I know I'm a bit late today compared to the rest of how the week has been. But maintenance came by today and found out late yesterday that they were coming. So pulled an all nighter making sure everything was in order. Then ended up napping during the day and getting it out to you all late. But I'm getting caught up slowly but surely just taking time to do so. I look forward to tomorrow when I will be back on schedule hopefully.
But today we are in the library so that means we are discussing reading not writing. Lately we had been discussing authors, but I figured we would go in a different direction today and talk about books that impacted my reading life. We all have those books that get us to become readers or reinvigorate our love for reading. Or blow us away when we read them. Those are the books in my life we will be looking at today and I welcome you to share yours in the comments below.
The first book I have to mention all the way back from early childhood is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. That book really hit me hard as a kid and got me started thinking. Not sure but I think it was one of the sources of my ability at philosophical thinking. I only have a kindle copy today since I lost the hardcover version a while back but I'm determined to get another hardcover version.
The next book that comes to mind is Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which I read in fifth grade. It fueled my love for Science Fiction as well as my love of dinosaurs. I thought the movie based on the book was a very watered down version of it. It has led to me reading a lot of Science Fiction throughout the years. Plus it gave me a love of science in general as much as it can be a pain to study in the classroom.
Shortly after that I got into National Geographic Magazine. I found the articles on history and science fascinating. I still do to this day, it is why I have a subscription to it. There is always something about conservation or a great discovery or a story about a far off place. As well as in depth science articles and multi-issue stories on problems facing the world. They look at the world from all sorts of different angles it is very fascinating. I plan to have a subscription for as long as I'm alive.
The next book that impacted me was Demons Don't Dream by Piers Anthony. It fell into my hands when I was at a point when I had fallen into a lull in reading. And I was fascinated with computers. It opened the window to Xanth for me and brought me into reading Fantasy as well. I devoured it and three more in the series after it. As well as found two other series thanks to it. I've read a good chunk of the Xanth Series since then including going back and reading a lot of the ones before it.
After that it was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I devoured that book hungrily. It was a fascinating look at America's past. Not all good but it showed there had always been good people in our past. It was also fascinating to see it through a child's eyes. Unfortunately I lose my copy of it, but I'm working on getting another copy and plan to get the sequel when it comes out.
The following year I fell even more in love with classics with Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It started out slow as classics often do. But once it picked up I devoured it like every book on this list. I read it all in one night. My English Teacher wasn't totally thrilled that I had done that though. Turns out teachers don't like you killing a book they plan to assign as months of homework in one night. Oops. But I did get great grades on my essays for that book.
I did a lot of reading all through high school really but in my twenties again I fell into a rut of not reading. And then Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling came along. I was just sitting in the recliner after a bad reaction to my first flu shot and picked it up thinking I would just peek and see what all the fuss was about. Several hours later I had finished it and was reaching for book 2. This also led to the infamous BBQ Sauce in book 4 incident. It hooked me and away I went with it.
There are more but I think I will leave off there and save it for another installment probably when I reach 40. I look forward to seeing what you think of the books that have impacted my reading life in the comments below. For now I'm off to get dinner going. *Tips his hat and walks out the door headed for the kitchen.*
No comments:
Post a Comment