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Reading Through the Years
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Flicka, Dicka, and Ricka books
My first reading memory is of the Flicka, Dicka, and Ricka books. These told the exploits of a precocious set of triplets. -
Getting books from downtown St. Joe Public Library
I have great memories of walking from school (St. Joseph Co-Cathedral Elementary on North 10th Street) to the library. It was cool to have my own card. Afterwards I would catch the city bus home to my house on North 15th Street. -
Reading along Corby Parkway
The house I grew up in sits on a dead end street that leads into Corby Parkway... serving as both playground and favorite reading location while I was growing up. I would lean against a tall tree and sit reading, enjoying fresh air and the words of a good book. -
Joined a book club
My school started a book club to encourage students to read the classics. I joined because of the lure of receiving a free six volume collection of major works, which included The Pilgrims Progress and The Canterbury Tales. At the end of the school year, after reading all six works, our club put on a performance parodying one of the works... which also gave me the acting bug that I pursued throughout high school and college. -
Reading the Hobbit as a sophomore
Mrs. Sue Miller, my high school English II teacher, chose The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien for our class to read together. It was the first time that a classroom reading selection encouraged me to go out and read all the works by a specific author. -
Loved Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights
As a high school student, I loved reading the classic romance period novels, such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I couldn't get enough of them! -
No time for reading for fun in college
Busy with being a 70s Hippie and just completing the assigned readings for classes, I really didn't do much reading for pleasure during my college years. -
Dr. Trowbridge taught me to love Faulkner
One of my favorite college professors at NWMSU, Dr. William Trowbridge, taught me to love the works of William Faulkner. I'm glad I had his tips on reading The Sound and The Fury, which is a classic example of where sometimes a teacher can give insight into understanding the work of celebrated authors. -
Marathon reading of Moby Dick
I decided to take a novels class one summer and found out that reading Moby Dick in two days is not much fun. It was my first and only college all-nighter -- but I got it done! -
Master's degree in English = Long Required Reading List
For my master's degree in English, one area was American Literature: Novels. I had over 60 required novels to complete prior to taking my final comprehensive exams. Talk about stress! I watched one classmate look at the questions and then get up and leave without writing anything! To my relief I opened the test booklet and found questions on The Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms, and Absalom! Absalom! and then said to myself, "You can do this!" -
Sharing novels through the generations
My mother-in-law, who lived in Indiana, and I bonded over mystery novels. Never a big fan of that genre, I learned to love it because Barbara would periodically mail me boxes of her castoffs... which I read. Now I share that tradition with my daughter who lives in Oregon, often mailing her boxes of the mystery novels I've completed. -
My reading selections: Everything by one author
I always try to read all the books by authors I like. For example, I've read all the Jonathan Kellerman, Alexander McCall Smith, and Sue Grafton novels. -
My reading selections: Bought from Powell Books online
I buy most of my novels online through Powell Books of Portland, Oregon. -
Classroom Reading Poster
My colleagues and I at MHS keep a list of the recent books we've completed on our classroom bulletin boards. This is done to encourage our students to choose good books to read and to provide an impetus for discussion about literature. -
No adolescent literature for me!
My least favorite type of reading is anything in the category of adolescent literature. I find it difficult to read things like Harry Potter or the Twilight series. -
My Reading Selections: European authors who write mystery novels
I've already mentioned that I tend to choose authors and then read all of their works. Right now I'm doing that with several European authors... for example, I've just completed reading most of the novels by Scottish author Val McDermid with her Tony Hill series and Swedish author Henning Makell with his Wallender series. -
Love the Stieg Larsson trilogy!
I love the Stieg Larsson books as much as the back story about his death and the family feud over his finances and a possible 4th book draft. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a wonderful book. I also don't recall any one author having 3 novels simultaneously on the New York Times best seller list. RIP Stieg!
