My Mother and my Grandfather are/were readers. My Mother still does, though only religious stuff.

Biology is probably the only effect they had on me. My Mother raised three kids alone(dear old dad was in the wind) and Grandfather had a small grocery store.

When he passed, my Grandmother gave me the only three books he possessed. UNDER THE TONTO RIM by Zane Grey, a first edition, a 1933 edition of TREASURE ISLAND, and a copy of the Bible with his name in gold leaf on the cover.

I entered the first grade not knowing how to read and won a prize at the end of the year for reading the most books in the class.

I was off and running.

The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift were early influences. I would say the first thing close to an adult novel was Heinlein's TUNNEL IN THE SKY. Still a juvenile, but it set my reading patterns for a good many years.

And then I discovered Sherlock Holmes. That got me into mystery/crime/thrillers.

These days I average just over twenty books a month, have for years.

It's been a helluva ride so far.

Randy wrote: "It's been a helluva ride so far."

Aptly put. I don't know if I read that Zane Grey title or not. They sure were fun to read for the first time. Thanks, Randy.

Mine was a slow process, it started when my mother used to read "Penrod" books to me and During the War We lived with my grandparents and my Grandfather read Pulp Westerns IE They were like the old Funny books written on Pulp paper and were just short stories. I would sometime read them. But a friend of mine really got me going in my testarone IE (Teenage Boy) years by introducing me to such racy book (During that time) as "Gods little acre" "Tobacco Road" etc....and my love of escaping into other worlds just kept going, and luckily to a higher grade of Literature.

sarg wrote: "Mine was a slow process, it started when my mother used to read "Penrod" books to me and During the War We lived with my grandparents and my Grandfather read Pulp Westerns IE They were like the old..."

Erksine Caldwell's two big titles you mention I read many years ago. Funny but I've been meaning to read Tobacco Road again to see how it holds up now. Our library still has it in their fiction collection.

My dad and the local librarian in the beginning. My dad had me reading Exodus by Leon Uris at 13 and the librarian handed me Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier at 15. Then my husband, then boyfriend, introduced me to Tolkien who has remained one of my all-time favorite authors.