Welcome to post two of my A2Z4UandMe meme. This will be a long, but fun, process as we go through all the letters of the alphabet this year. Nobody played along with A, but I'm hoping it will catch on and more of you will start blogging the alphabet along with me.
So the letter
B.
What kind of author would I be if I didn't use this awesome double-bubbled letter for the word
BOOKS.
As probably every writer can relate,
BOOKS are and always have been a part of my life. My two favorite things to do growing up were read stories and make up stories while bouncing a super ball against my closet door. Seriously.
I remember reading every
BOOK in the Little House on the Prairie series, Cherry Ames, The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew. Yes, I'm dating myself, here, but those are the
BOOKS I loved.
Ironically, I didn't care for any of my high school literature classes. Although I enjoyed Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Lord of the Flies, I wasn't much into the classics: To Kill a Mockingbird, Old Man and the Sea, A Tale of Two Cities (feel free to gasp openly). I preferred contemporary tales about real-life kids like me. Starting with elementary
BOOKS by authors like Judy Bloom, Beverly Cleary, then moving on to C.S. Lewis and Carolyn Keene. One series I devoured was by John Benton. He wrote the "Living Hope" series which centered around troubled girls who got into some rough situations like prostitution and drugs, then ended up at a Christian half-way house at the end. Each
BOOK title was a girl's name - Lori, Debbie, Candi, Jackie. I couldn't get enough of this wonderful series of redemption. I just ran across
John Benton again on Goodreads and am considering buying a few of those
BOOKS to read again. They would be interesting to read as an adult and see if they have the same impact.
It was Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series that first made me consider becoming an author myself. From the moment I read A is for Alibi, I was hooked on mysteries and the first-person point of view. Then I discovered Mindy Starns Clark - I call her the "Christian Sue Grafton" and I wondered if maybe there was a place for me in the world of authordom.
It's really hard to believe that today I actually review books for a living and even have my own
BOOK published, with two more contracted! Sometimes I have to pinch myself, just to be sure it's real. Fiction is so much a part of my life, I can't be sure.
So what about you? What
BOOKS have impacted your life over the years?
Got a
"B" word of your own you want to Blog about? Play along by leaving the link to your post below, using Mr. Linky.
4 comments:
LOVED the Phantom Tollbooth (and did you know that Patty is doing another A2Z right now on Tuesdays, and SHE is on B too? Just fyi). Books are WONDERFUL
Yes, I did gasp openly! :) But seriously, I have loved books all my life as well. I read the Nancy Drew mysteries and of course, by now everyone knows this because I say it often, Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal. :)
I'm a big fan of Sue's Alphabet books, too, so I'll have to check out the "Christian Sue" Thanks!
Well, I guess I started with Nancy Drew, Bobbseys and Cherry Ames too, and don't apologize for it! (Did you ever read the Judy Bolton books? I loved, loved, loved those too.) And yes, I'd suggest going back and re-reading your favorite kid books now. I have recently read many of a series I devoured as a pre-teen and teen... The Beany Malone Series (Ha...there's a B! :) by Lenora Mattingly Weber, and I found myself still loving so much of them. Good writing stands the test of time and our grownup age, even if some of the situations were outdated even before I started reading them... :) I haven't written it yet, so can't link yet, but I have been thinking of doing a book review of this series on my blog...how that author really impacted me growing up. If I do, I'll come back and link it here.
I read many of the ones you mentioned, although I don't remember Cherry Ames. I really like Mindy Starns Clark's books. Your A to Z theme is fun.
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