It all started with books! I love hearing stories and I love telling stories all because I started a love affair with books at an early age. My earliest memory of a storybook was one a babysitter used to bring whenever she came to the house. The story she read wasn’t “The Three Bears” or “The Three Little Pigs” or anything like that. Instead it was a story about a couple kids who made race cars out of cardboard boxes. Their cars all ended up in a heap at the bottom of a hill. Loved it! I think that one reason this story was so special is that I could only hear it when the sitter came over.
In first grade when the letters in the alphabet organized themselves into words, I couldn’t get enough. I would read ahead in our reader and then start again. (I went to Catholic school so we had David and Ann instead of Dick and Jane.)
I think I was in fifth grade when I read “Anne of Green Gables.” The most fascinating part of the book for me was when her red hair turned green when she tried to dye it black.
Interlaced with all the reading on my own were the stories my mom read to me. We always had a book going. I particularly remember “Black Beauty” about a horse who suffered or thrived under several different owners.
There are some books that stand out from the hundreds of books I’ve read. I keep my books and read my favorites over and over. (Note to all the people who don’t understand reading a book again: You wouldn’t listen to your favorite songs just once, would you?).
The best spooky book is “The Shining” by Stephen King. It’s not an in-your-face screaming horror story. Instead, reading that book is like having a sinister presence hovering behind you, blowing on the back of your neck. Creepy…
The best author for twists and turns is Jeffrey Deaver. He always lures his readers into anticipating the next outcome and outfoxes them every time. There is always a genius deranged killer at work staying one step ahead of Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic criminalist, or Kathryn Dance, the body language expert, until the end when our heroes put all the clues together.
The best author for family sagas is Belva Plain. Her first book, “Evergreen” was about Jewish immigrants who settled in New York. Her books usually concentrate on a particular historical era.
The best spy novel ever is “The Key to Rebecca” by Ken Follett. He has you (almost) rooting for the spy in Cairo in World War II. The Desert Fox could have won…
John Grisham writes the best books about lawyers.
Like Jeffrey Deaver, Patricia Cornwell’s books feature a deranged killer staying one grisly step ahead of law enforcement. Enter Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner, who figures out who the killer is through the clues left with the dead bodies.
Daphne DuMaurier wrote another favorite, “Rebecca”. Even though Rebecca is dead, her presence overshadows every room in the vast Manderley estate, intimidating Rebecca’s husband’s shy, new young wife. Ahh, but there is something sinister about Rebecca and her untimely demise…
I’ll conclude with my favorite book of all time, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. The reason “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a classic is that it is based on true events that happened in Lee’s life. This story captures what storytelling is all about. The characters are true to life and the storyline resonates with our shared experience. And that’s what storytelling is… sharing connections.
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