Musing Monday

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about early reading:

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading? Was it from a particular person, or person(s)? Do you remember any books that you read, or were read to you, as a young child? (question courtesy of Diane)

My parents have never been big readers like me - in fact, I'm probably the only one in my immediate family who did read. I can remember Mom reading to us from the Bible when I was 6 or 7, but I don't remember her reading us any other books.

Two people were instrumental in cultivating my love of reading: my babysitter and my grade school librarian. When I was 8, my babysitter let me read one of her own daughter's favorite books and I became hooked. That book was Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion. At the same time, my school librarian showed me her favorite book - "B" is for Betsy - and this is the first book I can remember checking out of the library.

From that time on, I have always had a book close at hand. I eventually read all of the Trixie Belden books before persuading my Mom to buy me my own copies. By 4th grade, I was a librarian assistant and it was a thrill to handle all those wonderful books.

When I was pregnant with all 3 of my girls, I read to them while they were still in the womb, and I continued reading to them until they were almost teenagers. Even with this much exposure to reading, my oldest 2 daughters don't like to read. But my youngest is just like me and she has a veracious appetite for reading.

One-Minute Writer - Reading

Today's One-Minute Writing Prompt: Reading

Write about a childhood memory related to reading.

I first learned to love reading when I was 8 years old and my babysitter's daughter gave me one of her Trixie Belden books to read. I was hooked from the first chapter. From that day forward, I read every Trixie book by Julie Campbell available, and then I moved on to others. The Betsy Books by Carolyn Haywood, The Three Investigators by Robert Arthur Jr., The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, The Land of Oz series by L. Frank Baum, Encyclopedia Brown, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - these are just a few of my childhood favorites.

I am still an avid reader and this habit has been transferred to my youngest daughter - age 16 - who loves reading as much as I do.

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Write On Wednesday

This week's Write On Wednesday asks the questions:

"Or- to put it another way - what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Go skydiving? Become a doctor? Take up ballroom dancing or acting…hockey or figure skating?

What’s your wildest writing dream? Penning the biggest blockbuster since The DaVinci Code? or winning the Pulitzer Prize for a finely crafted work of fiction? And what’s stopping you from going after it?"

I think my biggest dream is to write a young adult book series. As I've gotten older, I realize that I love young adult books. When I was a child, this was a no-brainer, but as I got older, I tried to distance myself from such childish books, thinking that I was above them.

I have come to understand that children/young adult books play a vital role in the education and upbringing of a child. Books are one of the first forays into the imagination a child has - from having a parent read them a bedtime story to picking up that first independent reader. A child's imagination can be sparked with just the right character or setting.

In recent weeks, I have been revisiting my childhood friend, Trixie Belden. When I was 8 years old, at the urging of my babysitter, I read my first Trixie Belden Mystery and became totally hooked. This babysitter had a daughter who was 5 or 6 years older than me, and she had several of the books I was allowed to borrow. I read these books over and over again, relishing each word and page. When my mother realized how much I enjoyed reading these books, she started buying them for me.

All through my childhood and teenage years, I cherished these books and proudly displayed them in a prominent place on my bookshelves. As I had children of my own, I tried reading Trixie to them, but because the stories were somewhat dated, my girls didn't have much interest. They also had no interest in Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Three Investigators, or Betsy. However, my girls did find new interests in the Sweet Valley High, the Babysitter's Club and the Goosebumps books.

As I have already mentioned, I have been re-reading the Trixie Belden Mysteries for a special Way Back Wednesday posts on my book blog. Just reading and writing about these books again has opened my eyes to the thrill and enjoyment I once had as a child. I want to be able to give that same kind of thrill and joy to a new generation of children.

I already have rough drafts of two children's books I have worked on in the past, but I never followed through with the editing process. I believe now is the time to re-examine these pages and make a concerted effort to edit them into a proper book. Who knows? Maybe I will have the next great thing that children will read and cherish.

Monday Musings

This week's Monday Musings:

"How has your reading changed over the years? Have you started reading more “meaty” books (books with more substance)? Or, have you gone to more “fluffy” reads? Perhaps you’ve done neither, and you’ve just always read the same type of thing! If that’s the case, why? Are you willing to step out of your reading ‘comfort zone’ and try something new? What would you recommend to someone who needed to “branch out”?"

My reading taste have flucuated over the years, bouncing between fluffy works and meaty works. Currently, I feel like my tastes are right down the middle.

When I was in grade school, I enjoyed reading serial books because I loved following the same characters through different adventures. I loved following Trixie Belden and her friends on each new mystery adventure, the Three Invesigators as they worked through a case, or Betsy's adventures with her little sister, Star.

In my teenage years and early 20s, I was into the paranormal, especially the vampire and horror genre. Stephen King was the author I read the most. Salem's Lot was the first vampire book I ever read and I was totally hooked. I also loved The Shining, Carrie and the extended version of The Stand. I also enjoyed Anne Rice's vampire chronicles, especially Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat. I was also hooked on Rice's witch trilogy: The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos.

During my early adult life, I was all about the romance novel - devouring 5 to 6 books a week. Johanna Lindsay's A Pirate's Love remains one of my favorite books and I've probably read it several dozen times. Kathleen Woodiwiss held me captive with her first book The Flame and the Flower. Although I never got caught up in the Harlequin Romance craze, I have read a few of these, but I always considered them candy for my sweet tooth instead of nurishment for my soul.

Then in my 30s, I turned to self-help books and inspirational reads. Dr. Phil to help me with my "Relationship Rescue", Bob Greene to help me "Get with the Connection", Susan Powder screaming at me to "Stop the Insanity" and Rick Warren telling me to live "The Purpose Driven Life."

Now that I'm in my 40s, I am reading more non-fiction - recently books about the Iraq War and President Bush. The Secret White House War: 2006-2008 by Bob Woodard and The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi have been two books I've recently read and reviewed and they have made a huge impact on my life.

Of course, I still love reading serial books, but the subject matter has changed from my childhood. Laurell K. Hamilton's two series, Anita Blake Vampire Hunter and Merry Gentry are my current favorite series. I also enjoy Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, Sue Grafton's Alphabet Mysteries and Janet Evanoich's Stephanie Plum series.

So all in all, even though my taste in reading material has varied over the decades, I still enjoy reading the same types of books. I do read books recommended to me, especially if they are out of the "norm" for me. I would also recommend to other readers to branch out; if you only read fiction books, try reading a non-fiction. If you only read non-fiction, give fiction a fair shake. I realize someone who reads Christian fiction may not want to read something from the vampire genre, and vice-versa, but there are so many different types of books and authors that it's a shame not to give a few of them a chance.

Monday Musings

This week's Monday Musings prompt:

What are you reading right now?
Why are you reading what your reading? For pleasure? For review? Something else?
What did you most recently finish reading?
What do you think you'll be reading next?
What was the best book you read this month and why?
What was the worst book you read this month and why?

I'm currently reading Dark Curse : A Carpathian Novel by Christine Feehan (as you read this, you will notice all the vampire themes). This is the 16th book in this long running series and I never get tired of reading them. This book is totally for pleasure.











This weekend I finished reading the first 3 books in the Casa Dracula series by Marta Acosta. This is a wonderful new take on the vampire genre, with a feisty Latino woman as the heroine. These books are spicy hot and hilariously funny and I'm eagerly awaiting the 4th installment.







Also this weekend, I read a wonderful new children's book, The Dragon in the Sock Drawer by Kate Klimo. This will be the first book in a new series called The Dragon Keepers. It's kind of like Harry Potter meets the computer age and it provided me with a few hours of unadulterated fun reading.


I'm also reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas for my on-line book club. The story is very good (and there's a lot of it at 14500 pages!), but I'm having trouble with the Ye Ole English. This is the main reason I'm reading Dark Curse at the same time - to give my brain a rest.

I will be starting a re-read of The Coal Tatoo by Silas House for my October face-to-face book club. This book is a joy and pleasure to re-read.

This month, I started a new feature on my book review blog, Way Back Wednesday, and I'm going to be re-reading and reviewing books from my past. I have started with the first 2 Trixie Belden Mysteries - The Secret Mansion and the Red Trailer Mystery. These were my favorite books when I was a young girl.


This month, I also read the first 2 books in the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast - Marked and Betrayed. This is another fairly new vampire series for young adults and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the ups and downs of these teenage "vampires in training." I'm currently on the library waiting list for the next 2 books in this series.






Probably the best book I've read this month has been The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Believe it or not, I read this book 3 weeks before Oprah announced it as her new Book Club book! It is a spectacular story of survival and revenge. This is the first book by Mr. Wroblewski, but I'm eagerly awaiting his next novel.


My least favorite book I've read this month is The Fifth Dimension by Rory Macaraeg. This was a book I did for a review, and although the story was okay, it was written by a novice and you could tell. The language and the dialog were faultering and hesitant, and many times I had to read the same passage over and over again to understand the meaning.