Dumpster Reading

At the dumpsters (aka Recycling Center) last week I was putting my mixed paper into the big bin and right there on top were some books.

I couldn't resist.

First of all was my old friend Nancy Drew who, in this incarnation has teamed up with the Hardy Boys and they, along with her ever-faithful boy friend, Ned Nickerson (those two have been dating since the 1930's and I don't think Ned has gotten to second base yet,) and her girl pals Bess and George are having a beach party on Padre Island.


I grew up on a combination of the early Nancy Drew's along with the Fifties version and I was a little surprised by the romance novels elements that have crept into the 1989 version. Nancy, that minx, has unresolved feelings toward one of the Hardy boys and is a bit of a flirt with another guy. The cover should have been a giveaway. 
Then I picked up a little clutch of Christian apocalyptic books.  W. G. Heslop was predicting doom back in 1937 (if I'm reading those Roman numerals correctly.) Ron Parsley's books are more recent --1990 and 1992. But what I want to know is why these books were discarded rather than passed on to someone who might be receptive to their message.  Did the previous owner decide the books were useless? Or was he/she caught up in a kind of pre-Rapture Rapture and the books tossed in the recycle bin by skeptical family members who were left behind.

Inquiring minds want to know...