Because they’re good, and because I can get lost in the worlds they bring to my mind’s eye. Some of these authors I still read today. I devoured everything from Jean Auel, Piers Anthony, and Marion Zimmer Bradley to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Anne Rice. Once I could get books from the library that didn’t have the purple dot on them, my literary world was blown wide open. And now I’m saving them for my grandchildren, because I don’t think I was as successful as my parents were at passing down the love of literature.Īs I got older, I dove harder into genre writing. I still have many of them because I saved them for my children. There are a few in that list some might consider literary, but many fall into the category of good old genre fiction. Seuss, I enjoyed Roald Dahl, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Scott O’Dell, Louisa May Alcott, Franklin Dixon, Carolyn Keene, the Choose Your Own Adventure Series, and of course, Judy Blume. I knew that eventually the books on those shelves would find their way to our city library.Īs a kid, I was fairly well read. My family didn’t have a lot of money, so we didn’t buy a lot of new books there, but it was a thrill just to be there and look around. In any case, I do remember that prior to puberty, trips to the mall were exciting for two reasons: first, because I could climb up and sit in the conversion vans in the car dealership that was actually in our mall and second, we got to go to Walden Books. I don’t think that was entirely true, I mean, my Dad read books too. My Mom sits on the couch all day and reads love stories. On one of the pages it asks what my parents do during the day while I’m at school.
Recently I found a crayon drawing and questionnaire book I made when I was in elementary school.
I don’t know if this is my parents’ fault or not.