What Are You Reading?

I love to read. I do not remember not reading although I do remember learning to read in school. I suppose it might have been because my mother read to us too.

Both of my parents read a lot. As a result all of their children loved books. Reading was a relaxing activity on a hot summer afternoon. It was also a good reason to be alone for a little while which is good in a large family.

I will read almost anything. Books, magazines, even junk mail.

Over the years I have some favorites. I have favorite topics, favorite stories, and favorite authors.

Jane Eyre was a favorite book when I was in high school. I have not read it in years and have been thinking of doing it again soon.

Charles Dickens had some I liked and some I did not. I think The Pickwick Papers is my favorite.

Edgar Allen Poe was such a master. My mother was enthralled by his use of alliteration in The Raven. I enjoy his adeptness at building a story and keeping me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I liked the book Silence of the Lambs. After I read it I took it to my mother and told her to read it. I explained to her that it was the first thing I had ever read that did not have a wasted word in the whole book.

My mother referred the series of Mrs Polifax books to me. They are about the most unlikely spy the CIA ever employed.

Piers Anthony is most known for his Xanth series. It is a fantasy series about the magical land of Xanth. As much as I like the Xanth books I like the Incarnations of Immortality better. It explains the various aspects of the immortals sucha as Death or Mother Nature. Then it deals with God and the Devil. Finally there is the one who is above even those two.

My son introduced me to The Wheel of Time Series. He had been raving about them for so long that I finally gave in. I am so glad I did.

The Wamphyri series is about vampires AND another dimension. I am afraid of vampires but this was a different kind of story. I felt perfectly comfortable with the subect even late at night. Some people will recognize the series as part of the Necroscope series.

As a child I read every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on. I spent wonderful hours with her on her adventures.

I read every book about the Civil War that I see. I am only slightly less interested in the Revolutionary War. I cannot read about the more recent conflicts we have been involved with because they are just to close to deal with for me.

I have read all of Shakespeare's plays of course. My 2nd grade teacher told Mom I would like them when I was old enough to read them and she was right. I have to be honest though and say that I like his comedies the best.

I am the only person in my family who has not read The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. I have tried. I cannot get past the first chapter. 

Magazines are nice for passing the time. As a teenager I read all the magazines aimed at teens. I have read articles in most of the women's magazines. I used to like the okes in Playboy and Esquire. Mad Magazine is literary genius. Readers Digest has something for everyone.

Boy's Life is the official Boy Scouts magazine. My brothers were Boy Scouts so the magazine was always in the house. The articles were interesting and informative.

One article from Boys Life that sticks in my mind is the tale of the jungles in the sewers of New York. It tells of the abandoned animals that live in the sewers. Alligators grow to huge sizes because food is plentiful and predators are few. Over the years some experts deny that is true while others insist that it is. I do not know but the concept is fascinating.

My Weekly Reader came directly to the school. Each student paid a subscription fee and had their own copies. It covered current events. It had puzzles and games. There were history lessons. And it was so much fun.

On Fridays there would be a test in My Weekly Reader about what we had read during the week. I loved that test.

Biographies are a passion with me. I desire to know the reasons people do the things they do and why they are the way they are. To read about Thomas Jefferson for instance and gain understanding into his life lets me know why he believed in what he wrote in the Declaration of Independence.

From their biographies I learned that not only did Ulysses Grant and Robert E Lee have a lot in common but they had great admiration for each other. From biographies about Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis I found that there were many similarities in their lives as well.

In all those many reading materials I have traveled the universe. I have fallen in love. I have solved mysteries. I have laughed. I have cried. I have celebrated. I have mourned. I have gone back in time and forward in time.

If you need a cheap trip or a relaxing evening pick up something to read.