BiblioQueria 7

I have often wondered, had I been given a different mother, would I still have had such a strong love of books and reading? Is the love of reading purely environmental, or is it genetic? Something my mother passed on to me, perhaps, from her parents? (My maternal grandparents both loved books and reading, and my grandmother was a teacher before she got married). Or can I take sole credit for my passion for books? I will have to say no. I simply cannot ignore the huge influence my mother has had over me when it comes to books, art, and a passion for reading and learning. (That's her, by the way, in her element).

Growing up in Jamaica, my mom was very fortunate to have had an excellent education. It was an all-girl's school, just like the kind in the U.K., with the forms, and A-levels and O-levels and uniforms and prefects and field hockey and all that jolly good stuff. It was also learning the Classics, and Latin and the Bible and history to such a degree that one ends up becoming a bloody walking, talking encyclopedia/dictionary, which I often joke that my mother has become. Why go check in a book if I can just ask my mom? But she hasn't just retained countless facts over the years, she also has an agile and curious mind, that even at the age of 70, shows no signs of slowing down. She still works part-time as a librarian, specializing in Canadiana and genealogy, and has won numerous awards for her expertise in local history, as well as contributions towards the city of Mississauga, where she works.

Books were a staple of our home, just as vital as food. My mom had a small library in my parent's bedroom, and her writing table always had a few books displayed, all with fascinating titles, that as a kid I didn't quite understand, but wanted to know more about. What is The Anatomy of Melancholy I would wonder, and who the heck is Pamela? I thought The Faerie Queene was a kid's story until I finally tried to read some of it. The Penguin Classics edition of The Charterhouse of Parma fascinated me as a kid, because I wanted to know who the dark dreamy guy was on the cover.

But the best room in our home was without a doubt, the basement. My father turned one whole wall into bookshelves, and that is what we called 'The Library'. Every paperback under the sun, and then some. I could just go downstairs and grab any book that interested me. That's how I discovered Roald Dahl's adult stories, Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man as well as his amazing short stories, and the entire Penguin collection of Agatha Christie's mysteries. There was a Horror section, a Western section, a Cartoon and Humour section (of course!) and all of these books, once taken out, had better bloody well be put back in their proper place once you were done with them, if you knew what was good for you. That's what you get for having a librarian for a mom.

In the rec room there were more books; the Dickens classics,
Anthony Trollope, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, etc. There was also the complete collection of Somerset Maugham's short stories in two hard bound books. I have fond memories of spending Sunday afternoons devouring the entire collection, and then turning to his novels once I was done.

My mom also had an extensive collection of art books, and that is how I discovered people like Andrew Wyeth, Ingres, Michelangelo, Ken Danby and a slew of others. On the weekends there was always classical music and opera blasting as the laundry and housework was being done. That's how I learned about Mozart, Mahler, Bartok, Beethoven, Camile Saint-Saëns (what a thrill when I first discovered Introduction et Rondo capriccioso!), as well as the best musicians and conductors: Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert Von Karajan, Nigel Kennedy, Kiri Te Kanawa, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and the doomed Maria Callas.

And my mom's tastes in music weren't just limited to the orchestral kind. She could play the organ, the piano and the guitar, and loved to sing folk songs and sea shanties; I have very fond memories as a child, listening to her singing songs like 'The Fox' or that tear-jerker sea shanty 'The Golden Vanity' as she strummed on her acoustic guitar. And yes, she loved West Indian folk songs, too. Harry Belafonte was much revered in our home. And my love for Christmas is strongly associated with my mother's love of Christmas music, both religious and secular.

I could go on, but you see what I'm trying to say. I cannot begin to express how lucky I am. It is thanks to my mother that I love books, art, literature and music. But most especially, books.

And so my question this time is ... is there anyone in your life who had a strong influence on you and your love of books?

Comments

[R J Keefe]

Sadly, no. I was abducted by literature at the age of thirteen and regarded as an alien by all around me until just the other day.

You were so lucky!

[Bibliovixen]

Mrs. Briggs, my 6th grade English teacher; my Aunt and Gran for providing me with books.

And while we no longer speak to one another (long story), my mother read to me when I was a toddler, before the dreaded sibling came along... who completely usurped my rule over the home domain, not to mention drastically reducing my being read to... Yeah, I'm the oldest, is it obvious?

[Isabella]

It's a mystery to me where my love of reading comes from. While there were newspapers and magazines in the house, and reading was never DIScouraged, my parents and siblings were not my models. By the time I started school, my reader personality was already in place. I can credit my mother for feeding my interests — buying books for me, taking me to the library — but not for forming them.

[Shelly]

I don't remember not being around books. My mother was a big reader and my father is a big reader and they didn't really care what I read. My mother took me to the library and picked books for me that she'd liked when she was a kid. And I read the books we had in the house. I was reading adult books by the time I was 10, James Bond at 11. They didn't even mind that I read comics. They'd been comic book fans, too, back in the '30s. :)

[adrienne]

When I was born my brother was 14 and my sisters were 17 and 19. My oldest sister took over my classical music education as she has a degree in music therapy. My brother handled my pop culture education (he's a jazz saxophonist) and the younger sister took over my literature education (librarian, duh). She gave me books for every gift-giving celebration and always wanted to hear what I thought of them. That was probably the part that mattered most. She wanted to hear my opinions of the books. Even though I was only 5. That made a big impression.

[iliana]

What a wonderful post. For me it was definitely my parents who fostered in me a love for reading. My dad had two jobs, my mom worked full time as a seamstress so we didn't have a lot of money when I was little but at least once a month my mom would take me to a little bookstore and let me chose a book. They'd give me books for birthday presents, christmas presents, etc. When we moved to the States and we learned about the public library system, my dad would make it a point to take me every weekend and wouldn't rush me at all. Just let me make my selections.

[hadas]

As a girl I idealized my father. And he devoured books. Because he read in English, (not counting on the translators to be able to transcend his science fiction novels into the language of the holly bible, I guess) I read in English too. And because he was very much connected to his masculine side, I was too (to mine, I mean), reading Karl May’s adventure books about the heroic Winnetou in the wild wild West, as well as science fiction. I loved those books and they certainly allowed me, as a young woman, to stun the boys, quoting their childhood heroes girls weren’t supposed to know.

[Tartrazina]

Well strangely I never took to reading even tho we never saw the walls of my house, coz we were enveloped by books! My sister is the bookworm and I was the brat who chased my brother round the dining table in circles!!! I do regret having missed out on a lot of the good stuff! Enjoyed your post as always!

[Tartrazina]

Well strangely I never took to reading even tho we never saw the walls of my house, coz we were enveloped by books! My sister is the bookworm and I was the brat who chased my brother round the dining table in circles!!! I do regret having missed out on a lot of the good stuff! Enjoyed your post as always!

[Karie]

I hail from a non-reading family. I have no idea why I ended up like this - I can't remember anybody influencing me. I just know I taught myself to read at an early age and that was it, really.

[Sarah N]

There was a recent article about the impact of parents on reading habits. It was proved that the reading habits of a mother rarely had an impact on the children - it was a father who read a lot that produced a child who read. This was true for both boy and girl children. Of course, there are exceptions, but in my case I can say that it is true. My Dad is a heavy reader, and I definitely followed his example in seeking out clever and amusing tomes to lose myself in.

[Anne]

When I was very young, everyone told my parents that I might not ever learn to read. My mother told me. Thus, I struggled and cursed and cried until I could. Once I did, I was born again. I remember the heart-filling joy that reading to myself gave me. I hold a speck of that joy in my heart even now. It sees me through a lot.

[Susan]

My dad, my 16-years-older brother, and my favorite uncle were readers. My mother, who taught me to read, had no interest in books whatsoever. Neither did (or does) my sister.

My father-in-law's read one book (Cold Mountain) in the 26 years that I've known him. My mother-in-law reads all the time. Of their four kids, only my husband is regarded as a reader.

[Rebecca]

My dad used to read to my sisters and I every night, even though English wasn't his first language. My mom used to take us to the library every week, and let us have the readers she used in her classroom - I ended up reading at a much higher grade level than I was in because I'd already read everything we were supposed to read, and did a lot of independent reading.

I also credit two librarians at my local library branch. Peggy, who used to feed me mysteries and suspense novels, and Iris, who would go through the shelves pulling off sci-fi and fantasy novels for me.

[patricia]

Peggy and Iris. What wonderful names for librarians!