Sunday, April 4, 2010

What Happened...

When I decided to do this, I thought it would be pretty easy to gather all the books in a short amount of time. I have made my mission known, and sent my intention out into the universe . Normally, that would be enough...ask and you will receive until the cup runs over.
I have to say, if my mom were here, she would have been all over this and probably would have found them all by now...she lived for of-the-moment spontaneity (stupidity).

I had all the momentum in the world when I started, it seemed like a pretty basic idea: read Sweet Valley High and probably eat some Swedish Fish while doing it. I went gung-ho, and I went hard. And then something happened and I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's that I haven't gotten much response from other people with locating books or if general, I can't get people to follow my blog. It's just not the same if I can't get other people in on it too. I wanted people to feel as enthusiastic about my little project as I am or was.

It's hard to motivate people, even when it comes to doing small stuff, even though this really isn't that small. Yeah, they're just books, and it started as a joke, but it's just one thing on a list of many that I want to do. When I told people I've started my Bucket List, some people started to do theirs too and that was awesome. I had one friend tell me she didn't want to do a Bucket List because what if she died when she completed the list. What if she never does her list and then spends the rest of her life wondering 'what-if'?

I have more fun when I get people in on the action. I want people to remember and feel nostalgic along with me. I want more than one person to say, "Remember the one where..." and then we laugh about it because honestly, the books are pretty stupid. I think part of my thinking when I committed to the idea was that not everything on a list of things to do before you die has to be serious. Some of the item on the list are big; I'd like to complete my Bachelors and then Masters degrees. But sometimes all it takes is a little PG romance and a bag of Swedish Fish

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Phase 3: Sweet Valley WHAT THE HELL?!!!!

My friend Linda sent me a link on Amazon that listed Sweet Valley High books for as low as a penny, which seems like a steal until the shipping comes up to nearly 4 dollars. But since my goal was to read the entire series from beginning to end, I had to start somewhere and I had not yet come across books 1 and 2, so I ordered them.

When book 1 arrived, I looked at the cover and an old feeling came back to me, the one that feels like the girls looking back at me were not all that identical. I started reading book 1, and questions began forming. If Jessica and Elizabeth are supposed to be so "dazzling," why are they described as being 5'6 and a size 6? 5'6 does not usually garner a "dazzling." 5'6 is considered average height for a female. And a size 6 isn't fat, but for someone that's average in height, it isn't super skinny either. The twins blond hair and blue green eyes are mentioned several times...wouldn't this also make them look like a trillion other "California girls"? I kept reading, having totally forgotten about the part where Jessica stole the keys out of Elizabeth's pocket and the part where they revealed Elizabeth to be the reporter of they mysterious Eyes and Ears column. Which lead me to question two things: why do people find Elizabeth so trustworthy, even after they find out she writes a gossip column and also, if the writer of the column is supposed to be such a big secret, why spill it in the very first book?

When I was in fifth grade, I just knew I was reading smut. I also got a library copy of Jaws taken away in fifth grade, not knowing if it was because I'd been reading it behind my geography book or because it had a picture of a nekid lady on the cover. Jaws was more graphic than anything happening in Sweet Vally. But I was 10, I had no idea how simple Sweet Valley High books really were.

Some time went by between when I finished book 1 and when book 2 arrived. Book 2 had a "reissued" cover. I didn't remember much of book 2 but when I opened it, my mouth fell open too. By page seven, I had come across the name brands Roxey, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vittion and several others. People were gossiping about Jessica and sending pictures of her around on their camera phones. What the hell? I looked at the original publishing date...1986. There were no cell phones in 1986, at least not in wide use by people in high school. The primitive cell phone was the size of a loaf of bread and did not take pictures. In 1986 not only did 16 year old juniors in high school not have cell phones, they barely had cordless phones.

I called my friend Linda in disbelief. "LINDA, what the hell?!" "What the hell what?" "Dude, there's product placement in the new Sweet Valley High." "WHAT?!!!" The reaction I was looking for, my friend was equally appalled. We had no idea the series had been reinvented to include modern technology and modern clothing labels, especially since the originals feature no real name brands at all, except for the names of the auto manufactures that made the cars the characters drive. It is well documented the twins drive a Fiat Spider and Bruce Patman drives a Porsche. It is noted over and over that they are both rich and spoiled but it is never mentioned by name the brand clothing they wore, even though in '86 Lila Fowler was probably wearing Gloria Vanderbilts and Bruce Patman was probably wearing Calvin Klein and not Ralph Lauren.

As off put as I was by the camera phones and messenger bags, I found myself feeling like everything was slightly more realistic this time around. Yeah, the word strode is widely over used, but mostly everybody seemed liked teenagers and not like cast members of The Golden Girls. I've never used the word wonderful to describe anything when I was 16, but more than once I thought a boy was hot.

Along with current clothing labels, everybody's appearances seem to have gotten slightly updated. Of course they have, it's life in a Southern California town and it's a whole new millennium; anybody that was previously unattractive could have just been the recipient of a nose job for their birthday. Enid Rollins isn't a carrot topped troll anymore and why wouldn't Lila, daughter of George Fowler, "one of the richest men in Sweet Valley," would have fresh highlights? The times, they have 'a changed. I realized to get the full effect of the modernized Sweet Valley, or SV as it now known, I'd have to read the entire reissued series and that's a mission of a whole other variety. I am slightly intrigued, I keep wondering how long it will take Jessica to get a tramp stamp?

I hated the reissue initially for being inauthentic, with its product placement and updated slang but I liked it because it had current references, things that were around when I was coming of age, things that are still current. Enid was part of a hit and run while being jacked on weed, Ecstasy and vodka; I can't even remember what the original book said because I haven't come across it yet and because it's been over 20 years since I've read it. That makes me feel really old because I know it's really been more than 20 years since I've read it. In 5th grade I would have been 10 years old, so it's actually been almost 23 years. But even when reading the books the first time through, I didn't feel like the twins or any of their friends were ever quite normal. After doing some research on Francine Paschal, I learned she modeled Jessica and Elizabeth after her own twin daughters. It kind of put everything into context, the books are written not like somebody who was 16 in the 80's but by somebody that had teenagers in the 80's, which may also explain the lack of product placement...somebody may just not have taken the time to know what was popular at the time. (Aqua Net hair spray and The Bangles).

23 years ago Elizabeth Wakefield didn't have a laptop, she had a typewriter; I had one too, it belonged to my great-grandfather. But new Elizabeth has a laptop and I related to her because I had a laptop and the majority of the people I know have them. Laptops and even more so computers in general aren't the novelties they used to be, they are widely available at Wal-Mart and even K Mart. I'm surprised they didn't get mentioned though, just about every where else did, including Ambercrombe and Fitch.

The revised SVH also had Oliva listening to her iPod. Her what? Back in the day she would have had a Walkman, the books being so old that CDs wouldn't become popular for another 5 years. I remember in a Sweet Valley Twins book mention of Jessica's record player. You just know New Jessica isn't still listening to records and that even though it is New Elizabeth with the laptop, she'd never download music she didn't pay for.

It took a while to feel comfortable with this new version of life. If Jessica and Elizabeth were real, they'd be approaching their 40th birthday. They would have lived through records, tapes, CDs and they'd probably both really have MP3 players of some sort because just about everybody does; I know a 4 year-old that has one. Elizabeth surely would have moved from pen and paper, to a typewriter to a laptop because almost everybody has a computer, including my grandma who's 82.

The original books captivated me because things were happening in Sweet Valley that just weren't happening in my own life. Girls still liked boys and boys liked girls, but pretty much nobody was doing anything about it. Even the ones of us that had older siblings didn't have ones that were old enough to drive, Porches, Fiats or other wise. We didn't have messenger bags, we were carrying back packs, over one shoulder to look cool. Later we'd find out just how bad for the back this really is.

Part of me doesn't need Elizabeth and Jessica to be cool though. They weren't cool, even in their day, no matter how hard Jessica tried, lest she should ever forget her days in the Unicorn Club. But part of me understands that although people know what a Porsche is and for all the series' updates, Bruce is still driving one, nobody knows what the hell a Fiat is.




Thursday, February 25, 2010

Phase 2: Stuck in the Collection Process or A Method to the Madness?

What to do, what to do? When I was hit with the idea to start this mission, one that had never even made it onto my bucket list, I thought it would be pretty easy. I have picked up and put down Sweet Valley High books on many occasions while out thrift store shopping. I'd pick them up out of nostalgia but put them back down out of disinterest, after all, I'd quit reading them 15 years ago. 15 years? Has it really been that long? Since I've read one in ernest, yes it has. I read one once a few years ago out of boredom, waiting for my mom to get out of a church meeting, but before that, it was probably somewhere back in Jr. high.

When I decided to do this, I didn't really have a plan, so I just announced it over my facebook profile and hoped people would come forth with their used books. People have offered their comments, offered their support (one friend told me what I'm doing is awesome) but nobody has offered me their complete collection. The truth is, I don't know anybody that had a complete collection. My cousin Kelly was close though. I'd go to her house and just see them lined up on a shelf above her desk. We'd hang out and read when we were talking about boys...Kelly was cool enough to have boyfriends, I was not. Of course I wasn't, I was reading Sweet Valley High books. But even Kelly quit reading them after awhile and the ones she had were of the old school, when the twins wore matching necklaces and drove their mom's Fiat. I still don't know how it ends, but I'm coming across titles about arrests and deceit and it seems so un-Sweet Valley and not true to the original format at all. Val-asphemy, I say!

Obviously, I was hoping to keep my costs minimal, hoping for donations from kind souls who's mom's stored their books in the attack to be passed down to future generations; the future is now! I'm coming along ok, but I have yet to hit the mother load, the lot that I know is out there, some kid whose collection, the entire series got given away, perhaps unknowingly? I know it's out there. I'm in it, feet first. I have people (mainly my friend Linda and her mom, who are experts at deals and sales) on it. And now my question is...

Do I read them as I get them, or do I try to assemble the entire set first? The original goal was to read them from 1 to 144, in sequential order, but I've already broken that but it's cool because it truly is what Jessica Wakefield would do. But do I hold out hope as I still have a thrift store mission to go on and three used books stores to hit? I've been unlucky thrifting so far, but I always am when I have a purpose. Do I read now, or do I wait? I have no idea how long it's going to take me to find them all; I don't even have titles for them all. I need your help, friends. Word is there is a Sweet Valley High movie coming out and I don't want the film to spoil the dramatic ending. So help me on my mission, spread the word, and about all else, don't hate, donate!!!


Thursday, February 18, 2010

Phase 2: The Collection Process

Awhile after I posited the question of what Jessica Wakefield would do, I was at my friend's house. We were vaguely discussing our "bucket" lists and she said she didn't have one because she was afraid she'd die when she completed her list. A thought came to me and as I am known to do, I said the thought out loud as soon as it came to mind. I wonder how long it would take me to read the entire series of Sweet Valley High books.

Unlike many of my thoughts that are fleeting, this one stuck. I never know which ones will and it seemed easy enough to let this one slide. What is the motivation behind reading all 144 books? Nothing other than the satisfaction of having done it. There are other things on my "buck" list, but right now, this is the one I'm working on.

Where to start, where to start. I only ever owned a handful of SVH books myself. When I started reading them in 5th grade, my friend would borrow them from her sister and then make me swear that I'd be done with it by the next day, which I usually was. Whatever really happened to them, I don't know. I'm assuming they've gotten donated, passed on to somebody else eager to know what to expect from their teenage years, which according to life in Sweet Valley is either nothing much or too much to be believed.

I started my quest by soliciting my cousin on Facebook, who had a large number of them. She said she thought she had given them to me. She'd only handed down her SVH knock-offs. I further implored my other Facebook friends, but to no real avail. I am trying to do this as grassroots as possible, making this a (relatively) low budget venture. So far I've kept my costs low, using credit at a used book store and so far purchasing only 2 from Amazon at a penny a piece. I'm scoping a few auctions of ebay but haven't placed any bids yet. I'm still hoping that I will score the mother load at a thrift store but haven't yet. I have a friend and her mom on a diligent quest too; my friend's mom is a devout bargain hunter and I have the upmost faith in her abilities.

This is what I so far:
1. Double Love
9. Racing Hearts
19. Showdown
25. Nowhere to Run
26. Hostage!
28. Alone in the Crowd
83. Second Chance
96. The Arrest
(Un-numbered) The Boyfriend War

I thought I had probably read a good number of these, easily into the 90's but I don't remember anything about an arrest, so I obviously haven't read as many as I thought I had.
I have to admit to cheating a little though. My goal was to read them all, in order. While waiting for books 1 and 2 to arrive, I read Alone in the Crowd and Hostage. I remembered both books but not the orders they came in, I thought the series waited awhile before anyone got kidnapped but they seem to jump right in to the shenanigans.

Hostage! is a tale of vengence. Regina Morrow is kidnapped and held hostage in her own home. Her parents are being held elsewhere, while her brother is in San Francisco (apparently the kidnappers forgot about him). Elizabeth noticed things were astray at the Morrow estate and then took it upon herself to figure out what was going on. She enlists the help of Jessica, Bruce Patman and Regina's brother Nicholas. Their skills involve sticking a letter inside a teen magazine for Regina and Regina tossing a compact with a letter in out her window. Elizabeth and Nicholas head in one direction, Jessica and Bruce in another and foil the kidnappers plan. And in the end, everyone eats pizza together.

In Alone in the Crowd, Lynn Henry writes a song about a boy (Guy Chesney from the rock band The Droids) and submits her song for a song writing contest, sponsored by non other than The Droids. Lynn, being nothing if not a scholar of Sweet Valley High, submits her song anonymously. Guy becomes fixated on the song and its singer, attributing his admiration of the mystery song writer to his admiration for Linda Ronstadt. Oh yes, Linda Ronstadt.
Guy confesses his feelings Elizabeth "Liz" Wakefield and she, the supposed keeper of the secrets at SVH, reveals enough information for Guy to figure it out but little enough for Elizabeth to not feel guilty about. After all, she is helping "a friend find the love he's been looking for his whole life." All 16 years of it apparently. Want to guess what happens next? Everybody loves happily ever after.

Tonight, I am going to start where it all started. Book 1, Double Love. I'd feel bad about starting out of order, but I distinctly remember starting out reading them out of order until my friend started loaning them to me in order. So far, so good. I'm optimistic that just like in Sweet Valley, all will prevail in the end and I will be successful in my quest.

Follow my adventures as I follow the adventures of my old school favorites!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Phase 1: What Would Jessica Wakefield Do?

A few weeks ago I was sitting in my brother's truck waiting for him and his girlfriend in a restaurant parking lot. They'd told me to be there around 7:30-ish and then called me to ask where I was...sitting here waiting for you. He was calling to say the restaurant had an hour waiting and asked why I'd gotten there so early. Because you told me to. He suggested going to the mall, but I didn't want to lose my parking place so I stayed there. While I was sitting, waiting, a thought came to mind and I began to wonder, What Would Jessica Wakefield would do.

I hadn't thought about Jessica Wakefield in years. She hadn't been a part of my life since I quit reading Sweet Valley High books some time in high school. It was a long run, considering I started reading Sweet Valley High books when I was in fifth grade and couldn't imagine doing half the things Jessica and her twin sister Elizabeth were doing. Even back then my fifth grade self knew something was weird: why did these sixteen year olds act like they were 80?

I had baby-sitters so I knew some sixteen year olds and they were cheerleaders, had sprained ankles, slept in and got grounded, which the Wakefields did, but my baby-sitters never used the word studious to describe themselves or talk about parties being wonderful. I could accept a certain amount of embellishment (I've never known anyone that was held hostage like Regina Morrow was or Elizabeth Wakefield before her) but I still expected accurate dialogue, even from a book written in 1986.

It occurred to me that if Jessica Wakefield were a real person, she'd probably be on a reality show, something along the lines of The Hills more so than Survivor or even The Amazing Race, even though reality shows weren't around back in the day. I also realized I missed her. She and her lame sister were such a part of my life, not as much the gospel for my teenage years because Judy Blume had that covered, but because they did stuff I'd probably never do like meet royalty, get kidnapped, or have a twin sister.

I miss my old friends, Jess and Liz and their posse: Brother Steven, Mother Alice, Father Ned. Friends Enid, Lila, Bruce, Amy and various others. As much as I miss them, I have to say, I've been a bad friend...I don't know how the series ends. Somewhere along the way, I started high school, wrote for the school paper and hated the popular girls. For my own peace of mind, I need to know how it all goes down. So I started my quest, a rather simple resolution: by the end of the year, I want to read the entire Sweet Valley High series.

Sadly, my local library doesn't carry the books anymore and a trip to a local bookstore proved successful yet disjointed; I found a bunch of books but they weren't in order. I implore you, if you see one or ten at a local thrift store or in a box in the back of your closet, help a girl out!