I’m participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I post every day in the month of April (except Sundays) and each day is a letter.

My theme for the month is a series of posts about the things that shaped me.

Louisa May Alcott

What is it with novels about young women who want to be writers? I think before I ever met Anne, I was well acquainted with Jo March and her family.

And not just Little Women. I was gifted the entire box set, which included Little Men and Jo’s Boys. And I still have all three, now well-loved, dogeared, and perhaps a little bit stained from trying to read while eating breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.

I was that kid who always had her nose in a book and could read anywhere — in the car, while walking home from school, sitting on the swing set while everyone else played loudly on the monkey bars. Imagining the goings-on in the March household was much more interesting than the real world.

I loved Jo. Everything about her was interesting, from the terribly dramatic plays she wrote to her chopping her hair off to sell instead of begging her aunt. Meg was a wet blanket, Amy was snotty, and Beth — well, you can’t really hate Beth. There isn’t that much character development throughout the book, but still. You can’t help but enjoy the time you spend with the March family.

Libraries

I love the smell of libraries. I love wandering around the stacks, getting lost, surrounded by shelves and shelves of books.

There is nothing as magical as a book. And libraries, where you can pick any book you want for free and just take it home with you? It’s the greatest thing in the entire world.

I grew up in a small town, with a small library. I went through everything in the children’s section and the young adult section (I was not quite old enough to fully understand everything in the Sweet Valley High series, but it didn’t stop me from reading them). How anyone ever left a library with fewer than five books at a time, I don’t know.

The first time I went to the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago, I was in love. There are TEN STORIES, taking up an entire city block. My tiny hometown library wouldn’t even fill up the first floor. I can’t tell you how many hours (entire days) were spent just meandering from section to section.

Later this month is National Library Week, and I’ll be waxing poetic on everything related to libraries. Because after the printing press, there’s no better invention in the world than libraries, and no better people in the world than librarians.

Law & Order

I’ve watched almost every procedural/crime show on TV — Bones, Veronica Mars, Criminal Minds, Psych, Castle, Monk, Sherlock, Rizzoli & Isles, SVU, all the CSIs, Cold Case, Without a Trace (good lord this is a lot of TV watching) — but nothing beats the one and only, the original Law & Order.

I get people seem to like SVU better, but I don’t know about those people but I feel bleccch whenever I attempt to binge-watch it. There’s so many terrible things that people do to other people, it’s hard to watch back-to-back. (I feel the same with Criminal Minds too — too many horrifying serial killers at a time keeps me up at night.)

But Law & Order, even though people are still getting murdered and whatnot, it goes down more like comfort food. The snarkiness of Chris Noth and Jerry Orbach, the self-righteousness of Michael Moriarty and Sam Waterston. Nothing beats it.

And it’s so much fun watching the early seasons especially, because it’s like watching “Before They Were Stars.” Jennifer Garner, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Alison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Claire Danes, Chadwick Boseman, Laura Linney — well before they were award-winning box office stars, they were witnessing or committing crimes on Law & Order.

I was so excited when they decided to renew the show, but it’s not the same. Hugh Dancy isn’t anywhere near as good as Sam Waterston was behind the prosecutor’s table, and no detective has come anywhere near as interesting since Jerry Orbach passed.

Thankfully there’s plenty of room on my DVR, for whenever I’m feeling nostalgic.

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