Our Favorite Things #1 – Books

Read more favorite things in Andi’s Attic >>

October 1889
Not too long ago, my sister Melinda and I sat down one warm Saturday. It’s not often when I get a chance to leave Jared home with Riley and scoot to town on my own. I SO wanted to ride Shasta, and Riley and I got into a bit of an argument before he finally gave in. The buggy might be more appropriate for a married woman with a child, but golly! It pokes along so slowly, while Shasta and I can gallop into town (well, lope maybe) in about half the time.

I wanted to visit–just she and I. I sometimes regret not getting along very well with Melinda when she and I were younger. But now that she has baby William and I have Jared, she and I have lots of things to talk about. When Melinda greeted me and ushered me into her small parlor, I saw a copy of Little Women lying open on the end table. I betcha anything my sister was reading it again . . . for maybe the two-dozenth time. No, really! When we sat down, I started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Melinda asked, laying her sweet newborn in her lap.

“I saw that you’re reading Little Women.” I paused for emphasis. “Again.”

“But of course, little sister.” She smiled, and twin dimples showed in her cheeks. “It’s my favorite book.”

Of course it is. I knew that. Everybody in the family knows that. The best part of seeing the book was the warm, cozy memories it brought to the surface, welling up in me. So, Melinda and I decided to remember our favorite things. We remembered them, all right. The list went on and on, but when we finished, we both dissolved into gales of laughter–almost enough to wake the baby. I mean, honestly? Could two sisters be more different than Melinda Jane and Andrea Rose [Carter]?

There is one area in which we both agree, however. Our mother, Elizabeth Carter, is at the top of our list as “most admired woman.”

But we don’t agree on much of anything else. My journal can hardly hold all of the pages from writing down the memory of our favorite things.

1. Our Favorite Books

My favorite book is A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne. If I read it just before bed, with my lamp turned down to barely a flame, I can imagine myself inside the bowels of the earth, journeying to see strange, new places with Axel, Hans, and the professor. I also like From the Earth to the Moon and a Trip Around It. But to leave the earth and fly to the moon is harder for me to believe than going under the earth. I mean, really! Nobody can fly into outer space. There is no air out there . . . or so they say. The moon will probably never have visitors. But that doesn’t stop me from reading about it. 

Note to readers: If you have an idea of a “favorite thing” of the Carter sisters that you would like to learn more about, tell me in the comments.