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I'm certainly no Book-Girl, but I would like to tell you a little bit about my courtship with the hobby of reading...I hope you don't get too bored by this!

My mother was a college English and Literature professor for years. It was not uncommon to find her standing in the middle of the kitchen quoting Shakespeare or James Joyce. Her dissertation in graduate school was called 'Images of Women in Saul Bellow's Novels.' Clearly, she loved to read. She had a huge collection of books in almost every room of the house. She read incessantly. It was her passion to read as well as to teach the things that she read.
I learned to read at an early age and would play a game with my mother called, "Who Wrote?" which consisted of her saying, "Who wrote..." and then throwing out a random classic novel. This game usually centered around the same dozen or so classic authors (T.S. Elliot, Saul Bellow, William Shakespeare, Earnest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald). I enjoyed the guessing and matching aspects of the game but I never really cared much about the books or what they might have been about.

I have some of these classics on my bookshelves now. I salvaged them from my mother as she started to throw them out or give them away. Things have changed in her life so dramatically that she has trouble reading anymore. But I knew these books were important in the world and I kept them as mementos I guess.

When I was a pre-teen, I read a lot of fun stuff like the Sweet Valley High and Babysitters Club series. I also read just about anything by Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. That was before we got cable.

Later on, in high school, I stopped enjoying reading. I never got past the first chapter in any assigned readings inschool (Uncle Tom's Cabin, Wuthering Heights, The Scarlett Letter). I read Tiger Beat magazine and watched TV instead. I just wasn't into it. It didn't do anything for me. In retrospect, I think I was rebelling against my mother, trying to disappoint her - wouldn't be the first time.

I'm not sure why but I picked up and read Tom Robbins' Still Life With Woodpecker during my study hours my senior year. Must've been because I smoked Camel cigarettes at the time! (If that doesn't make sense to you, read the book and you'll get it). I adored that book! It was wacky and weird; not at all what I had expected.

So years went by and I grew up and hauled my small collection of books from apartment to apartment throughout college. I kept them with me though I rarely read them. I'd read poetry. Loved Emily Dickenson, e. e. cummings, and Rilke. Novels just weren't my bag.

At one point in my life, while I was living with my mother to try and pull myself out of some well-earned debt, I literally woke up with a desire to read a novel. Not just any novel, though. It had to be John Irving.

My mom raved about John Irving incessantly. She read all of his novels and short stories. She'd go see him do readings at the Tattered Cover whenever he was in town. She even took a writing workshop with him and he critiqued one of her own stories (this was back when she was also still writing). To me, he was a god of books. I knew there must've been something in his books that kept her coming back to them.

So one day, I asked her if I could borrow one of her Irving novels. I asked her to recommend one for me to start with. I can't remember now if it was The World According to Garp or A Prayer for Owen Meany that I read first. Regardless, those were the best books I ever read in my life! I read all of the John Irving novels I could get my hands on (though I could never really get into Son of a Circus). And then I read more Tom Robbins. I suddenly became a reading snob and would only read books by those two authors.

A couple years later I decided to make peace with my high school rebellious streak from my past and began to read Wuthering Heights for fun. I enjoyed that book and went on to read Little Women. I was planned to continue reading all the classics but then I was introduced to Oprah's book club. That was like Lifetime television in print!!! I was hooked! What a great way to escape reality! I had discovered a portal to millions of different worlds! And it was soooo much safer (although, not necessarily cheaper in the long run) than drugs or alcohol!

Ever since then, I've been reading non-stop. I don't read very fast; it usually takes me about a month to read a complete book. I take my time and I read mostly at night before bed. I always have a book to read. It's a great way to escape without getting dizzy from staring at the computer or television screen! Honey and I have six big bookcases with hundreds of books in them. I have sold some in the past to used book stores and there was a period of time when I was addicted to the library. Now I'm addicted to Borders, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com!

So, now that you know my oh-so-facinating history with reading, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite books. These are grouped in no particular order, just as I came across them on my bookshelves or as they jumped back into my memory over time. Follow the links on the titles if you'd like to find out more about the books on amazon.com. Enjoy!