Reading helped immensely. Lots of books. Fiction, biography, memoir, science and history. It goes way back. Back to some of my earliest memories. Mom reading stories to my brother and me. Mother Goose and Bible stories. We didn’t have much extra money but she always found a little to let me buy chapter books in grade school and then even comic books from the news stand on Center Street. There wasn’t much on television in those days so books opened up the world outside of the rural farm country where we lived.
Now I read a bit less but focus it more toward learning what pushes me to write better stuff. But I still remember the thrill and anticipation inside as I dropped down on the curb out front of the news store and opened up that ten cent comic book…
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I read at four and did not stop. My mom couldn’t give us a lot but like you, books were always there. My earliest were Bambi and a set of Dr. Suess books she bought once a week at the supermarket. Comic books were around- the superheroes for my brother and Archies for me.
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Stories of any form can be enlightening, but the books we anticipate and relish are the ones that light up our lives.
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I’m going back and reading a few books for a second time along with other new ones as research for a novel I’m working on. I find I’m remembering pieces but also finding much I must have missed the first time or forgotten. When I have the extra time (laugh) I intend to dig out some of my favorite authors and go through them again. That is if I can get the guest bathroom finished and the next two novels and the short story for the contest and edit the three novels I have in the que at the publisher and take my wife grocery shopping and put up the Christmas tree. I should have retired sooner!
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That’s what happens when you retire? Being at work doesn’t sound so bad. But seriously, I love rereading novels. I don’t get the time too often (there are so many novels I haven’t read, rereading is a difficult choice). When I do reread, I am often surprised with how many fresh ideas and moments I find in a novel I’ve already read. Most recently, I reread The Picture of Dorian Gray and 39 Steps.
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