By Way of the Word

I cannot remember the time before I could read. I know that I was not a genius who read at the age of three…but my memory is quite firm when it comes to books! I always had them and magazines and newspapers. True, maybe the early ones had lots of pictures…BUT they had words too.

I remember the bookmobile that provided much desired books throughout the summer months when school was closed. There was also a public library that was about a six block walk from our house. I had a LIBRARY CARD! Oh yes I did! I loved getting my new requisite three books, having returned the previous three books on time, and in the same pristine condition from the month before. I loved the summer reading programs that we had at Cheltenham Elementary School in Denver. I always collected the stickers representing the books I read over our vacations. I even carried the vacation reading program with me well into adulthood with my guilty reading list of science fiction/fantasy summer reading feast. I took Ray Bradbury and Anne McCaffrey with me on all our family camping trips. My treat to myself every year!

I had Sunday School lessons from church and a book of Bible stories to keep me engaged before I had my own Bible at the ripe age of nine. I still have that Bible, a King James translation printed on thin fragile paper. Oh, and the words of Jesus in the New Testament are all in red. I have several Bibles now with much better translations than the King James, however, I still like to take out my original one, a gift from my mother, and page through the underlined texts and pressed rose petals. I still like to read the Psalms in the King James translation, as that is how I first knew them. See the Dedication Page below.

I can define the chapters of my life by the books that I read and the people I shared them with. There are libraries, schools, churches, book clubs and subscriptions. There are the subjects and authors that mark my passages.

PEARL BUCK-RAY BRADBURY-THOMAS HARDY-FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKI-JOHN STEINBECK-AYN RAND-THE BRONTE SISTERS-SOMERSET MAUGHAM-MARGARET MITCHELL-CS LEWIS-JRR TOILKIEN-JEAN M. AUEL-JOAN DIDION-LOUISE PENNY-LAURENCE DURELL-MATTHEW QUICK-AMY TAN-SOFIA SEGOVIA-GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ-TONY HILLERMAN-RALPH ELLISON-STEPHEN KING-BARBARA KINGSOLVER-QUAN BARRY-and on and on.

Travel with me while I share new adventures with new authors. and be patient with me as I travel back to old haunts and my favorite authors and characters. There is a tapestry that is made up of all I have read and it defines and guides me.