Revisiting an old friend from my childhood, the Reader's Digest Condensed Book
Reader's Digest is an excellent magazine and when I was growing up my mom would order their line of Condensed Books. If you're not familiar they would take four books by popular authors, condense them, and then reprint them in a singular volume. This made books more affordable for my mom, and oh how she loved to read. Books were her way to travel the world and to experience new and exciting things from the comfort of her own living room.
She passed her love of reading on to me and I found her stack of these books when I was around ten and dove in. I could read two a week as they were designed to be a quick read.
These are what they looked like.
Imagine my delight when I came across one recently. It was like revisiting an old friend. To my surprise not they still exist.
I hope they continue not only to introduce people to reading, but bring them joy as well.
My mom and dad had a bunch of the Reader's Digest collections, too. I loved the way they looked, but I never really read the stories. I was busier reading Dad's sci-fi books. (War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, etc.) The RD books never captured my imagination the way they did for you. But they were on the same shelves in our home, and I always loved seeing them there. As an adult, I thought I had outgrown the lack of interest in them, so I bought a whole bunch at a garage sale. I still didn't care for them. I never have figured out if it's the thickness or what. But I will always have good memories when I see them.
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