got our love for mystery-solving from her. We also just assumed that once we could drive, we would be able to solve mysteries, since that and a rich dad were the only things we could find different between our lives and Nancy’s.
Nancy Drew has continued to play a role in our lives, although a much smaller one than originally. Every time I see some sort of Nancy memorabilia, I buy it for Rachel for an upcoming holiday or birthday. Rachel gave me the pocket-sized book “Nancy Drew’s guide to life” a few years ago. It has become more of a treasured, nostalgic inside joke, but it’s something that we share.
This is another book series that spurred my writing. Though mystery stories aren’t really my thing, because I’m not patient enough to come up with stuff like that, it was the first step to finding out my real love: spy books. Because it really isn’t that big of a reach from detective to spy. Spies are just more exciting and I have to think less.
Nancy Drew changed my life, because if I hadn’t discovered her and shared her with my best friend, I would have turned out completely different. I may have never became friends with Rachel. I may have never found out my love for writing spy books. And I would have never had the courage to uncover life’s little mysteries we’re presented with every day.
you’re so right. we thought being able to drive would fix all our non-mystery having life problems