Monday, June 2, 2014

Forbidden Books

Postcrossers often mention that they like reading. I do too, and have amassed a variety of book-related postcards to send to them. Of course the best ones are the gaudy book covers of pulp fiction and comic books. For some of my American friends, the books below were "forbidden." I remember doing a book report on a Nancy Drew book in sixth grade - and my teacher told me to please read better quality books. Why? The Nancy Drew series were great page-turners. My mother allowed me to read both Japanese and American comic books. Hence, I amassed a huge supply. My friends' parents did not allow them to buy or read comics. So they came over to my house to read them. Paperback books were just starting to come to Japan when I was in high school. I read a few of them, mostly pulp fiction. By then, paperback Penguin books had started to become available. One couldn't tell which book was exciting and which was not because Penguin book covers were all the same - orange with a penguin on the front. Later, when I moved to the States for college, I was told by friends that all the reading I did growing up was junk. I took a class in remedial "classics." I loved them all, as much as the smut I grew up on. I am still a reader, and an omnivorous one at that!



This one is going to a Chinese postcrosser.


This one is for a postcrosser in Russia.


This one is for a Belarussian postcrosser