Where it All Began: A Life of Reading
I've been reading avidly since I started school. I don't remember whether I read early or not or whether I
was a glutton when it came to owning books at that time, but I do remember that once I started reading, I
quickly progressed and that the school library was my favorite place to be.
But owning books? I know exactly when that began, how important it became to me, and what that first
book was that soon had me splitting my allowance between stamps and books: The Lion, The Witch, and
The Wardrobe. I got it separately, not as part of the boxed set that is in the picture. Once I finished
reading it, though, I hungered for the set. I desperately wanted those books, and while I don't quite
remember how I managed to finagle my way to it, I do recall that it didn't take too long before they were
mine.
Other collections soon followed. I needed all of the Trixie Belden books and within a couple years had
gotten the 34 that were available. They remain some of my favorite books of all time. The Black Stallion
series was a must, as where the set of books about Irish setters, Big Red, and the like. I can close my eyes
and be ten, eleven, twelve again, devouring those books. Oh, I remember bawling over Where The Red
Fern Grows and Old Yeller!
I was lucky enough to go with my father when he taught history courses for the college; I'd sit and read
Heidi and Swiss Family Robinson while he taught. All these books still grace my shelves; I've held onto
these despite eight moves over the first fourteen years of marriage, although other books I was forced to
part ways with.
Once upon a time, I raced my grandma to read books by Phyllis Wheatley, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart and
similar writers. We had a blast. Mom read along, too, and by the time I was ten I was reading behind my
parents, picking up whatever they'd finished reading. From Mom's reading choices, I was introduced to
Danielle Steel, Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Erich Segal, and Colleen McCullough. Imagine
reading Thorn Birds as an eleven year old! I wondered on french letters for years and years. From Dad, I
got to read science fiction masters like Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke, and the long, sweeping novels of
Mitchener.
As I grew up, I found my own particular interests to read, slipped headlong into fantasy and Stephen
Donaldson, Gene Wolfe, and David Eddings. I learned as a teenager that I loved nonfiction as well and
read Darwin's The Origin of Species and the incredibly thick The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It got to
where a good deal of my time at school was spent reading books I brought along from home or scoured
the library for.
Books have remained an all-consuming passion for me and there are very few books I wouldn't want to
have, even if over time, my particular areas of interest have shifted. And I still read behind both my mom
and dad; their interests have widened some over the intervening decades and there are the occasional
authors that all three of us read, and even occasionally, that my son and my youngest brother do, as well.
I've passed this love of reading and the love of acquiring books to all three of my children, and it's an
absolute joy to share worlds with them. I have, however, made sure to keep the books like Thorn Birds well
out of my kids' reach.