I was ironing one morning last week when I started thinking about some of the books that I’ve read in my life. For no reason in particular I was remembering how I used to like reading books about organized crime, including books written by Mario Puzo (the author of “The Godfather”). I used to gobble up books about J.F.K. and his assassination. I was crazy for every book ever written by Anne Rice about vampires.
Would I ever read any of those books today? Probably not. It dawned on me that a person’s reading life is under a constant evolution that encompasses many different areas of interest. I started thinking about all of the books that I’ve read throughout my life, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how many different “phases” I’ve been through. I thought it would be fun to recount some of those reading phases/interests today.
The earliest memories that I have of reading were when I was around six or seven. I vividly remember a green book of poetry and nursery rhymes that my sister Laura had. I can still picture the colorful illustrations and the wonderful poems. I used to sneak into her bedroom to read it and look at the pictures. I loved that book, and to this day, I still enjoy looking at illustrated collections of children’s poetry.
When I was a little bit older, I received a boxed set of E.B. White’s books, “Charlotte’s Web,” “The Trumpet of the Swan,” and “Stuart Little.” I read “Charlotte’s Web” more than once, but I never read the other two books. I treasured that boxed set and I kept them in mint condition. I brought them with me to college and I still have them today up in my attic.
I was not an avid reader when I was young. I remember thinking that reading was such a waste of time. I had so many other important things to do with my time, like riding my bike (with a banana seat, of course), playing with my beloved “lemon twist,” exploring the great outdoors, and doing arts and crafts (I loved making sequin dolls and latch hook rugs). Although I wasn’t a fan of reading books, I did love to read comic books and Ziggy cartoons. I can still remember my sisters bringing books with them everywhere they went and reading voraciously, but I have a much harder time summoning up images of myself reading and enjoying books.
In high school, I had to read a lot of books in my A.P. English classes. I remember reading “The Scarlet Letter,” Edgar Allan Poe stories, “The Turn of the Screw,” and lots and lots of Shakespeare. In my sophomore year, my teacher told us that we could select a book of our own to read and write a paper on. I remember struggling to find a book, then I eventually settled on “Jacob Have I Loved” written by Katherine Paterson. It was a great book and a pivotal book in my life because it made me realize what I was missing by not reading books. After I finished reading that book, I started reading whenever I had free time (mostly during the summers while lying in the sun).
For a few years after that, I read nothing but romance novels, you know the kind, Harlequin romances with formulaic plots and happy endings. After getting married at age 25, I started reading other kinds of books, like the aforementioned organized crime books, biographies, and vampire sagas. Most of my reading choices were linked to the movies I was watching at the time, such as “The Godfather” and “Interview with a Vampire.”
After this stage of my life, I turned to lighter fare in the form of Erma Bombeck (“If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?”) and Robert Fulghum (“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”). I loved their collections of humorous essays and read all of their books. These funny stories were just the beginning of my love affair with humorous authors. I went on to devour books written by Garrison Keillor ("Wobegon Boy" and "Happy to Be Here!"), David Sedaris (“Me Talk Pretty One Day”) and Bill Bryson (“A Walk in the Woods”). In recent years, I have also enjoyed books written by Chelsea Handler (“Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea”) and Lisa Scottoline (“Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog”).
For many years, I read humorous and uplifting books, and that led to my love of inspirational and spiritual books. I started with collections of inspiring quotes and real life stories (“Chicken Soup for the Soul” and "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"), which led to more profound books that I would read years later written by giants in the field like Dr. Wayne Dyer (“Inspiration”), Anthony Robbins ("Awaken the Giant Within") and Eckhart Tolle (“The Power of Now” and “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”).
In my early 30s, I explored all kinds of new reading genres. I read about finances with authors like Suze Orman (“The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom”), Thomas J. Stanley (“The Millionaire Next Door”) and Robert Kiyosaki (“Rich Dad, Poor Dad”). I read about health and fitness in books like “Body for Life” by Bill Phillips and “8 Weeks to Optimum Health” by Dr. Andrew Weil. I even read my fair share of books featured on Oprah’s Book Club (“The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink, “The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve, "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, and “Open House” by Elizabeth Berg).
I went through a period when I was reading books about life near the sea, including “A Year by the Sea” and “An Unfinished Marriage” by Joan Anderson and “Gift from the Sea” by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I also dabbled in heartbreaking stories by Nicholas Sparks (“The Notebook”) and James Patterson (“Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”). For a time, I also read every book I could get my hands on about happiness and kindness (“Authentic Happiness” by Martin Seligman and “The Power of Kindness” by Piero Ferrucci).
After I had the boys, I went through a fallow period in which I didn’t read much at all. I couldn’t find time to read books, so I read primarily magazines and online material. Then my life changed one August a few years ago, when Britt was away on a trip with his friends, and I decided to watch a little movie called “Twilight.” I fell in LOVE with this movie and quickly ordered all of the Twilight books. I devoured those four books in a few weeks. I was once again bitten (pardon the pun) by the book bug.
After the vampires and werewolves, I went through a phase during which I only read books about fallen angels (“Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick and “Fallen” by Lauren Kate). Although that topic was intriguing, it did not hold my interest long, so I started to branch out a bit and explore new authors including Elin Hilderbrand (“The Island” and “A Summer Affair”), Nancy Thayer (“Beachcombers” and “Moon Shell Beach”), Shannon Hale (“Austenland” and “The Actor and the Housewife”), and Roland Merullo (“Breakfast with Buddha” and “Golfing with God”).
That pretty much brings me up to the current time, in which I continue to read a wide variety of authors whose books encompass a veritable cornucopia of topics. I mix it up. I read both fiction and nonfiction. I read biographies and romances. I laugh and I cry when I read. I gobble up books in a weekend. I absorb the messages of other books over a longer period of time. I am a reader in a constant state of high alert…I’m always looking for the next great book to put on my book pile. I am a book lover. I am an advocate of reading. I will forever be thankful to books for changing my life and making me into the person that I am today.
