Some time between middle school and high school, someone gave me a copy of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. It became my favorite book although I did not know anyone who had a horse, nor did I ride one until I became an adult. It was a good story with a sad ending--perfect for a middle school girl.
As a high schooler, I became a library aide and plunged into checking out as many books as I could carry. The high school library was not large, nor particularly well-stocked, as I have said. So my reading was not broad, nor deep. This is where I read all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. I remember reading some semi-religious books by Thomas B. Costain and Lust for Life by Irving Stone. Any "good" literature or classic lit was the province of textbooks--I never read, for example, the Iliad or any Greek lit, nor really any world literature--the school texts contained very little. We read Shakespeare, Chaucer, and essays, poetry, etc. We were never assigned extra books outside the text as is done today. My knowledge of great literature was sadly lacking when I went to college.
Paperbacks were not ubiquitous until much later, but I did begin buying some for college assignments and adding them to my library. My budget was very tight, so I could not afford many. I would take them to work to read at the switchboard where I worked at Foremost Dairies. It didn't take me long to tire of long Victorian novels and Greek epics, so I went on to other reading, mostly mysteries of the Agatha Christie variety. I never liked reading romance fiction. My tastes turned to history and biography as I took some of the history courses for my minor in history.
After graduating, one of my first jobs (after Levelland where I taught reading) was Eula High School as the English teacher of all grades. It seems the new English teacher immediately became the librarian, so that is where I first practiced library science. Sadly the library was very small--almost book closet size. The superintendent had a penchant for buying books from traveling salesmen--mostly remainders. These were usually black and white science books no self-respecting kid would read. Donated National Geographics, Readers Digests and Life Magazines lined the shelves. What a mess!! And I had very little expertise to deal with it. ( I need to write another blog about my life in libraries).
About that time, ACU was offering library science classes being brought to the campus from North Texas State University, and I began to take those. I soon became a certified school librarian with a "vast" knowledge of good books and a sad realization of about all the books I had missed.
Through the years, I have collected many good children's books, biographies, poetry collections, and a good array of religious and inspirational books by great writers.
It has been fun and rewarding, and I don't see myself coming out of this addiction any time soon. I do hope you three will love reading and share my love for books.
Showing posts with label bookaholic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bookaholic. Show all posts
Monday, May 14, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Confessions of a Bookaholic
This is for Maddie, Ella and Sam.
Dear Sweeties,
This is the story of how Nonnie became a bookaholic:
There were no books in our home (except a Bible) when I was a toddler.
Poverty precluded books. I do remember our getting a box of hand-me-downs from a friend of my Granny Tucker (your great-great grandmother). In that box was a book about bears through the seasons. I do not remember its title, but I treasured it until it fell apart.
When I began school, there was no school library in my elementary school in Hamlin. I do not remember being read to by any teacher. There was an occasion I remember when a first grader came and read to our third grade class. His name was Ted Wright, and he was obviously very gifted. He skipped several grades, and we graduated from high school together. My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Smith, had a few books in her classroom--most were old readers and other cast-offs. We could read them in the classroom, but were not allowed to take them home. Mrs. Griggs, my sixth-grade art teacher once took a trip to New Orleans. When she came home, her mouth was full of tales about beignets, thick coffee and Oysters Rockefeller. She read us Frances Parkinson Keyes' Dinner at Antoines. I can't imagine a sixth grade class listening to it today, but it was a very special time for a book-starved student like me.
In the days between elementary and middle school, my brothers and I would save our pennies and go to town to buy comic books for 25 cents each. My favorites were the Classic Illustrated comics which took a classic book like Treasure Island and illustrated the story with comics.
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Archie and Veronica were favorites too.
After we had accumulated several comic books, we could take them to town and trade them by giving 2 used books for 1 free used book.
My mom loved reading, and when she got a few pennies ahead, she would buy magazines like Redbook and Ladies' Home Journal. That was before Redbook became so salacious. Redbook always had a novel
in each issue, and I remember reading that avidly. Our town had no public library, so that was really my only link to fictional reading.
Chapter 2 tomorrow.
Dear Sweeties,
This is the story of how Nonnie became a bookaholic:
There were no books in our home (except a Bible) when I was a toddler.
Poverty precluded books. I do remember our getting a box of hand-me-downs from a friend of my Granny Tucker (your great-great grandmother). In that box was a book about bears through the seasons. I do not remember its title, but I treasured it until it fell apart.
When I began school, there was no school library in my elementary school in Hamlin. I do not remember being read to by any teacher. There was an occasion I remember when a first grader came and read to our third grade class. His name was Ted Wright, and he was obviously very gifted. He skipped several grades, and we graduated from high school together. My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Smith, had a few books in her classroom--most were old readers and other cast-offs. We could read them in the classroom, but were not allowed to take them home. Mrs. Griggs, my sixth-grade art teacher once took a trip to New Orleans. When she came home, her mouth was full of tales about beignets, thick coffee and Oysters Rockefeller. She read us Frances Parkinson Keyes' Dinner at Antoines. I can't imagine a sixth grade class listening to it today, but it was a very special time for a book-starved student like me.
In the days between elementary and middle school, my brothers and I would save our pennies and go to town to buy comic books for 25 cents each. My favorites were the Classic Illustrated comics which took a classic book like Treasure Island and illustrated the story with comics.
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Archie and Veronica were favorites too.
After we had accumulated several comic books, we could take them to town and trade them by giving 2 used books for 1 free used book.
My mom loved reading, and when she got a few pennies ahead, she would buy magazines like Redbook and Ladies' Home Journal. That was before Redbook became so salacious. Redbook always had a novel
in each issue, and I remember reading that avidly. Our town had no public library, so that was really my only link to fictional reading.
Chapter 2 tomorrow.
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