Why Mom Was Right About Books

Reading is fundamental.  I've read books for as long as I can remember.  When I was little (imagine that - ME, little!), I would find secret places to read where I wouldn't be interrupted.  I would hide in my closet, lock myself in the bathroom, crawl under my bed.  I would read long into the night and sleep the morning away.  My nose was always buried in a book.

Fast forward to today and pretty much nothing has changed.  I fall asleep with a book in my hands (although, truth be told, it's now a Kindle).

My tastes have changed.

I started out with fairy tales, graduated to age appropriate romances and then to adult romances.  In my early 20s, my favorite authors were Linda Howard, Sandra Brown and Virginia Henley.  The steamier, the better.  My friends and I would pass books back and forth and my shelves were completely packed two deep and high!  Every time Mr. Smith and I moved, the books and shelves were all diligently packed and transported.  Nothing could get me to part with them.

But then we made the decision to move to Sydney.  I knew that I had to part with my beloved books.  I had whole collections.  Believe it or not, I attempted to sell them at a garage sale.  The remainder were donated to book stores and charities.

While in Sydney, I joined a book club chock full of American girls!  Yay!  By this time, my tastes were continuing to evolve.  I leaned more toward murder mysteries.

Joining the club was the best thing I could have done for expanding my diverse reading habits.  While  in the club, I've discovered a love for Young Adult novels.  I've read things I never would have read on my own and that would have been a shame.

In fact, I am still part of said book club.  They've generously allowed me to remain one of them and I turn in video book reports that they watch while eating pizza and guzzling cider, wine and coffee!

So books have been essential to me.  I've always had an obsessive love of grammar and punctuation.  I love language.  I love people who love books.  I love books.  PERIOD.