CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] Favorite books
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Cathy Sullivan Seblonka <cathys>
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 16:39:42 -0400 (EDT)
My first experience with books was my mom's full bookcase in the living room. I knew the books were her treasures. So one morning when I was very young and very angry with her, I ripped the top of each and every book jacket at the spine.
I was better behaved by the time of my second memory of books. I have an older cousin whose comic books were handed down to us. My dad read aloud those comic books of Wendy, Casper, Raggedy Ann and Andy, etc.
When we were a little older and reading on our own, my parents invested in a set of encyclopedias. At that time, early 1960s, The Book of Knowledge contained fairy tales which I read and reread and found captivating. They included one by Oscar Wilde which led to a many year quest to read his works.
Attending Catholic school, I read the lives of the saints in elementary school. Perhaps they were like fairy tales, in a way. They allowed me questions about life and responsibility, and may be the root of my compassion and liberalism (along with Oscar Wilde). (Decades later, in a time of needed escape, I picked up Andrew Greeley's Virgin and Martyr. I was rather humorously shocked to read that the main character was neither!) Sometimes, now, when I am doing reference work, I wish I had read about fewer saints and more gods (Greek and Roman).
As a young adult (not teens but late 20s), I read Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth. I think this is the book, if I have to name one, that most influenced my young adulthood. Her losses, her quest for historical truth, her delayed plans and change of careers, her lifelong work and quest for peace all spoke to me. She also helped my understanding of poetry. Her poems reflect her experiences and when reading one in which she mentions lilacs?, I remembered that moment in an earlier biography where she had written about these lilacs and I realized that poetry can come out of one's own life.
Cathy
--
Cathy Sullivan Seblonka Youth Services Librarian Peter White Public Library 217 N. Front St. Marquette, MI 49855
(906) 228-9510 fax (906) 226-1783 e-mail: cathys at uproc.lib.mi.us
Received on Tue 30 May 2006 03:39:42 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 16:39:42 -0400 (EDT)
My first experience with books was my mom's full bookcase in the living room. I knew the books were her treasures. So one morning when I was very young and very angry with her, I ripped the top of each and every book jacket at the spine.
I was better behaved by the time of my second memory of books. I have an older cousin whose comic books were handed down to us. My dad read aloud those comic books of Wendy, Casper, Raggedy Ann and Andy, etc.
When we were a little older and reading on our own, my parents invested in a set of encyclopedias. At that time, early 1960s, The Book of Knowledge contained fairy tales which I read and reread and found captivating. They included one by Oscar Wilde which led to a many year quest to read his works.
Attending Catholic school, I read the lives of the saints in elementary school. Perhaps they were like fairy tales, in a way. They allowed me questions about life and responsibility, and may be the root of my compassion and liberalism (along with Oscar Wilde). (Decades later, in a time of needed escape, I picked up Andrew Greeley's Virgin and Martyr. I was rather humorously shocked to read that the main character was neither!) Sometimes, now, when I am doing reference work, I wish I had read about fewer saints and more gods (Greek and Roman).
As a young adult (not teens but late 20s), I read Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth. I think this is the book, if I have to name one, that most influenced my young adulthood. Her losses, her quest for historical truth, her delayed plans and change of careers, her lifelong work and quest for peace all spoke to me. She also helped my understanding of poetry. Her poems reflect her experiences and when reading one in which she mentions lilacs?, I remembered that moment in an earlier biography where she had written about these lilacs and I realized that poetry can come out of one's own life.
Cathy
--
Cathy Sullivan Seblonka Youth Services Librarian Peter White Public Library 217 N. Front St. Marquette, MI 49855
(906) 228-9510 fax (906) 226-1783 e-mail: cathys at uproc.lib.mi.us
Received on Tue 30 May 2006 03:39:42 PM CDT
