This week's theme almost seems too big for me. Where to start? Really??? I have always loved to read. I was read to in the womb, I suppose you could say. My older sister being the primary audience, but secondhand reading should count for something, right??? Anyway, I think I can honestly say that my love of books happened really early on. Books were an every day thing. And my parents (and my grandparents not to an aunt now and then) all thought books were important. We grew up surrounded by books and loving books and loving to be read to. I don't think we ever had attention span problems. I don't remember being the antsy sort of kid that had to run, run, run all the time. I don't think I ever had to be chased and caught and held on to in order to listen to a book. Because there were so many books (then and now) it's always been hard to narrow it down to just a few.
There's Alice in Wonderland, of course, and the sequel Through the Looking Glass.
There's Winnie the Pooh and House at Pooh Corner and the two poetry books featuring Christopher Robin and friends.
There's the Little House books.
The Ramona books.
The Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books.
The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was discovered in fourth grade.
The Babysitters Club were probably fourth or fifth as well. But by the end of sixth I was a little too old for them.
I loved reading Trumpet of the Swan in between fifth and sixth grades. I remember the day I read it because there was a fire in our pasture. Very scary that. (I also loved Charlotte's Web).
I loved Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Loved it.
The Anne books. These were probably discovered around sixth grade or so. (L.M. Montgomery)
Around seven and eighth grade, I discovered Gone With The Wind.
Also during these junior high years I discovered (and loved) the Sunfire Romance series. (the "name" books)
High school saw me discovering the rest of L.M. Montgomery's books. (The Emily series, Blue Castle, etc.) And also discovering Eugenia Price's historical series. I also found Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
That I think covers many of the important books before the age of 18. (But excluding picture books because that would be way too long.)
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
10 comments:
You have named alot of books I have read at the same age. My parents were also big time readers, but none of my friends were. So I kept my reading obsession to myself.
My whole family are readers and a lot of my list would look similar to yours. Except I've never read the Anne of Green Gables books ...
I hadn't touch a Narnia book until last year. I read the whole set! I wish I had read them as a child, but oh well. =)
Other books we have in common:
Ramona books
The Baby-sitters Club
Gone with the Wind
I too loved the Babysitter's Club books! The Ramona books were also excellent, as were the Little House books.
All but two of those were childhood favorites of mine, too. What great books.
I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too! What a great book.
I totally forgot to mention Alice and Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! How did I miss those? You sound like you had a very rich heritage of literature handed to you as a child. Lucky you!! :) I read. A lot. But my love of reading must have just grown in me as I was in those early stages of learning to read. I still remember the thrill of reading a little text book out loud to my mom and realizing how all those letters worked to make words! Most of my literature recommendations came from librarians--both at my schools nad the public library. Sadly, I have no memories of my mom reading to me, but I do of my dad. It wasn't that they enjoy reading themselves, I think they just had a hands off attitude back in the 60's when we got to the age of reading independently.
I really enjoyed reading your list!
*smiles*
Kim
(page after page)
Roald Dahl rocked, but Charlie was absolutely his best! What a twisted, mysogynistic, misanthropic, and out-and-out old weirdo Dahl was. Perfect for writing the books that kids love. :-)
I recall my teacher in England reading Charlie to our class when I was eight. In the middle of an Oompa-Loompa song describing one of the brats,she suddenly hesitated and turned pink. She had reached the moment when Dahl blasted the kid as a bum (in the American sense, I can only assume, which wasn't well known in the 70s UK...) Of course, in England, the word means butt. Faltering, she substituted "child". There was a frisson of amusement and a few suppressed giggles: having all read it, we had also all translated... :-)
I agree. There are just too many to list. I forgot to mention the Panchatantra stories relating to Hindu Mythology. However, I have not read any Narnia book till date!
I had a hard time narrowing my list down, too, but in the end, I chose two titles to represent my childhood faves.
I can't believe I forgot to include Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Tsk tsk. But I think that deserves a blog entry on its own. :)
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