A grown man probably shouldn't admit it, but during this past week or so, I've been rereading some books from my childhood. Yes, I know people do that sort of thing all the time, but I expect they're probably reading material that's a bit more... substantial or literary or "grown-up" than what I've been choosing to read: the series of Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren.
I'd actually forgotten that I had these books. I've moved several times over the years, and you do tend to lose track after you've packed and unpacked hundreds of books several times. I ran across them the other day while I was looking for a different book and decided to see how they stand up after all these years. I realized today after finishing the last one that it's probably been at least 30 years since I last read them.
There are three books in my collection (and I think only three books in all): Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas. They aren't truly narrative in form. Each book is more of a collection of descriptions of adventures that Pippi and her two friends (Tommy and Annika) have. There are some links between the various events that occur in the books, but for the most part, it's a string of vignettes. I recall that the movies based upon the books were very similar in structure: loose, sort of rambling, not really focused on a strong narrative line. They're really more about character, it seems, than plot.
When I picked up the first book (and I did read them in order just like a good little boy should), I started to remember almost immediately why I enjoyed them when I was younger. Pippi is a hoot. She lives alone and pretty much determines what happens to her. She's got superhuman strength and the ability to outsmart almost everyone who's supposedly wiser than she is. She is extremely devoted to her friends and incredibly generous with her money and her worldly possessions. She isn't educated--in fact, she only attends school twice, the first time with disastrous results--and she's prone to lying. Oh, and she loves adventure, no doubt a result of all those years on board her father's ship traveling to distant lands. Each day with her is an unexpected joy. What kid wouldn't want to read about someone like that? And what kid wouldn't want someone like that as a role model? And what kid wouldn't want someone like that as a friend?
I even like the way she introduces herself to strangers: "Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking, daughter of Captain Efraim Longstocking, formerly the Terror of the Sea, now a cannibal king. But everybody calls me Pippi." Of course, they do, dear.
Reading these three short books was such a blast. Again, I know a 44-year-old doesn't often pick up children's books (unless he's teaching Children's Literature or something akin to that), perhaps especially books there were undoubtedly written with young girls in mind, but it's pretty rare these days for me to have a chance to read just for the sheer pleasure of it. I had a lot of fun this past week reliving a few moments from my childhood. The kid in me got to make an appearance, however briefly.
You're probably wondering why I even have these three books (or perhaps why I still have these books). My mother took us kids (me, my brother, my two stepsisters, and my stepbrother) to see all of the Pippi movies in the early 70s (available for purchase or rental on DVD). We loved their weird antic spirit, and I guess she figured the reader of the family (that would be me, naturally) would probably enjoy having the texts to go with the memories of the movies. I don't know if my family truly realizes how much they encouraged me to read when I was younger (and how unusual that was at the time for boys in Mississippi). I do owe them a great deal of thanks for that. Even to this day, I tend to have a book handy in case I have a few minutes to read. (My family says I have my "nose stuck in a book" all the time--I love that.) And I always have a list of more books I'd like to pick up and read. Now that I've had a chance to reread the Pippi Longstocking books, I won't have to add them to that list, but what a pleasure it was to add them to the list of books that I've read this year.
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