Book Love - Charlotte's Web Grabs Lishie for Life

When a true book lover is asked about their first book love, oftentimes, it takes a little bit of digging before they can unearth the book that you can identify as the first of them all. I love to watch and listen to people go through this type of literary archeology. When I asked Elisha, or Lishie, of the DeLish foodie blog and and Art for an Archangel blog, she literally typed out this initial dig in a sort of stream of consciousness way that I just loved and had to share with you. I think this is the perfect way to introduce you to Lishie and to allow her to reveal her first book love:

From as far back as I can remember I have simply loved books. All books. I was the type of little girl who would keep quiet & be silently in awe of the spines of books as well as the inside contents... Bring me into a library or book store & I would lose myself... Bring me into any variety store & I would find a book. That said, I fell in love many times. With my baby books, my Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie collection, with my brother's blue, hard cover Hardy Boys set, with my grandfather's battered red Scrabble Dictionary, with Beverly Cleary's "Mouse & the Motorcycle" a teacher read us as a class a chapter a day... over & over again...  But, being that I grew up in rural South Florida with dirt roads & very much left to my own device, one book touched me with a deep, true love... Charlotte's Web.

 

Ah... yes. Charlotte. Once I read Lishie's response, I was immediately struck by the fact that no one else had mentioned this book in my previous queries. I, personally, loved the story, but somehow saw the animated version before I ever sat down to  read the book, so my love is always associated with the film.

For Lishie it was different, at around six or seven years of age she received the book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White as a gift and although she "cannot recall from whom," she was immediately drawn in by both the animals and the friendships. She said, "The characters come alive in this book. It shows so many things... Compassion, sharing, the circle of life... Friendship."

Lishie was a self-described "nature kid" and tom boy who didn't completely shy away from the feminine. As an animal lover who would take care of any animal in need, she could relate to this story, while still finding the wonders of literary escapism in a story with talking animals.

Through Fern's example, Lishie learned a very powerful lesson, "...that even a little girl could make a difference." She looks forward to sharing this the book with her own son when he is old enough to appreciate it, but in the meantime, they "recently went to see it acted out on stage together at the Paper Mill Playhouse" which I think is just about the coolest thing ever!

Lishie's relationship with reading before and after reading Charlotte's Web, as you can probably imagine, has always been pretty fantastic, in her own words:

Reading was definitely something that saved me... from boredom and more... It took me places when I was terrified and showed me the world even at a young age I knew this. KNEW.

She didn't skip a beat after finding her first book love with E.B. White, she says she has, "plenty of room in [her] heart for many book loves. It's like having more than one child, I suppose." Some of her top book loves (besides Charlotte's Web, of course) include Les Miserables, Wuthering Heights, Jane Austen and she's also a reader of scifi and mystery!

Finally, I'd like to leave you with one last thought from Lishie that I speaks to what we all love about Charlotte's Web, whichever way we came to the story over the years. When I asked her which piece of Charlotte's Web that still resonates with her today, here is what Lishie had to say:

All of it... But most importantly, a runt is only worthless if you treat him as such.

Such an enormous life lesson echoed by the littlest of the litter.

About Lishie

Here's just a little bit more about Lishie, and where you can find her on the web (not Charlotte's!):

I'm a F/T working mom of a Special Needs 3 yr old in NJ (so, yes, I have 2 full time jobs!) who loves to cook, bake & eat with her family every night. I also love to craft & DIY. And reading is like breathing to me :)

DeLish - A food blog
http://delish-lishie.blogspot.com/

art for an archangel - a craft/DIY blog
http://lishiesangel.blogspot.com/

Did you read Charlotte's Web or see the movie?

What did you think?

(I am haven't been able to get Templeton's "Smorgasbord" song out of my head the whole time I have been writing up this post!)

What was your first book love?  

Book Love of The Moment - Math and Writing Unite

Since we have no book love interview this week, I thought I'd share my current book love with you. I am midway through a fascinating learning experience that came to me by way of Reddit. Yes, you read that correctly, I got a book from a website! Back in February, I signed up for the RedditGifts Book Exchange, a Secret Santa type of game that you play with strangers on the Internet, only this one is all about books. The person who sent my books found out I was a writer and, although she said she had no experience in the matter whatsoever, picked out three awesome books on writing for me. Right now I'm reading the first of the books she bought me, Story Engineering by Larry Brooks and it is literally the perfect book about writing for me there could be!

I'm a math chick. I know I've mentioned this before. I spent twelve years teaching the subject and an entire college career studying it. The thing is, I love Mathematics. I love the patterns in it; I love the truth in it; I love the way all of Nature seems to be built around it. Mathematics is seen by many as this exceedingly formulaic, boring and stagnant subject, but what it is, when you can see all it touches is beauty and art.

I am also a writer. This you have come to know, and I've mentioned this before as well. I've spent a lifetime steeping myself in stories. I read them; I told them; I wrote some of them down. What I always saw was the beauty and the art in each of the stories, but I believed that beneath it all,

there

must

be

a

pattern.

Perhaps this is the inner mathematician striving to make sense of every beautiful thing she comes in contact with. I don't know. What I do know, however, is that Larry Brooks is bringing this pattern to light for me. He is not stripping away the art or the beauty that lies within the worlds our words create, he is simply showing me their underpinnings. He is showing me the math behind the natural world of the story.

In introducing this structure that he argues is present in all stories and screenplays, Brooks discusses the resistance he often runs into from writers who argue this type of thinking is too formulaic. Brooks says he is not instructing the reader how they should write the story - you can still be a pantser, if you like to just let things flow; or be a plotter if you'd rather plan ahead - either way, there is a structure, a core that lies beneath the story no matter which approach you take.

I can not fully express to you how closely this rides to discussions in math education. The argument rallies on over whether mathematics should be taught procedurally (this is akin to our plotting writers - set up the rules ahead of time, then dive in) or through problem solving and discovery (like our pantsers, problems solvers dive in, start working, make mistakes, start over, make discoveries along the way and unearth the rules for mathematics as the problems are solved). Whichever teaching technique is employed, the mathematics at its core remains the same.

There is so much in this book that simply makes sense to me and, I believe, will make me a much better writer as a whole. When I have completed it I will be sure to write a thorough book review discussing Brooks' thesis in full. For today, I simply wanted to share with you my most current book love experience. The book that has currently enthralled me and pulled in my conscious and subconscious thoughts toward it. While I am reading these days, with pen and notebook in hand, I am thinking of stories, of structures, patterns, architecture and the beauty that they all create. It's a wonderful read and I just wanted to let you know!

Writers: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Math Minds: Do you think math is best taught procedurally or through problems solving?

Readers: Do you believe there is an inherent structure in all stories you read? Why or why not? 

Book Love Found in The Palm of His Hand

Two weeks ago I took Morgan Dragonwillow up on an offer to join her, Tui Snider and Susan Silver in teaming up to take on a fantastic online writing community called StoryDam. It has been a wild ride ever since and the one thing I love most of all is, of course, meeting the community of writers that come to StoryDam for inspiration, collaboration and support. One of the first members I met in the first #StoryDam twitter chat I participated in was Dorian Carr Jr.

At that time, Dorian was calling himself an "aspiring writer" even though, when you visit his blog, DJ's Cave of Darkness, you will find excerpts of his current work in progress, A Vampire's Search for a Heart. When I saw this, I immediately sent Dorian a message telling him to drop the "aspiring" and to recognize that, whether he was ready to admit it or not, at the age of 18 he was already a writer! He agreed and we've been twitter buddies ever since.

So, can you guess what happened next? I'm getting predictable at this point... I went ahead and asked him my question - you know the one - What was your first book love? Dorian's first book love and his method of reading it were both new ones for me, so this interview was quite enlightening.

Around a year ago Dorian was browsing the Amazon Kindle Store on his iPod and found a title that intrigued him; it was Heku by T.M. Nielson. Although he wasn't much of a reader - in his words he said, "I felt like reading was the worst thing in the entire world" - he decided to download this fantasy vampire romance book to check it out.

For Dorian, it was the genre and the unique title that initially grabbed his attention. Here's a brief description of the book, from Amazon, to give you the idea:

Chevalier has never been told no. For thousands of years he’s sat on the Equites Council, ruling body of his heku faction, and for thousands of years his every order has been followed immediately and without question. One of the most important rules of the heku, is that no one is to feed from unwilling donors. Following a tip that a young mortal woman is being brutally attacked by his own kind, he seeks her out and immediately begins to experience unnatural feelings for the woman.

According to Dorian, "After reading this book and series [nine books], I felt like reading was my life."  If that's not the truest sign of a first book love, I don't know what is.

As a point of curiosity I asked Dorian whether he had his own Kindle or if he was using a family one when he made his wonderful discovery. That's when he surprised me, he told me he downloaded all nine books to his iPod! I found this fascinating and my eyes teared when reading this confession. In fact, in my shock, I had to ensure I understood what Dorian had told me...

@carr_dj do you read most of your books this way, or are you an old school book guy also?
— riverand (@riverand) April 16, 2012

@riverand yes... ^_^ why does that surprise you?? O.o
— Dorion Carr Jr. (@carr_dj) April 16, 2012

Admittedly, yes... that surprised me a bit, but I told Dorian I had read parts of books on my iPhone in desperate times, but never a whole book, or a whole series. Then he had one more response to floor me:

@riverand yep!! ^_^ I love it! Lol. I still have like 30 books to read on my phone :D
— Dorion Carr Jr. (@carr_dj) April 16, 2012

THIRTY books in the palm of his hand! WOW! I'm a techie, but I guess I'm not a tiny-techie these days, what amazing times we live in. Wondering if my exclusion from the tiny-tech idea was a sign of my age, I asked Dorian if many of his friends read books this way, his response may be familiar to some of you life long book lovers out there:

@riverand all of.my friends, sadly.... Dont read books : ( at all.... Its just me
— Dorion Carr Jr. (@carr_dj) April 16, 2012

They'll come around, Dorian, they just haven't found their first book love yet!

While Heku and the entire series by T.M. Nielson will forever be remembered by Dorian as his first true book love, he's had at least two more that he shared with me: Being Human by Patricia Lynne and Rae Wilder Series by Penelope Fletcher.

I am so happy that Dorian decided to share his book love story with me us this week. He has given me an entirely different perspective of the various views our stories continue to come in, which also reminded me of this great cartoon from the New York Times a couple of weeks back entitled "The Book of the Future":

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/03/30/books/review/snider01.html?ref=review

Well, whatever way you find your stories this week - in a handheld device, in an eReader, via audiobook, on your desktop, or in a good old fashioned book - enjoy your reading!

So what IS your preferred method of reading a story?

Are you an iPod/iPhone/handheld reader?

Are you a lone reader amongst your friends? 

Feel free to email me when you're ready 

to share your own Book Love Story! 

First Book Love Of A Girl Named Michael

I've been following A Girl Named Michael for quite a while now. She has two blogs, and when I saw the second was called A Girl Named Michael Reads a Book, I knew that she would be a great person to join the Rivera Runs Through It Book Love Series. She was immediately excited by the project and quickly responded with the following, wonderful story of her first book love. Here's her story...

Hi My name is Michael and I love books. I write about books over at  A Girl Named Michael Reads a Book. I have another blog but its not about books so who cares.

When Nicole asked me to write about my first book love...I was excited to share and immediately knew what experience I wanted to share.

What was my first book love?

Wow that's a great question. First I have to say I have always like books. At a young age my mom taught me that books were special we weren’t to write in them or color in them and we had to treat them careful so the pages don't get torn. I have very clear memories of having books always in my life, I even remember the day I got my first library card. But I didn't fall in love with books until I was much older.

That may have been an exaggeration. I was 10 and in the 5th grade at the time but I felt so very very mature at the time. I and had saved up all my money to buy a book from the book order form the school sends home with the kids. For reasons I can't remember I had decided I needed to buy a book with my very own money. I saved up every penny, nickle and dime I could find, earn or weasel out of people

When my teacher handed out the order forms I very carefully looked at every book and read the brief description. Then I saw it...Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. A book about sister who’s father was off fighting a war. I clearly remember thinking I have 2 sisters (my youngest was just months old), it could be like our life. I went home counted up all my change and turned my order form in the next day.

I was so excited the day it arrived. Remember those days when your teacher would have a big box and would start pulling out the books and organizing them. Then walk over to you and give you your books. It was like Christmas at school. I remember very clearly Mr. Whitaker bringing the book to me, I didn’t often get books because my single working mom couldn’t afford to get me any but this time Mr. Whitaker was walking to my desk. He handed me my book looked at me and said I think you will like this book. I was so excited I immediately got out a pen and wrote my name all along the edge. I didn’t want anyone to think it was there book.

That night after I was suppose to be going to bed I started to read my new book. (I always thought I was sneaky back then staying up past bed time but my mom recently made a comment that let me know she knew how late I was up.)

I was instantly hooked. Over the next month I read the book with every page I fell more in love with the characters and the time. Depending on what was going on I identified with each of the sisters and developed my first book crush on Laurie (Laurence). Because of this book I have had a life long love affair with historical fiction and history.

26 years later I still have the book and I reread it every couple years.

And because I took a “chance” on this book and I loved it, I often take chances on other books. I will randomly pick a book of the book shelf at the library knowing that it might turn out to be my next book love.

And that is all that matters when it comes to books. Finding your next book love.

Getting book deliveries in school were truly some of the most exciting days I can remember in elementary school! I would like to thank Michael for sharing her story with us and for reminding me of those fun times. It really was just like Christmas at school - well put!

Did you ever buy books from school sales such as these? 

What about saving up money to buy your own book; do you remember the first book you ever bought for yourself? 

Taft 2012's Author Jason Heller Talks Book Love

Last month I read and reviewed a compelling book entitled, Taft 2012 by Jason Heller. I was so impressed by its unique tale and its fun storytelling that I decided I needed to know more about the man behind the words. I searched out Jason Heller and, when I found him, I asked him the question you know I am always burning to ask, "What was your first book love?" He satiated my book love curiosity by agreeing to do an interview for the Book Love Series.

Jason Heller, like many I ask, had many book loves, but said that he, "really connected with and obsessively re-read," David Eddings' classic, five-book fantasy series, The Belgariad. According to the David Eddings Wiki:

The series tells the story of the recovery of the Orb of Aldur and coming of age of Garion, an orphaned farmboy. Garion is accompanied by his aunt Polgara and her father Belgarath as they try and fulfill an ancient prophecy that will decide the fate of the universe. Along the way, various "instruments", or helpers, of the prophecy join their quest.

Jason received Pawn of Prophecy (the first book in the series) as a gift from his uncle. As Jason puts it, "He knew I had an interest in fantasy (mostly because my earlier reading of Tolkien, of course!), and he probably thought, 'Hey, this looks fantastical enough for Jason!'" It looks like his uncle was right. Jason was hooked seemingly on sight. When I asked him what he thought first drew him in, he wrote of seeing Garion, the farmboy in the book.

There’s a painting of boy on the cover of Pawn of Prophecy, the first book in the series, although it isn’t technically for young adults. As it turns out, Eddings’ intimate, detailed, warm, and sympathetic rendering of the book’s hero, the young farm boy Garion, instantly hooked me.


I wondered if Jason felt that he could relate to Garion, or any of the characters in the series, or if his reading was an experience of complete escapism. I absolutely love his answer, "Both. That’s what I loved about fantasy, and that’s why I still love that genre more than anything else. It’s total escapism—and yet, the best fantasy is very much about real emotions, real struggles, and the real world.
"  Isn't this so true? Don't we all find ourselves running to magical, mystical lands on the backs of our books, only to more deeply understand our own realities? We may not even consciously realize that is what we are doing at the time, but who hasn't left a good book with a greater understanding of some piece of the world?

Jason also reminded me of one of the beautiful memories of the pre-Internet world. It was so much easier to be surprised then...

I was around ten at the time, and Pawn of Prophecy had just been published. So I had the additional benefit of being able to buy each new book as it came out—and totally savor it. Back in the ’80s there was no Internet, of course, so I wasn’t instantly clued in as to the release schedule for The Belgariad. I would just go to the mall, walk into the bookstore, and boom, there would be the next installment in the series. It was like Christmas!


I have similar memories of seeing new Calvin and Hobbes books by Bill Watterson and my fantastic experience of reading Stephen King's The Green Mile as he originally wrote it - as a serialized novel. It truly was just like Christmas to see the continuation of your story on the shelf on what otherwise seemed like an ordinary day.

Jason has been a life-long reader, even before he fell into book love with this series. He said, growing up feeling "awkward and self-conscious around other kids...  heaven was sitting in a quiet room, getting lost in the pages of a book. Still is, really.

" He's lost count of all the times he's re-read this series, but knows he's, "read all five books of the Belgariad—plus all five books of its sequel series, the Mallorean—at least a dozen times. Every time I read it, it’s like going home." So, of course, he recommends the series to others,

The Belgariad doesn’t get a lot of critical respect, but it still holds up as a solid, witty, well-told, coming-of-age tale. Yes, it’s bursting at the seams with clichés, and it clings fanatically close to the whole hero’s-journey archetype. But I didn’t know that as a kid—I just knew it moved me, dazzled me, and swept me away.




And in the midst of dazzling and sweeping Jason away, the series also taught him. First he learned through Garion, as he learned on his journey,

Garion is taught many lessons as he matures and comes into his power (not to give too much away!) throughout the series. The biggest lessons he learns are from the blacksmith Durnik, who works on the farm with Garion and goes on to be one of his companions on his journey. Durnik’s basic philosophy—which I only wish I was better at adopting!—is this: Work hard, do it well, and let it be its own reward.

Then, as a whole, the series taught Jason personal lessons of his own.

It taught me that I had more strength than I realized. That’s an incredibly important thing to be told as a kid, especially one who grew up in some pretty adverse conditions (not to bore you with my sob story!). In fact, it’s something we all need to be reminded of from time to time.




 While Jason won't be sharing his sob story with us today, he gave a fantastic list of book loves to keep us engaged for quite some time. Get your to-read lists ready, here are some wonderful recommendations,

A list of a few books that have changed, and continue to influence, my life would have to include

• J. G. Ballard’s The Crystal World, 
• China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, 
• Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun, 
• Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, 
• Frank Herbert’s Dune, 
• Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, 
• Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 
• Greil Marcus’ Lipstick Traces, 
• Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, 
• Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, and 
• everything by M. John Harrison. 
• Oh, and I can’t forget Michael Moorcock’s iconic Elric series. I do, after all, have an entire arm of Elric tattoos! If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

I don't know where to begin! I've read some of these, but definitely not all, including The Belgariad series. However, to this list I would like to add the book that made this all possible, Jason's own work Taft 2012. I found it timely, fun and inspiring and have been recommending it to friends on a regular basis. 

I am grateful to Jason Heller for participating in the Rivera Runs Through It Book Love Series. You can follow Jason on Goodreads, Twitter or on his blog.

Now it is your turn! If you are ready to share your own book love story with the world, e-mail me at blogwithnv@gmail.com.

First Book Love Vlog from SableCaught

Back when I first learned about Pottermore I stumbled upon a fantastic book vlogger, SableCaught (Stevie Finnigan) whose videos I have subscribed to ever since. I love to watch her reviews of her latest reads as well as her great advice for book lovers, in general. She's fun, honest and has a great passion for the books in her life.

It finally occurred to me a couple of weeks ago, while watching Stevie's latest video that she would be a very interesting person to ask about first book loves. I sent along my request and am happy to report that not only did we get an answer for the Rivera Runs Through It Book Love Series, but I also have the distinct pleasure of introducing you to SableCaught in the way she is most well-known on the Internet - in video format!

Without any further adieu, I present to you SableCaught, straight from her YouTube channel:

1,000 thank yous to SableCaught for participating in this series and for, once again, describing books with such enthusiasm that I want to dive right into each and every one of them right now. I'm convinced if I ever had the privilege of visiting Stevie's book shop, she would sell me everything she had on her shelves just by telling me of her experience with each book!

SableCaught posts new videos every Monday and Thursday. As a subscriber to her channel, I highly recommend it to fellow book lovers.

Do you share any of Stevie's book love choices?

What about her experience of bringing books home from her grandparents' home, this sounds wonderful, did you have a similar relationship with anyone in your family?

*Remember, everyone is invited to be a part of 

the Rivera Runs Through It Book Love Series!

If you have a story to share, or are willing to be 

interviewed, contact me via e-mail. 

Cinder Author Marissa Meyer Shares Her Book Love Story

Last month I had the extreme pleasure of stumbling upon a book that took me on a journey to a new land with cyborgs, androids, royalty, the threat of an alien take over and the terror of a plague. It was a Cinderella story in a whole new wardrobe and it was called Cinder. When I finished the book and logged it into my Goodreads Reading Challenge I  serendipitously found the author, Marissa Meyer there and wrote her a message thanking her for her wonderful novel. Due to my insatiable curiosity about such things, I also took that opportunity to ask Ms. Meyer about her first book love. What follows is her gracious response to my query.

It's nearly impossible for me to pinpoint my first true book love, as my childhood memories blur together with too many book loves to count. Was it Black Beauty, which my mother read to my brother and I as we curled beside her on the bed? Or The Giver, which changed the way I looked at the world, and taught me how magnificent it is that books have that power? Or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I read over and over again while dreaming of the brilliance of a candied wonderland? Or was it Charlotte's Web? The Little House on the Prairie? My little book of fairy tales?

It's truly impossible to determine which came first, but after much deliberation, I will make an attempt to choose the Book Love that, more than any other, changed the course of my life. Because they made me want to become a writer.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein.

The complete set was a birthday present from my Uncle, who knew my love of books and no doubt saw a dreamer-fantasy girl in the making. I couldn't have been older than 9 or 10, and it would take me a few months to pick up the books (intimidating in their bigness) and dive into them. My birthday is in February and I saved them until summer vacation.

I remember going on a camping trip in my grandparent's RV that summer, along with my brother and cousin. We were at a beautiful northwest campsite with grand fir trees and a clear blue lake and potential adventures down every trail... but all I wanted to do was curl up inside the RV and read. I wanted to be in Middle Earth, questing beside hobbits and elves and wizards. The magic of the One Ring entranced me almost as much as it did Bilbo and Frodo. I couldn't put them down.

After that, I would spend years dreaming up magical quests and fantasy worlds, imagining myself a princess or a sorcerer or a thief, filling my head with prophecies of greatness and dangerous missions.

Eventually, when I was a teenager, I would start to write those dreams down. And though my first attempted novels were little more than LotR spin-offs (really, we all have to start somewhere), eventually my imagination would begin reaching into other times and places. This overactive imagination finally resulted in my first novel, CINDER, which is futuristic science fiction, of all things.

But no matter where my muse takes me, the love I have for high fantasy has never waned, and my appreciation for Tolkein's masterpiece lingers to this day. I did re-read the books in college and loved them just as much, and of course attended the midnight releases of all three movies... in costume. You can bet I'll be doing the same when The Hobbit comes out this December.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings made me a life-long fan of magic and fantasy, a life-long dreamer, and a life-long book lover. They can also be credited, at least partly, with making me a life-long writer, and for that I will bestow upon them the title of my first true Book Love.

Tolkien strikes again! I wonder if he realized what an enormous legacy he left us all with his creation of Middle Earth. I would like to thank Marissa Meyer again for her wonderful answer to my question and I would like to invite you all to jump on the Lunar Chronicles bandwagon with me - if you haven't read Cinder: Book One in The Lunar Chronicles yet, then snap it up so we can anxiously await the arrival of book two!

Also, if you would like to share you're own story of book love, I think I speak for everyone who reads Rivera Runs Through It when I say, we'd love to read it, so e-mail me at BlogWithNV@gmail.com so we can make it happen!

Reevaluating My Own First Book Love

On Friday, while thinking about books, first book loves and all of the great stories I have come across so far from the people who have participated in the book love project, I suddenly craved more stories. Since I had also just signed up for a book exchange on Reddit (read about that coolness in my post at Word of the Nerd), I recalled that I was part of a pretty cool book community there and decided to ask my "big question": What was your first book love? of the reddit community. The discussion was amazing, so much fun and, most important of all, enlightening to me.

You see, while engaging in discussions with lots of other people about their first book love I was reminded of my own: The Monster at the End of this Book! When another redditor claimed it as their first book love, I was instantly swept away to multiple memories of laughs, rereads and sharing the book with my little brother. I responded on reddit with the following comment:

In all honesty I keep wondering if I should rewrite my own first book love story and write about this book. The only problem is that I don't readily recall when I was introduced to it, how I was introduced to it or when I first read it. I simply remember this book always being around, always reading it, always laughing and loving it. I cherished my original oversized copy of this book until it was destroyed in a flood we had here in 2010. If I EVER see the oversized version of this book again, I am grabbing it up. My husband just recently bought me the sequel to this book that came out recently pairing Grover with Elmo. Also a great book, but there is nothing quite like Grover laying bricks across the page.

It was part of the redditor's response that really struck home to me next:

It was like my little brain's Sixth Sense--the twist was just mind-blowing.

That was it! Or at least part of it... Not only was this book visually engaging, about a character I knew and loved, but, on top of all of that it had this wonderful twist in the end. It was great storytelling in all of its simplicity. Jon Stone, like any good mystery writer, had not held back anything, all the clues were there. In fact, everything was right on the cover, we readers needed to look no further. However, in our fascination with the lovable and furry Grover we could not not see what was plainly before us. As Mike Smollin's illustrations distracted us from the obvious page after page, our curiosity drove us to keep turning against all of Grover's pleas because, as scary as the conclusion might be, we thought, If Grover can do it, so can I.

I will not spoil the ending for those of you who have not yet had the joy of reading this book. I will, instead, share the book with you through the wonderful magic of YouTube. However, before I leave you with this techie treat I will say that there is some real reader magic missing in this translation. For the purists, I highly recommend that you find this book in its tangible form to read and turn the pages with your own fingers and hands. I will tell you personally I don't think anything made me feel so powerful as a child as my ability to pull down each of Grover's constructs. I believed him when he said I was strong.


So, I'm pretty sure this is it. This is my earliest book memory and, as both my parents have passed on, I have no one to ask if there is one that I connected with before it. However, as I said on reddit, I don't remember the first time I read this book. I don't recall if it was read to me, with me or by me on my first read. What I do know is that this book is in my forever memory, as if I never lived without it. I know that when I saw it float by me in my basement flood I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I know that I can still read this book today and capture a moment of childhood within its pages.

I don't think I could ask much more from a book. Therefore I have a couple of thank yous to dole out:

Thank you Jon Stone, not only for this book, but for all of your work on Sesame Street.

Thank you Mike Smollin for drawing such a lovable Grover and such believable brick walls.

Thank you Grover, for being just as scared as the rest of us, and showing us how silly that can be!

What are your impressions of The Monster at the End of This Book?

How do you feel about the read aloud videos like the one here in comparison to a tangible book?

If you would like to share your story of your first book love, e-mail me at blogwithnv@gmail.com!

 

A Book Love Begins in French Class

In my home, Les Miserables was a title spoken about with a sense of respect, awe and admiration. I have seen this musical more than any other on all of Broadway and I have been told many times that Hugo's work was my mother's truest book love. It is for this reason I was overjoyed to see that this week's book love participant, Susan Silver, was sharing her own story of book love about this magnificent work.

A French Student Finds Hugo
 
My mother was introduced to Hugo's masterpiece from a family member, but Susan found Les Miserables in her quest for a deeper understanding of the French culture in high school while taking on the language. It started out as supplementary school materials, but soon enough, "It became a love affair," Susan says,

The opening of the novel was amazing. This may only be true if you read the unabridged version. The book doesn’t start with Jean ValJean’s story. It starts with the Bishop of Digne otherwise known as Monsieur Bienvenue (translation= Mr. Welcome). A whole chapter is dedicated to a man who will be quickly forgotten once the protagonist enters. Yet his kindness to Jean ValJean is the launching point for that character’s redemption. That attention to detail captured my heart and drew me deeper into the story.

Susan's admission here, as well as both book love stories about The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have me wondering how important this level of depth is in captivating readers for a lifetime. We all read books that don't go to this level, but do we only fall in love with books that do?

Reading Before and After Book Love

Susan admits to being quite an avid reader even before Les Miserables, "In fourth grade I was already reading the classics like Orwell’s 1984. I guess it was a form of escapism, but it helped me get through some tough times and gave me an education. I learned a lot about the world through the books that I read and the opinions they introduced me to." However, once she was swept away by Victor Hugo she had a hard time finding books that captured her in the same way, "It did ruin me for other books. I guess you could say that I like a particular style and it is quite old." She recommends it often, and reminds us that there is no shame in reading the abridged version!

The Lesson From Hugo 

If you are wondering what's to be gained from reading this classic, here's what Susan had to say when I asked her what life lesson she learned from her experiences of reading Les Miserables about eleven times:

There are many themes and every year I pick up on new details. I can sum up my main take away in the form of my favorite quote:

"Deep hearts, sage minds, take life as God has made it; it is a long trial, an incomprehensible preparation for an unknown destiny. This destiny, the true one, begins for a man with the first step inside the tomb. Then something appears to him, and he begins to distinguish the definitive. The definitive, meditate upon that word. The living perceive the infinite; the definitive permits itself to be seen only by the dead. In the meanwhile, love and suffer, hope and contemplate. Woe, alas! to him who shall have loved only bodies, forms, appearances! Death will deprive him of all. Try to love souls, you will find them again.”

Essentially here are is what the quote means to me:

We all love and suffer. We may want to cut ourselves from others because of a hatred. Yet  If we can see the larger picture then we can transmute our pain and return to a place of love. In other words, feel compassion for others and forgive.

Recommended Reading 
 
I don't know about you, but I love this. Susan has inspired me to give this book another shot (I tried reading it in middle school, got really overwhelmed, and never looked back)! Susan also has two other book loves that I haven't read and am putting on my to-read list now:

“Cannery Row” by John Steinbeck. I don’t like any of his other books, but I will keep coming back to this one. Perhaps it is because of my familiarity with Monterey Bay.

“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Sometimes it is nice to see the world through a child’s eyes.

Connecting With Susan Silver
 
If you would like to connect with Susan to talk to her about books or just to see what she's up to these days, I'm happy to tell you she has a fabulous web presence. Susan Silver works as a contract SEO copywriter. She is a weekly contributor to 12most.com in the media category. Her unique writing talent is telling stories that explain mundane topics through the lens of pop culture. Susan currently writes about Word-of-Mouth marketing on her website Cirquedumot.

Twitter: @susan_silver

URL: http://susansilver.info

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

The following post is taken directly from my hand-printed Reader's Journal. I will be sharing these reflections each week on the Rivera Runs Through It blog. The date at the end of each post is the date of the original writing, which is typically the date I completed the book. The reflections are short, but represent my initial reactions to a book, a brief summary of the book or the questions it raised for me at the time. I hope you enjoy this segment in my blog and feel free to comment on what you read here.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Another of Book Magazine's top books of 2002. It tells the story of Pi Patel, an Indian boy intrigued by religions and animals. Pi grew up on a zoo in Indian and left himself open to various religions as he came upon them. Already leading this unique life, things take a turn for the stranger when his family decides to move to Canada. On the trip one night the ship sinks and Pi is a lonely cast away on a strange adventure with even stranger boat-mates.

Dated: 02/01/03

Have you read Life of Pi recently, or do you recollect it? I personally remember having a coupe of burning questions about the conclusion of this book, or perhaps it had something to do with Pi's philosophy by the end of the tale... No one I knew had read it at the time, so there was no one to query. If you have any thoughts about Pi, I'd love to read them in my comments! (Maybe they will jog my memory!)

My Passion for Books [Book Love Guest Post]

If you've been keeping up with my writing challenge check-ins this month, then you know I've made some online writing friends. This week's Book Love post comes from one such new friend, Morgan Dragonwillow, who writes on three different blogs: Writer's Universe, Shadow Rhythms, and Dragonwillow Journeys in addition to working towards completing her creative writing projects. Every writer is influenced by the reading they do in their life, so to get a taste for what we can expect from Morgan in the future, here is her book love history in her own words.

The first book I can remember falling into a serious book love crush with was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton in the ninth grade; I was fourteen years old. Before that I didn't much like reading; it was a family issue. I can still remember how I felt while I was reading that book. It was like walking into a magical world where nothing else mattered except what was going on within those pages. I happily lived there to the very last page.  

The Outsiders was actually the first book that was on a reading list for school that I liked and wanted to read. The characters were close to my age, and well yeah, they were outsiders and that is what I was. I never fit in and I definitely could relate. It was the first book that made me cry. Wait... I think I cried when I read Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry in grade school too. Wow I had completely forgotten about that book. I wanted to go back in time and help her rescue slaves. (I was eleven years old and I never reread Harriet Tubman.)

I believe I did reread The Outsiders once about a year later but as I grew older, I lost interest in reading it.

When I was in my early twenties I began reading romance novels. I cringe even to admitting that. I preferred reading books that had a bit of adventure, were magical, and with a little mystery thrown in.

I quickly found the wonderful world of Fantasy. I was in love. I devoured the Arrows of the Queen Series by Mercedes Lackey. I don't even know how many times I have reread them. They are like an old friend that I revisit from time to time. Once again it was about an outsider that didn't fit in with her people. I remember staying up late and never wanting to put the book down. It was magical, there were companions that were like horses only better, and most of the main characters had some form of power that they used for good. Just writing about them makes me want to go find the first in the series to read again.

I often tell others about this series of books. Every time I hear an adult say they love Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling I say, "Oh, if you like Harry Potter, you should read Arrows of the Queen because it is like an adult version of Harry Potter; which I loved by the way."

I didn't even know about the Harry Potter series until the third or fourth book was already out. I saw something on television that showed people standing in line for the most recent book release. I didn't understand. This was a children's book, right? Why were people of all ages in line to get this book? I had to find out what this was all about.

I read the first Harry Potter book in one sitting pretty quickly. I loved it. I read all the books that were already out and then impatiently waited for the rest to be published. When it was time for the last Harry Potter book to be released, my partner and I decided to go to the Midnight Party at Borders. We had a blast. This last book I stayed up reading all night and into the day to finish in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. I don’t think I even ate or drank much. I remember being on the floor that night in my room, with a flashlight, so that I wouldn't disturb my partner. We had a full house then and even the living room had someone sleeping in it.

My latest book love is the Twilight series. I resisted it for a long time. All four books in the series were already out. I thought it was some silly teenage book and didn't understand what the entire ruckus was about. When the Twilight movie came out, I thought maybe I should go ahead and get the first book; just to see if it was any good. I couldn't put it down. I know some may think it is silly but I loved it. I have reread the first and last book twice and I am about to reread the second and third books.

All of the books that I most love have a common theme. I guess you can say I can relate to misfits and outsiders being a child that never fit in; that grew into an adult that didn't fit into a typical mold. These books helped me to see I am not the only one that has felt out of sync with the rest of the world; that good can prevail over evil, and happy endings are possible even if they aren't what you thought they would be.

Book Love Heads Back to Middle Earth

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When One Book Just Isn't Enough
 
In last week's book love post we were introduced to Eric Storch, who first read The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien in the second grade and with it found his first ever book love. Chris, from The Carpe Diem blog had a similar experience, he says, "Like Eric, I was introduced to The Hobbit at a relatively young age, I think it was the fourth grade," (after both of these stories, I'm thinking my parents somehow failed me - I didn't read The Hobbit until I was in my twenties!), however, Chris was not completely enamored with this one book, "While I definitely enjoyed it, I can't say it was my first book love. It was a good story, but it left me wanting more." Well, young Chris was a smart cookie who set off to the school library on his quest for more, "In the fifth grade I turned to the Lord of the Rings and was immediately entranced."

What Is It About Middle Earth? 
 
If you have not yet taken the literary journey to Middle Earth like Chris has, Eric has or I have, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. Perhaps you are thinking, "I saw the movies. They were cool, there was action, drama and the book fans love it - there's no need for me to read the book. I have experienced this." I will ask you to reconsider. I will ask you to just think about some of these thoughts Chris shared about Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings and the reading experience as a whole:

When I asked Chris what first drew him into his first book love, in general, as a book, he said

It was definitely the sense of being transported to a whole new world, and a complete world at that. No matter how deeply you wanted to delve into the lore and history that Tolkien  created, it was all so consistent and complete. I absolutely loved it, I was so into it. I think at that age I knew the history of Middle Earth better than the history of the real world.

When I asked Chris about his first impressions of Middle Earth, he said

I loved the completeness of it all. I loved the geography. I used to imagine what the landscapes in the maps [from Middle Earth atlases] would look like - the wilderness of Eriador, the soaring peaks of the Misty Mountains, the barren, poisonous environment of Mordor, the majestic and mighty River Anduin.

When I asked Chris if it was difficult to fall in book love again after reading The Lord of the Rings, he said

Definitely. I still read widely, but nothing was able to capture the scope and grandeur of Tolkien.

And when I asked Chris if he recommended The Lord of the Rings to others to read, he honestly replied

Again, definitely, but I think you really have to be interested in books with depth. It's not a casual read!

So there you have it. The secret to the joy of Tolkien's tale - it is not a casual read, but it is complete, grandiose and captivating. If you think you're up to it, pick up the book, you may not be able to put it down, for awhile (Chris begrudgingly confessed to reading LotR 32 times!).

Does Tolkien Approve of Peter Jackson?


For those who read the book and experienced Middle Earth as Tolkien intended it before Peter Jackson transformed New Zealand into Middle Earth and put that tale on the screen, the idea of capturing this  epic fantasy on film seemed a ridiculous pipe dream. Yet Chris, like many fans, gives Peter Jackson due credit for taking on the behemoth,"The standard was impossibly high. Getting it wrong would have destroyed a filmmaker's career. Yet Jackson managed it superbly. For the most part he was entirely faithful to the story. New Zealand was a perfect setting - the geography worked as Middle Earth... The casting was also really well done." But Chris has one sticking point, "The only part that irked me, somewhat, was Faramir's attempt to take Frodo and Sam back to Gondor... that wasn't in the book. But overall... Peter Jackson deserves every accolade he received."

In line with this reflection on the film, Chris raises an interesting question when I asked him what one thing he would ask Tolkien if he could, "I'd have to say - what does he think of Peter Jackson's representation of Middle Earth? ...I'd be fascinated to know if Peter Jackson's interpretation of Middle Earth was consistent with how Tolkien saw his world in his own mind." I was surprised I hadn't thought of this myself. This is usually the number one question I want to ask authors once their story has hit the screen.

Tolkien's (and Chris's) Greatest Lesson


While we may be unable to get Tolkien's answer to Chris's great question, that does not mean he is done sharing with us. Chris points out a fantastic life lesson to be garnered from Lord of the Rings that has little to do with fantasy, other worlds or fiction. It is, in fact, about how we should approach our life, "I think it really showed me that if you are passionate about something, there is no limit to what you can create. Tolkien clearly loved what he did, I think his life work is a great example to people that you can only be limited by your own imagination. Tolkien created whole languages just for the pure joy of it. If that's not loving life I don't know what is. So I'd say the primary lesson is: follow your passions and don't accept boundaries on what you can do and achieve."

(Just wondering... did I mention that the name of Chris's blog is The Carpe Diem?) 

Finding Love After Middle Earth

Although Chris said it was difficult to find book love after reading Lord of the Rings, it wasn't impossible. He found other authors that captured his interests such as

• Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince series and Exile series
• The space opera of Alastair Reynolds
• Stephen King for his mastery of characterizations 

How To Connect With Chris (aka Buzz)

Here are some great ways to connect with Chris to see what he's up to right now:

• My blog is called the Carpe Diem ... site is www.thecarpediem.net  Having been through a marriage separation recently I'm in the process of some significant personal development and growth.  The blog is my chronicle of my journey and also a resource for people wanting to seize the day and learning to live in the present.  The site motto is "Because Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal".  I'm having a lot of fun with it but don't have many subscribers yet! 
• Twitter: @the_carpediem
•  FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Carpe-Diem/124943070952161 
• Reddit:  I edit a subreddit - unsurprisingly called Carpediem !

Click here if you are interested in participating in the First Book Loves Project.

A Book Love Begins With Bilbo

I knew when I wrote my post on first book loves that the name J.R.R. Tolkien would come up. Eric Storch sent me an e-mail on the day I published that post which began with the following sentence: "I just read your post and without hesitation I can say my first book love was “The Hobbit” ..." I was so excited. I could tell from the content of that e-mail alone that Eric was the epitome of who I had imagined. I contacted him with my interview questions and, personally, have found his story of book love fascinating! So, without further adieu, here is Eric's story of his first book love, in his own words...

Here's Eric with his ORIGINAL copy of The Hobbit from 1978!

It Began With A Gift

My first book love was “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien. When I was in second grade in 1978, my father gave me a paperback copy for my birthday. I had never been a big reader and I remember thinking that I was a bit intimidated by being asked to read a novel. Luckily, my birthday always fell on the winter break in late February, so I had a week of being stuck indoors with not much more to do than read the book.

I read the entire thing that week. I had never experienced anything like it. A world of dwarves, elves, wizards, dragons and … hobbits! The book took me to a strange and unknown place – a place I was sorry to say goodbye to when I turned to the last page.

A Reader Was Born 
 
I was hungry for more. My dad also had paperbacks of the “Lord of the Rings” dating from the mid-sixties. Those he let me borrow, and I ate up that story with as much relish as “The Hobbit.”

As the years went by, I delved into whatever fantasy fiction I could find: “The Prydain Chronicles” by Lloyd Alexander, The Elric of Melnibone books by Michael Moorcock, the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories by Frtiz Leiber, The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin and so many others. All classic sword and sorcery books.

When I couldn't find sword and sorcery, I discovered mysteries and started reading Agatha Christie, Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Then on to science fiction, mythology, classic literature; I was a book junkie and I always needed a fix.

I always came back to Tolkien though. Since that week in 1978, I have read “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” once every year. So that's … thirty-three times. Yikes! I had never counted it before. I still have those old copies of Tolkien's books. In fact, I still have almost every book I ever bought. The house is full of books! I just can't get rid of my friends.

When the Stories Hit the Silver Screen
 
Over the years, I had always thought that the Tolkien books would make great movies. My father took me to the movies ages ago to watch Ralph Bakshi's animated version of the Lord of the Rings and we were both disappointed when the movie ended half way through the story. I don't even want to discuss the Rankin/Bass debacle of The Hobbit and Return of the King.

When I discovered that a live action version of Lord of the Rings was in the works, all I can say is, “Thanks the powers that be for the internet!” I was able to follow as much of the movie making process as was allowed and grew very excited for the final product. I was not disappointed. I know many Tolkien fans were upset by the changes to the story and out-right omissions, but LotR would just not have been very good as a direct translation from book to film. Changes had to be made and I think Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh did an excellent job with the script to say nothing of how visually stunning all three films are.

Needless to say, with Jackson helming The Hobbit, I'm not worried in the least. I know both films will be great (they are using information from the appendixes of LotR as well as other works that Tolkien wrote to fill in the gaps between the events of The Hobbit and LotR). I can't wait for them!

The Long Term Effects of Being a Tolkien Fan
 
Fantasy fiction has become my life blood. My wife has jokingly said that I need to read fantasy as much as I need to breathe. It's true. It has become a major part of what and who I am. Reading fantasy led to playing role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons which in turn led to life-long friendships. I have a small group of friends I have known since the mid-eighties who I am still in touch with because of this.

Reading has also led to a desire to write. I write often, though sometimes not very well. I haven't ever been published, but it isn't a serious goal. I write stories that I would like to read, but haven't found written by anyone else. Most often, I'm the only one who enjoys them.

Reading in general and a shared love of fantasy fiction was one of the things my wife and I connected on when we first met. We have been exploring new books together such as The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson and the Shadow March series by Tad Williams. It's been quite a journey.

The Greatest Interview of All
 
If I could ask Tolkien one thing, I think it would be, “What was it like being the first person to discover Middle-Earth? Were you as amazed as the rest of us?” That might be a kind of lame question, but I like to think that he loved visiting Middle-Earth most of all. I know I did. His books gave me a place to go for a short time that took me away from the troubles happen to and around me. His books helped me discover a love of reading and writing. His books helped my find life-long friends and the most wonderful woman a man could ever ask for.

Thank you, Professor Tolkien.

How To Contact Eric

If you are looking to connect with Eric, or read some of his writing, then you need to check these links out:

• Eric's blog is I Can't Brain Today; I Have the Dumb
• On Twitter, you can follow him as @ewstorch_nh
• You can find him on LinkedIn as Eric W Storch 
• On Goodreads, Google+ and Facebook just link up with Eric Storch

Have you read The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien? 

If so, what was your first impression?

If not, what's stopping you?? 

(The movie comes out later this year - you should ALWAYS try to read a book before you see the movie!)

A Role Model Is Found In One Mom's Book Love

When Dawn Mannix, wife and mother of two, unearthed her copy of Jane Eyre in preparation for her Book Love interview, the tale that was written within had been read so many times since she was first introduced to it approximately twenty years earlier, it was familiar, welcoming and inspiring. However, this particular copy of the book managed to hold within not only Charlotte Brontë's words, but others, etched by a mysterious person holding a key to some forgotten piece of Dawn's dating life.

Can Book Love Lead To Romantic Love?

As Dawn has been my best friend for just about two decades, I received a phone call as soon as her book was found so that the serendipitous hilarity could be shared. In the front cover of Dawn's book was an inscription from a mysterious gentleman caller hoping that they both have a great time on their first date. He went even further to wish Dawn nothing but joy, love, and success in life. A beautiful sentiment written in Dawn's favorite book of all time. It seems the perfect gift. I thought, "Whoa, what a great first impression." Problem was - neither one of us could remember who this guy was. Dawn could barely make out his signature! After nearly 48 hours of squinting, scrutinizing, trying to remember a date in 1999, Dawn ultimately figured it out when she put her husband to the task of deciphering the handwriting.

It was a guy named Brendan she went on one date with. Obviously, no sparks. According to Dawn he was a cute guy, but had a little too much baggage. The lesson learned from this: Dawn really loves Jane Eyre and, evidently, while in her twenties, she would talk about it so much that some guy thought it was the key to impressing her on a first date.

Other First Impressions

While Brendan's first impression was fleeting, the enormous impact Jane had on Dawn hit first in a sophomore English class when she was 15 years old. Since Dawn and I went to high school together, we discussed what it was like to read the book at 15. I asked Dawn if she could remember how she identified with Jane Eyre when she first read the book. "I identified with how she sees herself versus how the world sees her. For example, she sees herself as plain, while she is described as a witch."

Dawn wishes that every girl of high school age could be given a copy of Jane Eyre to read. She said, "Young girls could take a tremendous amount from this book." When I asked her what she believes some of the big lessons were that Jane could impart, without hesitation, Dawn said, "[Jane] wouldn't let anybody demean her," throughout her entire story she was "never a damsel in distress. She didn't need a man." Dawn has only one reservation about the widespread distribution of the book - the vocabulary. When we discussed the possibility of an abridged or children's version of the book, I asked Dawn if she would start reading Jane Eyre to her daughter (in the first grade) now if she could. Her response, "Hailey would love Jane!" (I did find a "Classics Retold" version of the book released by Usborne Children's Books online, but have yet to actually read it or share this news with Dawn.)

Life Lessons

As Dawn read and re-read Jane Eyre over the years, even more life lessons came soaring through its pages to her. As she reminisced about all of the dramas in Jane's life, and how dignified Jane was through it all, she kept coming back to two themes that shone above all others. Dawn says it was in reading Jane Eyre that she "first learned that love is not perfect." For those who have read the book, this might be the understatement of the century - poor Jane and Rochester! Rochester who loved Bertha enough to care for her even after her madness, despite her affinity for fire, despite her desire to run around on all fours like an animal; Jane who love Rochester despite his mad wife, with or without his riches, with or without his vision. Their love was not perfect by a long shot. They are an extreme case, but the lesson does hold true.

The second poignant point Dawn picked up from Jane was her amazing ability to come back from so much hardship, and to come back from it stronger. When I asked Dawn if she ever employed a "WWJD - What would Jane Do?" perspective on a situation in her life since it had such a great impact on her, she laughed, but then more seriously answered, "I don't think there's any circumstance you can't come back from." She said she finds that most people don't believe this, but after reading this novel she has lived by this idea - no matter how bad it gets, even when your life seems to bottom out, there's always a way back.

Some of Dawn's Other Book Loves

When I asked Dawn how Jane Eyre affected her reading choices throughout her life she said that her favorite books have always been written by women. In her opinion, "Women write women accurately." Three of her top reads (after Jane, of course) are

• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Three Junes by Julia Glass

Have you had a book love lead you to romantic love?

Do you prefer exposing children to abridged or re-tellings of classic tales at a younger age, or waiting until they can "handle" the original version?

For lovers of Jane Eyre, what are the great lessons that Jane taught you?

Want to share your first book love? Check this out.

One English Teacher's First Book Love

Robert Rivera teaches English in a high school these days. If someone had told his twelve year old self that's where he would have ended up, he probably wouldn't have believed it. You see, back in the days, Rob didn't consider himself a big reader. By his own confession, he didn't buy a novel for his own pleasure until he reached college.

What Book First Captured His Heart?

So, you might be wondering - how could a guy who didn't even really like books end up selecting a career that focused on them so intently? The answer is simple, he fell in book love at the tender age of twelve with a genre of books that is often overlooked when we consider whether or not we are readers: comic books. When I asked Rob what his first book love was, one can still hear the bias against this genre of literature, "I don't know if it counts, but I think it sort of does... I was very into comic books, first, before any books. So I would say my first book love was... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

Are There One Night Stands in Book Love?!

I asked Rob why he thought this book (or, more accurately, series of books) would not count as book love. "I think it counts in that you build a passion for something. It's something you want to share with people and not everyone knows about it. So, you feel like you have this secret that you just have to get out there. I think it satisfied those requirements for book love. I think there's another part of book love, though, when you are actually reading that book. Some comics are so short and brief that you are pretty much done with it in one sitting, but with a novel you get to interact with it for hours and days (depending on how fast your reading is)... as far as length goes [comics] are more like one night stands."

I challenged Rob to rethink he stance on the casual nature of comic book love,"Don't you feel like (if I'm going to take this analogy to it's death) you had a relationship with The Turtles because you got to see them more so than people would with a novel? You would get to see them weekly, or monthly, and that story continues." He agreed.

How Did They Meet?

Rob's father was a big time comic book fan, but, surprisingly that's not where he picked up The Turtles from. It was from a cousin who would visit from time to time. Rob admits, when he first heard the title alone, he thought it was ridiculous. However, that appeared to be the hook, "I was intrigued to look through the book at first because it was ridiculous. I thought, 'OK. This is silly,' but then I browsed through it. All of a sudden I was drawn into it." Of course I can't leave that pun hanging there as Rob was also drawn in by the art of the book, "I think it's one of the ways comic books attract young people. They can get half of the story through a visual representation, like TV. To me, I thought, 'These things look cool and I really want to know more about them.'"

We discussed how the Turtles were a major part of our childhood culture in the early nineties, but Rob takes a special pride in the fact that he was reading these books before there was a cartoon, action figures, video games or a movie. "I think I liked the idea that this was some sort of underground idea that I was in on."

The Real Life Relationships

Underground or not, all comic book readers know that once you're hooked, it is likely you will start to develop a relationship with your comic book seller, "It felt like visiting a friend each week," Rob says of the "flea-market guy." The "store" was a small five foot by six foot space with comic books on the walls behind the seller's counter and on the walls. Rob reflects fondly on a memory of strings across the top of the store where GI Joes hung who were sold for one dollar each and I worry that tomorrow we'll have the same thing running through our living room (have I mentioned that Rob is my husband?)!

Making The Transition

Rob still reads comic books faithfully, and started to branch out past the Turtles about a year after he began reading them, but you may be wondering what finally helped him make the transition from comic books to picture-less reading. He credits a high school English teacher with planting a seed that would lead to his first-ever "real" book love.

"One year I had this interesting teacher who would talk about books, in general. I remember how he mentioned The Hobbit having its own language. Something about how Tolkien had created a whole language for the characters in The Hobbit  and he planted a seed that day. All I knew of The Hobbit was 1. the cartoon that came on around Thanksgiving time, and 2. what this teacher told me.... All writers invest tons of time into their books, but I didn't know that at the time and I was intrigued by this. So The Hobbit was the first book I went out and bought for myself." However, it wasn't right after the class. It was years later, when he was in college (I have it on good authority that he read this book with a girl... I'm not going to drop any names here, but The Hobbit does have a special place in the Rivera lore.). It's a good thing he loved that book though, Rob says, "If I didn't love that book, I don't think I would be a reader today."

Some of Rob's Other Book Loves 

Rob's book love has continued over the years and when I asked him for a quick rundown of other loves, here's what he came up with:

• Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
•  Ender's Game Orson Scott Card
• Othello by Shakespeare
• Halo Series, specifically books written by Eric Nylund
• Ringworld by Larry Niven
• The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King  (with extra love for The Wizard and The Glass)
• ALL SEVEN HARRY POTTER BOOKS by JK Rowling
• The Hunger Games Trilogy by Susan Collins
• The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (he teaches this book ALL the time!)

 From Comic Books:

• Invincible by Robert Kirkman
• Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
• Ultimate Spiderman by Brian Michael Bendis
• Girls by The Luna Brothers
• Y The Last Man by Brian K Vaughan
• Ultimate X-Men by Mark Millar
• Wanted by Mark Millar
• The Watchmen By Alan Moore
• The Dark Knight by Frank Miller
• The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller
• Maus by Art Spiegelman 
• Bone by Jeff Smith

I made him stop. 

If you are desperately seeking more of Rob's recommendations, just let me know!

Are you a comic book reader? If so, what was your first comic book love?

Have you ever felt like you were in on some sort of underground idea when reading a book?

Want to share your first book love? Check this out.