Since I could remember, I have had a love affair with the written word.  We had a library in my childhood house and I spent hours and hours in there.   I recall reading my mother’s Agatha Christie murder mystery books when I was in grade school.  I use to have a voracious appetite for reading anything I could get my hands on!  I was never into a particular genre either.  It was like whatever caught my eye, I would seek it out.  For instance, when I discovered John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway, I sent to the library and checked out all of their respective works and read all of them in a week.  Well, I was very fortunate to have been raised in an environment that encouraged my curiosity and quest for knowledge through books. 

When I was in middle school, I didn’t need a “book hook” that was described in “It’s all about text appeal: Want readers’ advisory to make a difference? Teach your kids how to speak intelligently about books” article, to “...identify the pace, characterization, storyline, and tone of a book” (Nesi, 2010).  I was aware of the elements that Ms. Nesi described in her article by the time I was in middle school so I was a little surprise that in the twenty-first century, middle schoolers didn’t know that information as stated in her article.  Of course, I fully realize that we all learn in different ways so I was glad that she discovered a successful reader’s advisory tool to enable her students to “…find books they love to read… which ...definitely increases the chance that they [will] become lifelong readers who will read for pleasure” (Nesi, 2010).

 I am a lifelong reader.  I don’t have a specific author or genre that I exclusively like or rather seek out though.  Thus I can’t say what genres or authors are my favorite but I do love books such as “The Mist of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley, “The Accidental Tourist” by Anne Tyler, “The Handmaid Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “The World According to Garp” by John Irving, “The Way Things Work” by David Macaulay,  “The Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry and “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.  I have read these books more than once I would like to add.   I can say there is one genre that I am not fond of and haven’t read for years.  First, I need to digress briefly to say when I was growing up as I previously mentioned, I read all of my mother’s books.  Well, she liked the romance genre with either Fabio or someone who looked like him on the cover holding the usually big breasted woman in his arms.  They would be dressed in outfits that would enable you to instantly recognize which century and setting the story would take place.  Well, I read a couple of these books in a row and then I was completely finished with that genre.  I use to refer to them as love goddess books.  Now when I pass these types of book covers in the public library or at Barnes and Nobles, I smile because it conjures up memories of my now deceased mother. 

I have just finished reading (simultaneously), “Revival” by Stephan King and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs.

The five genres I will be reading and annotating for this class is as follows:

1. African American

2.  Romance- in homage to my mother

3.  Horror

4.  Fantasy

5.  Historical Fiction

 

References

Nesi, O. (2010). It’s all about text appeal: Want readers’ advisory to make a difference? Teach your kids how to speak intelligently about books.  School Library Journal, Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2010/08/students/its-all-about-text-appeal/