Your Reading History

[Amanda]

As a young teenager I went through the Sweet Valley High and Sweet Dreams books like all the girls.

Then somehow I watched Watership Down and read that, which led me to William Horwood series that starts with Duncton Wood. Which is kind of like Lord of Rings with moles. Absolutely fantastic! (though I am not a Lord of the Rings fan).

That led me onto one of my favourite books William Horwood's Skallagrigg. After reading about the moles, I was soooo not expecting this book to be quite like it is.

My mum was also into Jean Plaidy and she talked about the kings and queens A LOT! I admit.....I use to tune her out! Can you believe it! I did read Queen of The Realm, and Elizabeth Byrds Mary Queen of Scots novel (can't remember the title right this minute). And the Marie Antoinette novel which I think may have been a Victoria Holt???

But what I think really kicked off my love of reading about history was when I was somewhere in my early 20s and I read Alison Weir's book on Elizabeth that I picked up at a book sale. And so I started to branch out from there......

[Ash]

Wow, you guys have good memories - I have been reading since I was 5, and honestly don't remember much of what I read those first few years. What I do remember was my parents owned a deli across the street from the main city library. To get me out of their hair on weekends, they'd send me to the library. The children's librarian took me under her wing (and I suspect a free pastrami sandwich helped) and fed me on a steady diet of books for many years. I don't remember the name of the first book I read by myself, but I remember her beaming when I told her about it.

By middle school my favorite books were Heide, Little Women, Jane Eyre, anything by Beverly Cleary. I used my sisters 'adult' library card to get into more mature books, and read everyting I could get my hands on. I got hooked on horse books in jr hi.

In HS I was reading sci fi and fantasy pretty much 24/7. I was also very much into Arthur stories, and ate up Once and Future King, and the Mary Steward series.

I'd always loved travel books; those often lead to history books, which led to historic fiction. I can't remember what I read in college, only that I had a book in my hand constantly when I didn't have to read something for school. I do remember getting turned on to a variety of books that I missed along the way that my new found college peers were loving.

The big change in my reading came in 2000 when I discovered the internet, and Table Talk, a book forum sponsored by Salon.com. My eyes were opened to amazing discussions, books and authors I never heard of, ideas I never was exposed to before. That has in turn lead me to Readerville and Book Balloon, and here, of course.

Since then I have become a very ecletic reader; I read a wide variety of books, yet at the same time I have much less patience for poorly written books. The number of books I read in a year has gone down, not because I am reading less books, but because I don't finish as many as I used to. I don't feel the need to read bad books when there is so much out there to explore!

[Margaret]

What a fun thread! I read way too much as a child to list even a fraction of the books, but there were a few memorable ones:

Before I was even in school, my mother and I checked out Kay Thompson's picture book, Eloise, from the local library (where all the books were jumbled on tables in the middle of the room, as well as on shelves). I loved it so much, that although for many years I had no idea what the title even was, I cherished a vague memory of the illustrations and the book's wonderful heroine - and finally rediscovered it a few years ago. I was an ultra-obedient little girl, and I was surprised to find that Eloise was such a naughty, naughty child!

A friend of mine who lived down the street seemed to have discovered all the best books before I did: Marguerite Henry's King of the Wind, and a series that included some rather spooky fairy tales, Andrew Lang's The Red Fairy Book, etc.

My third-grade teacher read Charlotte's Web to us, and my sixth-grade teacher read us a Sci-Fi novel about a boy named Peter who invents an anti-gravity machine. Loved them both.

In high school, I discovered Shakespeare and fell in love with the Franco Zeffirelli film of Romeo and Juliet. Read the play over and over again.

[Grainne]

Impossible to list all the books I've read - I've been reading avidly for the past 50 years (gulp - I don't feel that old!). To begin with apart fro gift classics like "What Katy Did", "Heidi" "Little Women" most of my books came from the library. They had 1 bay of historical fiction, and I started at the top left hand corner and worked my way through to the bottom left hand corner. All the classic children's historical fiction authors, Geoffrey Trease, Henry Treece, Rosemary Sutcliff, plus loads of authors whose names I have forgotten but who gave me enormous pleasure at the time.

Then I read Anya Seton's "Katherine" - I thought it was absolutely wonderful. So I read all her other books, then Nora Lofts, Evelyn Anthony, Margaret Campbell Barnes, Georgette Heyer, Jane Aiken Hodge.

Then a friend introduced me to the work of Dorothy Dunnett - oh Boy! Could that woman write! I've read Lymond, Niccolo, and King Hereafter - not keen on Niccolo, but love the others. Have read all Pamela Belle, Stella Riley, Reay Tannahill, most Philippa Gregory, some Barbara Erskine (Kingdom of Shadows is definitely her best), M M Kaye, Mary Renault, Elizabeth Harris, Elizabeth Chadwick and I could go on for some time. Favourite period - medieval England, and the English Civil War, bu don't confine myself tot I those. I also read science fiction, and if you fancy the "First historical novel of the 21st century", I highly recommend "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson.

[rebecca]

[quote=""Grainne""]Impossible to list all the books I've read - I've been reading avidly for the past 50 years (gulp - I don't feel that old!). To begin with apart fro gift classics like "What Katy Did", "Heidi" "Little Women" most of my books came from the library. They had 1 bay of historical fiction, and I started at the top left hand corner and worked my way through to the bottom left hand corner. All the classic children's historical fiction authors, Geoffrey Trease, Henry Treece, Rosemary Sutcliff, plus loads of authors whose names I have forgotten but who gave me enormous pleasure at the time.

Then I read Anya Seton's "Katherine" - I thought it was absolutely wonderful. So I read all her other books, then Nora Lofts, Evelyn Anthony, Margaret Campbell Barnes, Georgette Heyer, Jane Aiken Hodge.

Then a friend introduced me to the work of Dorothy Dunnett - oh Boy! Could that woman write! I've read Lymond, Niccolo, and King Hereafter - not keen on Niccolo, but love the others. Have read all Pamela Belle, Stella Riley, Reay Tannahill, most Philippa Gregory, some Barbara Erskine (Kingdom of Shadows is definitely her best), M M Kaye, Mary Renault, Elizabeth Harris, Elizabeth Chadwick and I could go on for some time. Favourite period - medieval England, and the English Civil War, bu don't confine myself tot I those. I also read science fiction, and if you fancy the "First historical novel of the 21st century", I highly recommend "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson.[/quote]

I don't 'get' Dorothy Dunnett but I kept the books in the hope that oneday I will:rolleyes erhaps when I'm 70 and have more patience . I also love Elizabeth Chadwick and am looking forward to her trilogy on Eleanor of Aquitaine....I have never heard of Cryptonomicon.....Now I will have to check it out.

Bec

[Ash]

I highly recommend "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson.

I tried to read it for a book group and it just didn't take. But he is going to be reading at our local indie next month and plan to be there - he sounds like a fascinating writer.