Books have been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember. My father read to me at bedtime from when I was very young, even after I could read. He didn’t confine the stories to popular fairy tales. Yes, there were Little Golden Books. But there was also “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, and Sherlock Holmes stories. When I was reading by myself, I loved anything by Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, and other authors I can’t remember. The very first books that influenced me were the Sherlock Holmes stories. If a mystery was involved, I was either listening or reading.

By the time I was in third grade, I was reading everything I could get my hands on. In fact, the books were often so big that they took both hands to hold them. I’d discovered my father’s Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe. I fell in love with the poem “The Raven”, the stories “Cask of Amontillado”, “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, and “The Tell Tale Heart” captured my mind. My earliest influencers in reading were mysteries, any and all.

As much as I loved, and still love, Poe, it was my introduction to Sherlock Holmes and his detecting adventures that took my heart. His deductive reasoning, his violin, his pipe, all captured my imagination in ways no other character had. Sherlock was my first literary crush. I imagined myself joining him and Dr. Watson investigating all manner of dastardly crimes.

An elementary school friend, Janice K, loved mysteries, too. Her parents were less liberal than mine. She had a collection of Nancy Drew books. So, at the tender age of nine I was introduced to tamer mysteries than I was accustomed to.

But, I digress. There are three books that influenced my love of reading. The first was The Sherlock Holmes Collection by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, especially The Adventure of the Speckled Band. If you have not read this story, I highly recommend it! I think it’s the most complex of the collection. The characters are richly portrayed, although the same could be said of all the stories. I particularly enjoyed the conclusion of the tale. Wonder what I’m talking about? Read the book!

My next influencer was Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”. I’d loved anything about the law since I began watching “Perry Mason” when I was VERY young. I’d visited my father’s family in Tennessee. We traveled through the South and I was aware of racism. It was the late 1950’s and much of the south was still segregated. I had cousins who reminded me of Jem and Scout. I was only ten years old, but the story made a big impact on me. I lived just south of Harlem in New York City and racism wasn’t on my radar. My mother and I frequently shopped in Harlem. After reading Mockingbird, I wondered how people could have dramatically different views of African Americans. The characters in Mockingbird are vibrant. From Atticus to Dill, from Bob Ewell and his daughter Mayella to Boo Radley, they step off the pages. There are groups who have tried to ban To Kill A Mockingbird. It would be a tragedy if they succeeded. What are your thoughts?

One of the most beautiful books I’ve read is Dracula by Bram Stoker. Stoker was able to create a legendary character based on a historical person and slide modern (for their times) discoveries into a gothic tale. At first read, this is a horror story based on a myth. On closer examination it a story about the past colliding with the modern age. The technological advances were frightening to some of that period, just as the fear of the unknown terrify others. There is an ongoing battle between good and evil, corruption against innocence. This is a brilliant look at the dichotomy of the times.

There are short stories that also remain high on my list of must reads. The Cask of Amontillado and Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe are short and powerful. And I wouldn’t be a good Irish girl if I didn’t include The Dead by James Joyce. Curious? Read them!

Certainly HG Wells, DH Lawrence, and Joseph Conrad deserve mention. You may notice these are all authors from the past. I do have a current author who I believe earns a word among the golden oldies. Stephen King has exhibited the same beauty of prose and skill with characters as earlier writers. But, that’s another story for another time.