From Conception

My mother read aloud to me while I was in the womb. I can remember sitting up every night before bed listening to her read Bible stories aloud to my brother and I. Throughout the day, she would answer my, “What does that say, mom,” questions with so much diligence even if I was only pointing to the milk jug on the kitchen table. She began buying books that had honors for their illustrations so that I could “read the pictures” in the car and entertain myself. My favorite childhood book was “Rosie's Babies,” by Martin Waddell. It is a story about a girl who takes her stuffed animals outside to play and makes mud pies with them. She treats the stuffed animals as if they are her own children. I did this often, and Rosie reminded me so much of myself: free spirited and such a mother even as a child. I have the illustrations of this book ingrained in my memory, especially a picture of Rosie and her babies laying in a huge bird's nest.

Over the course of my childhood, I was permitted to stay up as late as I wanted as long as I was in my bed reading. I can remember one occasion, I was so engrossed in a book that I was still wide awake at 2:00 AM. My mother walked in to check on me, smiled big, and told me to sleep in the next day if I needed to. I was homeschooled until the eighth grade, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to read whenever I wanted to, at times, for days on end.

Growing up, I read a lot of historical biographies and autobiographies, and was especially interested in Clara Barton, George Washington, and Helen Keller. As a teenager and adult, I have found a love for British literature and historical fiction, but at times I climb out of my Austen and Swift pit to read things like Hossenni's, “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” or Francine River's fiction novels.

While I was reading Corrigan's essay, “Literature is a thing you do as part of life,” I thought about my most influential book other than the Bible. Although I find the classics to be suspenseful and gripping, one of my favorite books of all time would have to be “The Poisonwood Bible,” by Barbara Kingsolver. This book taught me so much about legalism, and although there are things about the book that I disagree with, it helped me to realize just how judgmental I had become over the course of my teen years. I agree with Corrigan's statement that, “What you get out of what you read depends on... where you are in your life when you read it.” Literature has most certainly shaped me for the better, and I must remember to incorporate it into my day to day life.