I’ve loved books since I was young. The AR program really caught on while I was in elementary school, and my reading level made me privy to the coveted back room of the school library. Inside, I pored over a solitary cart of high school level books. I was amazed at the complexity of them compared to the swill that passed for juvenile reading material. I was instantly hooked. Books by Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, and Daniel Defoe opened up the floodgates of my imagination. I don’t know that I’ll ever be as captivated by anything for the rest of my life as much as I was with Robinson Crusoe and They Came to Baghdad.
Although I consider myself fairly well-read for my age (as well as being a product of the horrendous public school system), I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of the world’s great literature. Standard literary fare in my high school consisted of drug store Westerns and and a scant few pieces of literature that are actually worthwhile - Othello, Beowulf, and possibly a few others. So I’ve largely been left to my own devices when it comes to exploring literature. I still read a fair amount of new books, but I’m really concentrating on the classics. I bought Great American Short Stories, one of Barnes & Noble’s classics series, and I’ve loved sampling what American literature has to offer. So far, Hawthorne and O. Henry have been my favorites, and I rushed out to pick up more of their work. There’s nothing better than delving into an author’s work who you’ve never before read. My to-read list keeps getting longer and longer, as my bookcase is getting more and more crowded. It’s awesome.
