A life in books

I am a wife, a mother, a lawyer, and a reader, but long before I was any of those things, I was a reader. I've been a reader since, as my mother tells it, I was around 3 years old, and would sit with my baby brother on my lap and read nursery rhymes to him from a Mother Goose book.

This Mother Goose book:




Which, miraculously, given my age, is apparently still in print. I remember the cover well, the black checkerboard around the outside. I do not remember reading the rhymes aloud, and I suspect that I wasn't reading at all, but rather, was simply reciting them from memory for the benefit of my little brother.
 
I can still recite many of these rhymes from memory, from Wee Willie Winky (who ran through town) to Humpty Dumpty (who had a great fall) to There Was a Little Girl (who had a little curl and was, unfortunately for all concerned, occasionally horrid).
 
But I don't remember learning to read, and I don't remember not reading. What I do remember is books. Hundreds of them, books that I loved, and that were important to me, and that made me who I am today.
 
I've been thinking alot about this blog, and about making it more than just a record of my reviews. I know that I'm basically the only one reading it, and so, why not. Why not tell the story of my life in books, while I'm keeping track of what I read today, and what I'll read tomorrow.
 
The internet is an amazing thing. It has enabled me to connect, on amazon and on goodreads, with other readers all around the world. One of my online friends is a woman who reads a lot of young adult and lives in Estonia. Estonia! We can trade recommendations and talk about the books that we both have enjoyed - or not. The people in my real life, they largely don't get me and my fascination with, and my adoration of, the written word. What a boon to be able to find other people, who are just as passionate about stories, all around the world, and to hear their stories about books that they've loved.
 
So, the first book I've been told I read is the one pictured above.