Hello, I didn't read that yet

I just finished reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I have had this book forever. I think my mom gave it to me before I moved out on my own and given that I moved out at age 16 that would be awhile ago.

Nick Hornby made an interesting comment about introductions in his book The Polysyllabic Spree. He talked about how there are invariably spoilers in the introductions. I totally agree with him and have made it a habit to read the introduction after the book.

But just to see if anything had changed I read the beginning of the introduction and sure enough it immediately spoils the story. In fact both the very start of the introduction and the blurb on the back cover ruin a secret that is kept for the first 100 pages of the book.

That irks me. Maybe these people publishing these classics think that because the books are old we are somehow born knowing the stories but it doesn't work that way. Perhaps it is ridiculous that at the age of 41 I am finally getting round to reading a children's book but oh well I would still like to do it and get the most out of the book.

The introduction was written by some chick called Lois Lowry. I suspect I should know who she is but I don't and she was so negative and spoiling with this book that I don't think I will be looking for her work any time soon. That's one of the problems I had with the book I read yesterday; I couldn't stand all the negativity. It's one thing to write a sad book or a book about a tragedy but you don't have to be such a curmudgeon.

Yes, yes I am fully aware that I am a curmudgeon myself, although my New York editor for my job says I am technically too young to be a curmudgeon. but I am not being a curmudgeon in the introduction to a book which is basically about the power of positive thinking now am I?

As for the book itself I liked it. I liked it much more than I thought I would. It reminded me of some Alcott books I have read (do you remember the one where the girl took the iron band off of her waist and ran around outside in the fresh air and drank a lot of milk in order to get well, quite against the philosophy of the day?) and a book called Little Princess. They both have the theory that when you have a child that is having a temper tantrum the best thing to do is distract them which I think is lovely advice. They are also both about a child who have a connection to India. Mary in the Secret Garden starts out in India and Sara in A Little Princess has a father who leaves her behind while he sails to India. They are both about children on their own in unfamiliar circumstances. Children who have to rely on themselves and learn new ways to think and get along.

Ha ha, I just looked Little Princess up and it is by Frances Hodgson Burnett also. That explains the similarity doesn't it?

But even more exciting is that I found it through Google Print. I have been following the stories about this new mindcroggleingly huge Google project with extreme interest and now I got to use it and I must stop writing because I am going to swoon with giddiness and delight.