Books

As yet I haven't mentioned books, or how important they have always been to me. As a child I was lonely, I always made friends at school, but my parents didn't encourage socialising out of hours, and my sisters were too distant from me in both age and personal interests to ever be playmates (we still have almost nothing in common -- my mother once described her 3 daughters, in order, as a bookworm, a tomboy, and a little girl who played with dolls. I, of course, was the bookworm (though I'm not sure it's very flattering to be called a worm!) I have never had the slightest interest in either sport or handcrafts, I'm an uncoordinated sort of person, so have no skills, and purely physical activities bore me to screaming point. Books were my refuge, my pleasure, and my education. I could read, haltingly, before I went to school, and fluently by age 6. As I grew older I immersed myself in books, i didn't own many, but there was always the school library, and when I got older, my father's extensive collection (about half of which were to my taste). My other source was my maternal grandmother (Gayga), also an avid reader. I always loved fairy tales (I think I skipped the stage when you're supposed to reject them) and when I got older, I added fantasy and science fiction (of particular kinds) to that genre. I love a good historical novel, and detective stories (the cosy murder mystery sort, not hardboiled thrillers) are other favourites. I have favourite poets, and, of course, my personal library contains a lot of theological/devotional works and psychological works, especially on abuse issues and similar. next time I'll talk about particular authors ..