My First Love

I love books. I love reading. I have as far back as I can remember. I always had a bedtime story read to me. After that, my mom starting me on the Nancy Drew books. We read the first 2 together, but after that there was no stopping me. Mom bought me every single Nancy Drew book (Thanks Mom). My babysitters now joke I was an angel to sit because I was really quiet after going to bed, until they discovered I had a flashlight under the covers, reading a book.

I went to a very small school in elementary. We had one stand of books we could borrow from. After I had read them all, the teacher asked for funding for more books.

Books were always sacred for me. I never, ever bent the corners to mark my place. I didn't get them wet, or dirty. I didn't lose them. Each book held a story, an alternate universe, and characters, people with feelings and fears. They deserved to be treated with care.

It's just now that I'm starting to understand. When I'm reading about another time, another place, I can forget my life for a moment. I can slip into the fantasy world, and my problems and hurt feelings and frustration and anger and disappointments are put aside, at least for awhile.

Sometime in junior high I stumbled onto my first Tanith Lee book, I think it was "East of Midnight". It had sheep with fangs on the back cover. I haven't read it since, but I remember it as melancholy and meandering. I totally loved it. I think that's what started me on fantasy and science fiction books. The normal rules don't apply. Sheep can have fangs.

Tanith Lee has been my favourite author ever since. My absolute favourite book is "The Silver Metal Lover." It is the saddest story, and that is why I love it. Life does not always have happy endings, so why should the stories and characters I read about have happy endings?

Well, I am going to go read my bedtime story and go to sleep now...