JUNE 2012 About This Place Good-bye, Captain Aubrey; Hello, Mr. Grey By Lyn Widmyer The Bobbsey twins intro-


duced me to serial books. I fol- lowed Bert and Nan and Flossie and Freddie to the beach, to school, and joined them on fam- ily adventures. As I grew older, I preferred girl sleuth Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames, R.N. (in my childhood, no one imagined Cherry Ames, M.D.). I read all the books in the re- spective series. As an adult, I am still drawn


to book series but I find I rarely complete the entire collec- tion. Take the 20 novel series about English naval captain Jack Aubrey. Written by Patrick O’Brian, the books recount the fictional adventures of Captain Aubrey during the Napoleonic Wars. O’Brian uses language and terms from that same era, so I had to buy a 500-page com- panion dictionary to learn the meaning of terms like “black- strake.” I will save you the word search: Black-strake is a band of planks coated with tar to protect the ship against im- pact. I survived seven voyages


with Captain Aubrey. I signed on for The Ionian Mission but jumped overboard shortly after the HMS Worcester left port. All that travel with the Captain


and his crew, and I still don’t know the difference between a fore topsail and a mizzen top- gallant. Other series have suffered


the same fate. I started but never finished the alphabet mysteries by Sue Grapfton (A is for Alibi, etc). After a few ad- ventures with Inspector Rich- ard Jury, I left him stranded at The Jerusalem Inn, the fifth book in a series by Martha Grimes. I joined Park Ranger Anna Pi- geon, a creation of author Ne- vada Barr, for four mysteries in four different national parks but followed her no further. I have decided that when it


comes to book series, my at- tention span is about three volumes. After that, I usually get bored with the characters or the plot line. Two series that are causing quite a buzz in the publishing world meet my cri- teria. The Hunger Games, by Su-


zanne Collins, is terrific. I read Book One and look forward to reading the other two. Set in the future in a very bleak soci- ety, it follows a group of teen- agers as they participate in a state-sponsored kill fest that continues until only one per- son is left alive. The series is ex-


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tremely popular. A friend told me her sixth-grade daughter was invited to a birthday party with a Hunger Games theme. I have this image of young girls dressed in frilly party dresses hunting each other down with bows and rubber-tipped ar- rows. Last one standing gets a piece of birthday cake. The other series is the 3-vol-


ume 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James. Labeled “mommy porn” by critics, the books focus on the relationship between a re- cent college grad and a young business tycoon, Mr. Grey. The book features steamy scenes that involve dominant-submis- sive sexual play. The series sits atop the Washington Post best- seller list, and seems to have its biggest appeal to women over 50. I intend to read the series so that I can thoughtfully dis-


cuss with friends whether the plot line is indicative of a post- feminist shift in male-female interpersonal relationships . Really, that’s why I am reading


the series. I only wish I could ask Cherry


Ames and Nancy Drew to join the conversation.


22


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