I read most of the Hardy boys, and some of the Nancy Drew books.
I noticed that the Hardy boy books had multiple sub plots or diversions whereas the Nancy Drew had none.
kind of like taking the freeway instead of the backroads.
I personally preferred the Tom Swift books as did Elon obviously
Anyone remember Encyclopedia Brown?
“I personally preferred the Tom Swift books as did Elon obviously.”
An older cousin was a regular purchaser of the Tom Swift series so I was always checking his bookshelf for new ones to read when visiting. I may have read a couple of Hardy Boys along the way but the Tom Swift was more entertaining and stimulating for my mind.
“the Hardy boy books had multiple sub plots or diversions whereas the Nancy Drew had none.”
But she had that cool little roadster. I think that’s why I wanted a Miata when they came out decades later.
I also read Cherry Ames, a nurse who really got around.
“ I personally preferred the Tom Swift books…”
Me too. I had all of them when I was young. Wish I still did.
L
Ditto on Tom Swift. I’ve read all of the original ones several times each and about half of the more recent Tom Swift Junior ones.
In fact, Just a few days ago I downloaded a few of them from this site: http://durendal.org/ts.html to read again.
I guess I read a half dozen or ten of the older Hardy Boys books, but never REALLY got into them.
I also read all the “Motor Boys”, “Rover Boys”, All the Horatio Alger books several times each. And at least once each read “The Boy Scouts”series, “The Banner Boy Scouts” series, “The Don Sturdy” Series”, “The Radio Boys” Series, “The Moving Picture Boys” Series, a couple of the “Dave Dashaway” books, and several other similar ones.
I was lucky; My father and his brother were serious collectors of such books in their youth, and my Grandfather preserved their collection after they went off to War, and passed them on to me as soon as I could read.... Which my mother taught me how starting when I was three years old, and I was rarely without a book in hand from then on.
Then in High School, I started reading Louis L’Amour Westerns and the like
I’d say pretty much that the adult I became was 90% due to what I read in those books as a youth and a mere 10% due to other influences from ‘the real world’ of the 1950s and 1960s.
Too bad that the youth of later generations mostly didn’t read that kind of stuff. The world would be a much better place now with that kind of influence.