What Books Do You Read?

When I was young, I had a voracious appetite for books. I could not get enough. I was so into reading, I would take the flashlight with me to bed and read under the covers. My mom usually caught me because she would come to check on me before she went to bed. She just shook her head and told me to put the book away. It seemed like it happened every night. I know there are a lot of you out there that did the same thing. Everyone I know who loves reading did that as a kid.

With very few exceptions, I read mysteries and thrillers even back then. I was hooked on Nancy Drew and all her adventures. I am relatively sure I have read every Nancy Drew book written before 1970. I was hooked on Nancy Drew and all her investigations. It is an obsession with mysteries I still have.

Because of this early introduction to reading, I still prefer mysteries, thrillers, and adventures. It is obvious in the writers I choose. My favorite authors rely on those ideas to give life to their writing. I am a huge fan of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Cussler, John Sanford, and Dennis LeHane. A couple of those may tend toward the supernatural, but it is the search for the answers that drive the stories and my imagination.

Along the way, I became a fan of several different types of books. They are fewer in number than the normal reading material I choose, but they are notable works of art in their own right. Christy, by Catherine Marshall is about her mother’s young life in teaching in the Smoky Mountains. Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the adventure of two former Texas Rangers on a cattle drive. Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose, is the story of Lewis and Clark’s expedition to document the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. There is also a novel by Harper Lee that addresses the inequality of race in the 1930’s based loosely on her life called, To Kill A Mockingbird. It won a Pulitzer and was turned into my favorite movie of all time.

My favorite fiction book of all time may surprise some you. It is the ultimate battle between good and evil. One side works for God and the other for Satan. It is a book by Stephen King called, The Stand.
A world-wide epidemic kills the majority of mankind and the struggle to gain control of the United States boils down to a handful of people. The leaders of each side take different paths in their quest. In the end, good triumphs over evil as it should every time.

What are your favorite books? Do you still have the same preferences you did as a child? Think about it and let me know.