Quote of the Day, 7/13/06

I found today's quote in The Quotable Book Lover which is one of those specialty books you might find at Restoration Hardware. It's a good source for quotes about writing and books, but I can't imagine sitting down and just reading it cover to cover. Anyway, it did provide me the following:

There is a certain kind of child who awakens from a book as from an abyssal sleep, swimming heavily up through layers of consciousness toward a reality that seems less real than the dreamstate that has been left behind. I was such a child.

- Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris

I spent most of my childhood with books. Often I would choose to read rather than play, would sneak a book and a flashlight under my covers at night, and would find it no punishment to be sent to my room with all those books. I was one of the kids who thought the summer reading challenge at the local library was 1) great fun, and 2) a cinch to win.

From 1975 till 1980, the following were the most memorable items in my reading list:

Encyclopedia Brown (series)
Little House on the Prairie (series)
Little Women
Every other Alcott book (followed by great disappointment learning she was dead and there weren't going to be any more)
Heidi (and sequel)
Pollyanna (and sequel)
The Five Little Peppers (series)
The Borrowers (series)
Nancy Drew (series)
Dana Girls (series)
Cherry Ames (series)
Trixie Belden (series)
The Diamond in the Window
The Westing Game
A Wrinkle in Time