“Book Love” by Jenny Kaczorowski
It began innocently enough: a brand new copy of Goodnight Moon and parents patient enough to read it to me night after night after night. But Goodnight Moon was the gateway drug for many of my generation, and I soon turned to more hard-core reads, such as Pickle-Chiffon Pie and Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth.
In elementary school, our librarian fed us a steady supply of Shel Silverstein and Beverly Cleary. Once a year R.I.F. spread shiny new paperbacks on the school library tables and fed my addiction with one free book. Many a child joined the leagues of reading addicts after those visits. I was in love — obsessed, even. Libraries, bookstores, Scholastic fliers — I couldn’t get enough.
In middle school, melodrama ruled the day, usually with a good dose of paranormal phenomena thrown in. Christopher Pike and Lois Duncan kept me company every evening. My school work began to suffer. I neglected my friends, my family. I begged for one more chapter, one more paragraph whenever the outside world demanded my attention.
By high school I had turned to stealing books from my parents’ shelves. I smuggled battered Harlequins, travelogues, and classics to school, getting my fix between every class. Until I earned my drivers’ license. Then any book in the public library was fair game.
In college I majored in English, and learned to hide my addiction. I took to carrying classics and slim volumes of poetry to literature classes filled with snobby students who looked down on genre fiction and, like me, pretended they did not read themselves to sleep each night with a good novel.
I’ve gone through other phases: young adult lit in grad school, mysteries after that. I found others who share my addiction. I no longer feel shame when I crack open a paperback in public and smell the fresh paper, admire the shiny cover, delve into each seductive story, because I now know that I am not alone.
For most of us, an addiction to reading is not picky. Suspense, historicals, science fiction, classics, contemporary literature — we’ll read it all. In the end, even cereal boxes and shampoo bottles are appealing if there’s nothing else. Because after a lifetime of addiction, a junkie can always find the next fix.
i was also a Sweet Valley High junkie in elementary school. There’s a fabulous wordpress recapping the books. If i may?
http://thedairiburger.wordpress.com
Also, i was a Judy Blume fanatic. i read Forever a billionty times.
Her adult fiction is positively sinful!
Lois Lowry, Road Dahl, Cynthia Voigt, L. M. Montgomery, and yes, the cereal boxes and food labels (even as a 10 year old). I think I was the only person in my high school to actually read the yearbook (all those articles who knows who wrote). What can I say? In college I used to read while walking (I finished whole books that way, seeing as I didn’t have a car). My only rule was I had to stop while crossing the road. . . unless I could easily see no one was coming. I now teach high school English and can’t help but pick up a book between class. My students come in and say, “don’t you ever stop??” Of course not.
Slouching Mom, I haven’t read anything by her since I was in early high school, but I admit that just typing her name made me want to pick up one of her books again. Lots of good times between those covers.
C, thanks for sharing that link. I love that there’s a blog dedicated to the Sweet Valley High books! And, yes, I loved Judy Blume, too. I think I loved that she was so honest without trying to shock.
Carly, I loved all of those, too. And Madeline L’Engle. And about anything published under the Apple Books imprint. As for reading between classes, that’s fantastic. Can’t set any better example than that! When I taught English, I used to read with my classes, too, and I loved to discuss books with my students.
When I first opened a box of my Nan’s Harlequins as a teenager, little did I know my addiction to romance would result in me writing it one day for a living!
I adore all books…can never get enough 😉
My mom used to tell me that science fiction would rot my brain. But I couldn’t put it down. Nice little essay.
I can so relate with this! I got hooked on Richard Scary books like Mr. Paint Pig.. classic stuff!
xox
I saw people mentioned Sweet Valley High and Encyclopedia Brown which I loved. I also had a healthy obsession for CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE books, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries. My mom passed on her love of books and she too would read anything so I had a wide variety of contraband to smuggle from the bookshelf.
I love books, my email addy actually says this in another language. I’ve never felt embarrassed by it I guess because my mom encouraged it so much. On a roadtrip – we often took many as a kid – my mom knew all I needed was a book and a book of crossword puzzles and not a peep out of me. Its riveting to me to find others who engross themselves in books, its truly a pleasure that takes your mind to another place. i must admit i shied away from historical fiction for a long time, but after reading some recent novels,March and the unknown world included – i just fell in love with the genre. I’m reading Empire Falls now and can’t wait to get a chunk of time to curl up in my fave blanket and get lost again!
Nicola, I love to think about things like that. Especially since I never even considered a career as an author until a few years ago. Until then I was too scared to consider it as an option. Now I’m working hard to make it a reality after all.
Rick, that’s hilarious! I hate it when parents try to dissuade their children from reading–and after teaching English and working in a bookstore, I’ve seen plenty of it. No matter what they’re reading, they’re building their imaginations and improving their reading skills, grammar, vocabulary, background knowledge, etc. Good for you for keeping at it!
Heidikins, I love hearing what everybody loved to read when they were younger!
Liane, I’d almost forgotten about Choose Your Own Adventure books. Those were so much fun. Only, I always chose the wrong path and got killed right away. Usually eaten.
77free, I think it’s wonderful that your mother encouraged reading, too. It can make such a difference. And it’s nice to hear more good things about Empire Falls. I really do need to read it sometime.
Ah, a kindred soul. My mother made sure I was never without a book, and now I am passing on that to my children. Thank you for the visit to my site. And if you don’t mind, I’ll be back. *g*