Faith tagged me for this meme – so Sunday brunch can wait for a few more minutes.
1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you?
I was six and in first grade. My mom says the school I was in used a wonderful phonics-based program and I could read by Christmas. But it wasn’t until later, I think in second grade that I actually remember sitting down with books at home and really, REALLY reading.
2. Did you own any books as a child? If so, what’s the first one that you remember owning? If not, do you recall any of the first titles that you borrowed from the library?
I grew up in a house with books everywhere. My dad is a bibliophile and my mother read aloud to us regularly from some really, really good books. Some of the first books I remember owning were — the ARCH books (Bible stories, often in rhyme), Enid Blyton’s Noddy books, an illustrated Wynken, Blynken and Nod, and Andrew Lang’s fairy tale collections that were named by colors. I also still have an old Winnie the Pooh book, very much worn, so I think that was another childhood favorite. My mom read CS Lewis Narnia Chronicles aloud to us when I was about seven or eight and she says that was when she knew I could really read, because it was the first time I took a read-aloud and read the rest of it by myself. She also read us the Patricia M St John books like Tanglewood Secret and Rainbow Garden. My maternal relatives were Canadian and used to send me LM Montgomery books for birthdays — I loved those.
3. What’s the first book that you bought with your own money?
I think it was an LM Montgomery book. They weren’t readily available in the US when I was growing up so once when I was visiting relatives in Canada I grabbed one. But I didn’t have much spending money when I was growing up so usually, books were out of my reach. I think I bought comics occasionally — I liked superhero ones — because they were only a quarter back then (!).
4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often?
I reread endlessly. I read the Narnia Chronicles again and again. I still know whole sections practically by heart. Also the LM Montgomery books. Also Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain — I discovered these in my school library and practically had them permanently borrowed, until I ended up buying my own set or convincing my parents to get them for my birthday — I can’t remember which.
5. What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it?
Oliver Twist, in seventh grade. I’m not sure if that counts because Dickens was originally writing for families, not just adults, I think.
The Robe, by Lloyd Douglas, in eighth grade.
Also, I used to babysit for a couple who both were doctors of psychology of some kind — they had some books about autism and I read one of those — I think it was called “Dibs, in Search of Self.” That was in about seventh grade too.
In general, middle school was the time I started taking an interest in books written for adults. I read some really poor stuff along with the good. No one censored my reading at all. My parents had all kinds of books but all good ones. I remember reading James Herriot, Gerald Durrell, and Les Miserables, and the Three Musketeers, for instance, and the Brontes, and Jane Austen. But my middle school library had plenty of stuff I wouldn’t really want my kids to read now. Uck.
6. Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones?
The Lord of the Rings series, if that counts as childrens’ books. Someone lent a Tolkien set to me when I was a teenager because they knew I loved fantasy like Lloyd Alexander and CS Lewis. I couldn’t get past the first chapter — that endless hobbit birthday party. At that point in my life I was just not a hobbit person. But after I married, I read LOTR because they were my husband’s all time favorite books. They stunned me; I absolutely loved them and still do. And my kids have inherited a double dose of LOTR devotion. Their dad read the series to them when the older ones were ten and under. THey practically grew up in Middle Earth.
I tag my daughter!
and Steph, and Amy, and Alicia, and Alice.
