My Gateway Books — a Top Ten Tuesday List
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic at The Broke and The Bookish are the “gateway” books or authors along our reading journey. Here are mine:
1. Dr. Seuss, my first favorite author.
2. The Boxcar Children, the first series I loved.
3. The 92s. That’s what we called a series of biographies in the Middle School library. These books talked about the early lives of famous people and were my first nonfiction passion. Well, that is, if you define nonfiction broadly. I now realize that they were written about people who we know very little about before they were famous, so they were nonfiction only in the sense that they were about real people who presumably had childhoods.
4. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott, the book that occasioned my first foray into the adult room at the Public Library.
5. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, my introduction to American Literature — growing up 30 miles downriver from Hannibal, Mark Twain was a huge figure in my early reading.
6. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, my introduction to English Literature — I read it after the high school put on the musical, Oliver.
7. Emilie Loring, an author whose sweet romances started my love of the romance genre. She died ten years before I was born, but my small town library wasn’t particularly up to date, especially in this genre — the older and sweeter the better from the point of view of the librarian and Library Board.
8. The Williamsburg Series by Elswyth Thane, my gateway to historical fiction and the books that taught me I can learn as much history from fiction as I can in class — what I learned in these books helped me ace American History.
9. Wishcraft by Barbara Sher, my gateway book to the self help genre.
10. The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler, the book that started my journey to read 70 books and lose 70 pounds.
What are your “gateway” books?
So nice to see ‘Wishcraft’ on your list. That has to be the best book ever on learning how to reach a goal! I’m so happy to be reminded of it. I read that book when it first came out, maybe 30 -35 years ago! Is that possible? Oh, my!
I never even heard of Emilie Loring until a friend of mine closed her used bookstore and asked me and my family if we wanted any books. There were about a dozen of Ms. Loring’s books there and I thought ‘why not?’. So I tried them and really liked them. I almost put her down on my list this week, but she got edged out by one of Mary Stewart’s books, which I actually read long before I’d even seen any of Ms. Loring’s books anywhere.
My TTT
This is a great list! The Boxcar Children books were so amazing. They are still being read by kids today, which is wodnerful
I loved hearing the story behind your choices – and I’m a big Dr. Seuss fan too
I enjoyed reading your list! That library looks like a wonderful place to go…The Boxcar Children were a part of my childhood reading and I still have my collection. What an accomplishment–to read 70 books and lose 70 pounds!
Good list. I read the Boxcar Children to my daughter when she was younger. She really liked them. As an adult, I was unimpressed, especially with the first in the series. They got better after that.
Your little library is so charming. It reminds me of the one from my childhood. The branch was housed in an old mansion and I used to love going to the “castle library.” Your weight loss story is so inspirational and motivating; thank you for sharing!
~Megan
http://wp.me/pzUn5-1WB
I’m familiar with some but not with others, so I’m going to check into the books/authors that are new to me.
I didn’t know Emilie Loring and now I feel curious about her
You know, romance is my thing too!
Great list and I love the photo of your library. Going to check out Wishcraft.
Great list! I kept my list to more recent books, but I have fond memories of Dr. Seuss.
What a wonderful list of books. It’s amazing how books have coincided with the important parts of our lives. Emilie Loring was one of my mother’s favorite authors. I tried finding some of them a few years ago and had good luck finding quite a few.
I didn’t know about the Boxcar kids until I was too old for them. Not sure why I wasn’t introduced to them at the appropriate age?! I’ve been meaning to read Oliver Twist for years. Maybe this year I’ll finally get to it!
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thanks for pulling back the veil on your reading journey Joy. Love that public library in Louisiana. Doesn’t it cry out to you – come inside!!
Karen