Friday, May 22, 2009

Musing Mondays (Am I Early or Late?)



I have to credit my stepdaughter Pam with being my blogging mentor. Pam is the author of Pam's Perspective. As with most of her endeavors, she set the bar VERY HIGH with her wonderful blog. Take a few minutes and visit her and you'll see what I mean. Pam encouraged me to start blogging and, as usual, has been very helpful.

One of the many things Pam and I share is a love of books and reading. Pam actually works in a library and also moderates two different book groups, one that I am part of. Pam's post for today is entited
Musing Mondays. In her post she asks the question:

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading? Was it from a particular person, or person(s)? Do you remember any books that you read, or were read to you, as a young child?

I don't remember what in particular started my love of reading. I'm sure my parents read to me as a little girl but I don't have any specific recollections. My first strong memory of a love of reading was my 3rd grade teacher (whose name escapes me) who had a shelf full of Nancy Drew books. I actually only spent about two weeks in her classroom. Soon after school started that year, I was tested and put into a 4th grade class, skipping the 3rd grade.

But I remember that bookshelf and going into her room day after day to get another Nancy Drew book. I don't know how many I read but I know I started at one end of the shelf and went to the end.

Later I attended a private school for grades 6th-8th which had a small library. Very small, about the size of my bedroom closet, small. There was a series of biographies. I remember books about Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, Stephen Foster, to name a few. I remember in my early 20's a period of reading Hollywood biographies. I love biographies and autobiographies (now they seem to be called Memoirs) to this day.

When I was in 7th grade I remember my parents bought a set of World Book Encyclopedias. Let me tell you that was a major investment at the time. My father actually made a custom bookshelf for the set and it was a very cherished possession for a long time. I remember sitting and reading one volume at a time from cover to cover (can you say nerd). And every year we would get the Year Book which came with a set of stickers to be put in the appropriate World Book volume referencing an article in the Year Book usually reporting the death of someone or a scientific breakthrough.

I didn't realize until I started this that I guess I do have some major memories about reading. Once again, thanks Pam!

How about you? Do you remember how you developed a love of reading?

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.



Image shamlessly lifted from Pam's Perspectives

2 comments:

Pam said...

I can't take full credit for Musing Mondays. I found it on Rebecca's blog - Just One More Page. As for helping you with blogging, well I haven't really helped all that much. You've done a great job figuring it out on your own.

I don't think I knew that you had read the entire encyclopedia set! That is amazing. I bet you are a whiz at Jeopardy! I can definitely relate to reading anything and everything you can get your hands on. I remember being at a neighbor's house once and the Mom saw me reading an old girl scout manual that was laying around. She said that very thing to me - you like to read so much, you will read anything. She didn't say it meanly, I think she was stunned. LOL!

Alex the Girl said...

Wow, you're really Pam's Step-mom? I just had to say that because it was the first thing I thought when I read it. And yes, Pam's blog is amazing.

I commented on her musing Monday, but I'll keep it short here. I left a novel there, I think. Basically, I think it was book envy that inspired my love of reading. My mom and dad read quite a bit while I was growing up, and I wanted to know what in the world could be so fascinating as to keep someone reading a book that didn't have pictures. Hmm..Maybe book curiousity instead of envy.

 

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