Books! - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Sentimental Sunday

The prompt for Week 23 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Books:

What was your favorite book, or who was your favorite author from your childhood? What do you like to read now? Books or other formats?

I'm not sure I can name just one favorite book or author from my childhood - there were so many!  I loved the Little Women series and other books by Louisa May Alcott like Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Under the Lilacs, Jack and Jill, and An Old-Fashioned Girl.  Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden and A Little Princess were other favorites.  I think I read almost every Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew mystery!

Me reading in sophomore year, 1972-73, probably A Pillar of Iron

The most memorable book from my middle school years was To Kill a Mockingbird.  I remember doing a presentation in eighth grade over St. Francis de Sales School's newly-acquired closed-circuit TV system - I was Scout.   In high school (St. Agnes Academy in Houston), I remember reading Taylor Caldwell's A Pillar of Iron as a sophomore, and senior year was the beginning of my lifelong obsession with Shakespeare (particularly in outdoor theaters).

What do I like to read now?  Historical fiction is my favorite, but I also like literary fiction, biographies, and other nonfiction.  With an hour-and-a-half round-trip commute in my car each work day, I am an audiobook aficionado.  I am also a librarian and I don't buy a lot of books; if my local or university library doesn't have what I want, I can get just about everything through interlibrary loan.  Since May 2007, I have tried to write a review of every book I read. I don't have an e-book reader and don't plan to get one anytime soon - why waste batteries?

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.