Winnie the Pooh
Alice in Wonderland
The Secret Garden
The Velveteen Rabbit
The Chronicles of Narnia
All books and stories that started me on a lifelong love affair with reading. Even now, when life is too brightly and abrasively life, books are my refuge.
My taste in reading material runs the gamut from philosophy and religion to fantasy and romance. I have not read all the great works of literature, but I have read more than a few.
And poetry. Exquisite and enthralling. I used to memorize poems as a child, and sit and read them aloud. The words, the tales and emotions, came to life for me when spoken. Larger and more brilliant than when printed on the page, they seemed to become imbued with a part of me as the words leap from the page and fell from my lips.
First true story: I used to hide paperback novels in the cabinet in the bathroom, under the washcloths, and read while bathing, oblivious to the pounding on the door and the entreaties to "hurry up!".
Second true story: I once twisted an ankle and skinned both knees when I was walking down the sidewalk whilst reading and fell off the curb.
Third true story: I pled, "Just let me finish this chapter", so many times that my mother swore that if the house were on fire I would never make it out alive because I could not bring myself to put down a book that was unfinished.
Final true story: I have a primal abhorrence to giving away, trading, or selling hardcover books. As a result, there are cases and boxes and stacks of books in every room of the house except the bathroom.
Today, I am thankful for the written word, for the myriad things I have learned from reading, for the comfort and inspiration I know I can always find on the printed page.
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