I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a book. According to my dad, I was reading somewhere between the ages of three and four. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I will take his word for it.
This week at Steph in the City Group Blog Thursday, Steph asks, “What book(s) did you love growing up?”
The first book I remember reading, out loud to my first grade teacher, Mrs. James (and I went to Oak View Elementary School in San Raphael, California) was “Snow.”
Snow. Snow. Snow. Snow, Snow. Do you like Snow? I think I commited the book to memory. I still remember the first three or four pages…filled with a big picture and one word 
By fourth grade I was reading Walter Farley’s phenomenal series, The Black Stallion. I read every single one. It helped that a few years later, I had my own horse. And I became a big fan of horse racing and even wrote a term paper in tenth grade on The Triple Crown Winners (and no horse has won the triple crown since I wrote that in 1978).
I read every Nancy Drew book ever written between the ages of 10 and 13. I wanted to be Nancy and solve mysteries. One time while I was grounded, my mom let my dad take me to the library. I checked out 15 Nancy Drew books, sat in the “grounded” chair in the living room and read every one of them during my jail weekend. Mom never allowed me to read during groundation again. I was in HEAVEN.
In seventh grade I found “Gone With the Wind” and fell in love with all things American History with a strong affection for the antebellum period. Hoop skirts and 20 inch waists.
Around the same time, I found the series of historical fiction books by John Jakes, “The Bastard,” “The Rebel,” etc – I”ve read all the Kent Family Chronicles, The Crown Family Chronicles, and North and South (I just checked his website, and he’s on his 18th consecutive best seller. Iwant to be him.)
I discovered Stephen King, VC Andrews, and Ann Rice as a teenager. Redrum, incest, and the vampire Lestat…no wonder I failed geometry as a junior in high school.
So there we go…a book trip through my childhood. What about you? What were your favorites?
Great post! I was an avid reader growing up too, and still am. Just started collecting some of my old childhood favourites. Anything with horses got my attention – the Black Stallion and any of the Marguerite Henry books (Misty of Chincoteague, etc)…Loved the Big Red series about dogs too. LOL Pretty much anything animal related was good for me! As I got a little older I read a lot of westerns – went through a Zane Grey phase, among other things. The classics are high on my list too – Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice are two of my faves. I’ve always enjoyed having eclectic taste!
Hi Marina!
How could I forget Misty of Chincoteague! I also LOVED Jane Eyre. I think I found her in jr. high school.
I love books
Reading has been a passion of mine ever since I learned how. One of my first favorites was Charlotte’s Web. I also loved anything by Judy Blume, Shel Silverstein and Rauld Dahl. I collected all the Babysitter’s Club books. I adored Madeline L’Engle and C.S. Lewis.
High School turned me on to ‘the standards’ – James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzherald, Nathanial Hawthorne, Leo Tolstoy, Jane Austen, H.G. Wells and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But for fun during those years I was all about Michael Crichton (his death – such a shame).
Thanks for this little walk down my own literary memory lane! And thanks for sharing yours. That group blog is neat!
Hi Carolyn,
My oldest daughter was hooked on the Babysitters Club and Goosebumps. She ate those books up. I got her turned on to Anne MacAffery after I saw her Babaysitter collection and thought she needed a shift in her reading
I was a big Stephen King fan. Dean Koontz. I remember my first big book was off my sister’s bookshelf called, “Island of the Blue Dolphins”. I meant to read it again as an adult, because I must have been about 8yrs old when I read it. She was very impressed I read such a hard book. I also read “Little Women” and “Little Men” at that age. Nowadays, I read all kinds of stuff. Fantasy. Sci-Fi. Romance. Mystery. Skys the limit! Thanks for posting this and the memories it brings.
Hi Angelia!
Island of the Blue Dolphins…how could I forget? I devoured that book more than once and I know a copy of it is in one of my daughters’ keepsake boxes…Fabulous book!
I read a little Nancy Drew but not much. I think I remember reading a book about snow but I don’t know if it was the same one?
Hi Steph!
I went looking for the book online. Since I was in first grade in 1968ish, the book is probably long out of print. But it did have two kids making snowballs, having a snowball fight, and building igloos.
Hi Peggy,
I loved Anne Rice too. I remember reading all the Vampire books too. I don’t think I would ever be into those books now but then, they spoke to me for some reason.
Reading is one of my favorite things. Bookstores are like heaven and how I wish I could buy twenty books at a time.
As for other teenage favorites, I loved “Catcher in the Rye” as well as “The Good Earth”. I also read a lot of Danielle Steel books then too. My views of romance were greatly distorted as a result but I came to my senses eventually.
Hi Nadia!
Danielle Steele did a number on me as well…glad I grew out of it
But…I still think Wanderlust is my favorite book of hers. 
I loved Nancy Drew and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as a child. Then came my three life time favs – Dr. Zhivago, Gone with Wind and Atlas Shrugged – I read them all over about once a decade! The latter one spurred an interest in Ayn Rand which led me to philosophies. And on and on and on………….
I remember that I read a lot of garbage literature – steamy adult novels like Harrold Robbins, etc. In the 1970′s this genre was considered a bit trashy.
I do remember reading the Lord Of The Ring Trilogy. I think I liked the books so much because the characters reminded me of the people in my home town. (dry humour here)
Always had my nose in a book though – my Mum thought I needed book addiction help. She hated to read and thought I was abnormal.
Did any of you readers get hooked on children’s books? I use to read all day long to my daughters and could never get enough of “The Little Old Man Who Could Not Read”