It’s funny that poshdeluxe wrote about movie adaptations of favored YA novels the other day, because that’s been on my mind lately. Many of you may have heard that Diablo Cody, writer of Juno and Jennifer’s Body, and my personal nemesis, is taking on the Sweet Valley High books and turning them into a movie. YOU GUYS. THIS IS GOING TO BE SO AWESOME. I’m pretty sure, anyway.
Immediately after reading the news, I emailed the other FYA ladies, humbly suggesting that we reread and review the books for the site. And not just because I wanted an excuse to go buy them at my local half-price without being ashamed, either. (“It’s for a BLOG, you see,” I desperately babble to the uninterested guy checking me out. “I’m not actually reading them to read them. Ha ha ha. Why would I do that? By the way, don’t you think Jessica is by far the superior twin? And why does Enid suck so much?”)
Let me tell you, friends, fueled on the sweet memories of Jess and Liz, their red Spider Fiat, their respective best friends/frenemies Lila and Enid, stupid lame Todd, sanctimonious big brother Stephen, and 1Bruce1, I was REALLY EXCITED to get started on these. Until I actually went to Half-Price Books.
You guys. Did you know there are ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE Sweet Valley High books? Just Sweet Valley High! That’s not counting Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley University, that one series where Jessica was the founding member of The Unicorn Club but wouldn’t let Liz join, or when Liz moved to England to do diplomatic work, the skills for which I am sure she gained as Editor in Chief of SVH’s newspaper. One hundred and eighty one books!! I can’t even think of 181 stories that have happened to me and I’ve actually been ALIVE for, like, a pretty long time.
I mean, never fear. The reviews are coming. I’m not rereading SVH: Dangerous Love (#6 in the series, where Liz and Todd get into a motorcycle accident) for my health. I am just fully committed to the FYA cause. Promise.
But until I can figure out how to group these reviews (chronologically? thematically? Books In Which Enid is awesome? ha ha, there’s no such thing as that last one!), you guys are just going to have to wait patiently. I know, I know. IT IS GONNA BE DIFFICULT.
(As something to whet the appetite, did you know that in book #5, All Night Long, Jessica stays out at a party ALL NIGHT LONG? And Elizabeth has to pretend to be her to fool their mom. I KNOW.)
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I never really got into Sweet Valley High. I was a little young, I guess. I read quite a few of the Sweet Valley Twins books, though. I always liked Elizabeth better (probably because she was more like me than the cliquish, style-conscious Jessica).
ugh, i love these books so much. i actually recently reread them all. and then read all of the sweet valley university ones, yes i know, i am awesome. jessica is really terrible at first but she is definitely the better twin by the end of the series, especially considering she had like 6 boyfriends who died, and she was a junior in high school for at least ten years. did you know they are republishing the books but updating them? like instead of a the fiat, they drive a prius, and they totally name drop like louis vuitton and gucci. LAME.just like enid. (who by the way, becomes kind of badass in the college years.)
also, in the revised books they are a size 4, LAMER
OMG i totally have to read svh now — like la coccinelle, i only read the little kid twins books. i can’t wait to read the reviews! erin, you’re doing a PUBLIC SERVICE with this project. srsly.
I read that, tayla. What the eff? QUIT VANITY SIZING THE TWINS!
Meghan, I fully expect to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Or be selected as a poet laureate, or something.
La Cocinelle, I was always more like Liz, too. Which is why I liked Jess better.
Erin, I can’t WAIT for these reviews! And I can’t wait to start reading these books myself! I have a feeling I should have been reading these in my teen years instead of the Hardy Boys…
OMG. Seriously, that is all I can say. OMG. I (heart) you.
like la cocinelle, i never really got into SVH. my childhood bff, emily, LOVED the series, and while i thought the twins always looked really pretty on the cover, i considered the books to be too “trashy.” which is HILARIOUS considering my standards were based on the nancy drew case files.
i’d kind of love to go back in time and hand little sarah pants a copy of “gossip girl” cos it would BLOW MY MIND.
the fact that i’ve never actually read any of these books makes me even MORE excited that erin is launching this series, and i definitely plan on volunteering for some SVH review duty. maybe i can do one of the mysteries, given my extensive background in nancy drew detective work.
I loved all those books. The descriptions were always precisely the same, down to the identical necklaces the girls wore as gifts when they turned 16. And Lila drove a lime green Triumph! Which I always thought sounded weird, since Lila was supposed to be so rich and classy. I eagerly await the reviews!
um, you are the most amazing person IN. THE. WORLD.