From young reader til now

When I was young, my dad varnished a bookcase and set it up in my room. (It is in my daughter's room now.) I can still feel the sunshine on my back and smell the varnish as I perused the shelf for a book to read. I was seven years old, and truth be told, I had a hard time reading the books on the shelf. I realize now that it was because these were not "I can read" books but books that an adult read to a child. Books like "A Child's Book of Ballet" by Violet La Monet 1953 and "A Child's Book of Flowers in woods and Fields" by Irma Wilde 1952. My librarian grandmother gave me these books. Included in this collection was a book with a red cover about coal. Eventually P. D. Eastman wrote "Sam and the Firefly" 1958 and Dr Seus created "The Cat and the Hat. 1957. Finally, books with vocabularies appropriate for young children. My sweet mother went to the library and came back with "Rowena the Sailor" by Ruth Langland Holberg. I laughed my way through it several times before it was due back. I grew up reading the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins (though this series was juvenile) and Trixie Belden. I could polish off the Nancy Drew books in a couple hours. I envied Trixie her friendship with Jim and Honey. I wanted to have friends like that too, but alas I was shy and always had my "nose in a book." Later our elderly neighbors gave me Johanna Spryri's "Heidi." Interesting, because I knew the package under the tree was a book and over about a week, I stretched the tissue paper until I could read the title. My aunt gave me "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery some years later. When I was a teen I read "That Certain Girl" by Dorothea J Snow, "When Sarah Smiled," by Kathleen Robinson and "The Defiant Heart" by Florence B Michelson, books published in the early 60s. I got a package from Modess with a pamphlet "Growing Up and Liking It" my mother's approach to menses. I discovered "The Honor Girl" by Grace Livingston Hill and "Girl of the Limberlost" by Gene Stratton Porter. I enjoyed Mary Stewart's early books, the romances--"Nine Coaches Waiting," "My Brother Michael," "The Ivy Tree" and my favorite "This Rough Magic." Stewart was such an accomplished writer. In high school, I read Dickens--"A Tale of Two Cities," "Oliver Twist," "David Copperfield" and "Great Expectations." I studied John Steinbeck's "The Pearl," "Our Town by Thornton Wilder and "The Great Gatsby" by F Scott Fitgerald. We asked our English teacher for happy books and to tell us the meaning of life. At the end of the semester, he read the phone book, the meaning of life. I read "Michael's Wife" which I surmised cost $2.49. Now, I can buy the book on ebay for $50. My grandpa called me on an old paperback I was reading because of course it had a picture of a long gowned, distressed heroine on the front. Have to research the title but it was about a newspaper reporter who headed out to interview Janus who predicted that the world would end in seven days. Back in the early 80's I read Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander." It is well-written and researched but to this day Captain's obsession and lust toward Jamie and Jamie's beating of Claire haunt me. Outlander is a series in England. Though Catherine Marshall's "Christy" is awkward at times, it's an intesting, intriguing read and had some influence on my career choice to be a teacher. I read Rebecca Brandewyne's romance "Love, Cherish Me." Too much ugliness...murder, rape, greed. And of course J. K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book. I wore the book "First Violin" by Jessie Fothergill into two halves. For fun, I tried to write a sequel, but realized that I knew nothing of life in England, so best give the idea up! I have kept a few books in my personal kindle library. Janette Oke's "The Calling of Emily Evans," mainly because of the interesting history of female deaconesses in Canada, "Minnie Chase Makes a Mistake," a well-written book by Helen MacArthur, a fun book "Studs and Stilletos" by Bev Petersen, "Pink Balloons and Other Things" by Nancy Tessler to name a few. I also have come to appreciate the poetry and lyrical verses of the old Bible my grandfather gave me. It seems to me that few authors of today have the writing flair, originality, plot line and character development of the writers of yore. I find an intesting author every once in a great while and enjoy the read, but the books don't hold the same importance in my development as the earlier books.