Ever since I was young, I’ve always enjoyed reading. My first particular passion, as I recall, were the Encyclopedia Brown books. Some of my earliest memories of the library were going with my mother and always hunting for new Encyclopedia books, or sometimes just checking out ones I had gotten before and reading them again to see if I could remember the solution to each mystery.
I also read any number of “choose your own adventure books” as well, which were extremely popular in the early eighties, and allowed you to read the same book multiple times as you tried to pick all the different paths (although, at some point, I usually cheated and just tried to read all the different endings when I got tired of it).
I think when I was around 10 and in the fourth grade, my brother Garth made a concerted effort to get me into the fantasy genre. To do this, he read to me from a book called the Pawn of Prophecy. This was the first book in one of his favorite fantasy series at the time – The Belgariad by David Eddings. There was a catch, however, that I would discover once he was done reading the first one – much like a drug dealer (where the first hit was free), I would have to read the next four on my own.
And thus began my journey of reading fantasy novels – but not before first getting properly schooled by Garth in the proper care of books, such as:
- Never bend the cover of the book
- Never, ever, bend the corner of a page to mark your progress
- Don’t even think about writing, underlying, or otherwise making any marks in the book
- Always try and split the pages of a paperback book as little as possible so as to not damage the spine
There were probably some others, and I was assured the penalties for violating these rules would go down on my permanent record somewhere. But, it did instill in me a deep respect to try and return a borrowed book to a person in much the same condition as it was lent to me.
Needless to say, I did finish The Belgariad series, and went on to read many other series that were favorites of Garth (such as the original Shannara trilogy, the Lord of the Rings, etc.). Eventually, I moved on to some of the Piers Anthony Xanth novels and the Myth Inc. series by Robert Apirin that were recommendations from my oldest sister, Laura. Not to be left out, my brother Coby would get me to read his favorite sci-fi series, The Foundation (the first three of which were fantastic, the second two of which were – a thing that happened). And, of course, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series! And books from my parents, who loved Dean Koontz (especially the ones with the dogs)!
There were, of course, many books that came with school as well, some of which I deeply enjoyed – To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Files, A Wizard of Earthsea (that would launch a deep, life-long appreciation of Ursala Le Guin). But, in many ways, I was always reading book either recommended or required!
In college and in the years afterwards, I would start to make more of a concerted effort to branch out and discover books on my own (and switch much more between fantasy, fiction, non-fiction, and science fiction). This would often involve going to bookstores and looking over the best sellers listed, or looking for award winning books, other books by authors I had enjoyed, etc. Of course, when Lora and I began dating, we would also share all our favorite books or recommendations with each other.
This is all a long way of saying that reading has been an important part of my life through the years, and has shaped who I am today and how I try to think about things. I really can’t imagine a life without reading in it. Whether you think it is cheating or not, these days I primarily do audio books. When you have a busy job, and two young kids, it is often be difficult to find time to read. However, when traveling for work, commuting to and fro, going to the gym, waiting at a doctor’s office, etc., an audio book is a great way to pass the time and keep up on authors or series you enjoy.
Some years back, I discovered a site called Goodreads that allows you to catalog and rate the books you read, get recommendations for other books you might enjoy based on what you’ve rated, set goals for yourself (I generally try and target 30 books a year), etc. This site has been one of my greatest resources as a reader to keep track of books I’ve read an enjoyed, check when new books are out from my favorite authors, etc. You can checkout out my profile here. If you don’t have an account but you are a heavy reader, I would recommend it – think of it as social media for bookworms. If you do have an account, feel free to connect with me there.
I should warn that Amazon did acquire them back in 2013 and has since more tightly coupled it into their Kindle and Audible services (which is fine if you are already an Audible and/or Kindle user, which I am). And, there is probably a lot of tracking going on – but I guess I’m ok with that if I’m getting targeted ads for books I might like!