I’ve loved reading ever since I was a child. I was thinking about this the other day when I needed to write a bio to go on the Cerridwen Press website.
This is what I wrote:
From the time Shelley Munro was a little girl living in New Zealand, she wanted to be a detective. She read all the Famous Five mysteries by Enid Blyton before graduating to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Her favorite television viewing was Scooby Doo where she, in her invisible guise, helped Scooby solve the crime.
As happens with children, Shelley grew up and boys distracted her. She found one she really liked and married him, traveling the world at his side until returning to settle in New Zealand to write hot and spicy tales for Ellora’s Cave, some of which contain the odd body or two.
Writing this bio reminded me of how much books and reading have played in my life. I’m never without a book and often have two or three on the go. For me, it’s the armchair travel, the jump into another world where I can experience things I might never experience in real life. I can vary the journeys according to my mood – travel back in time without the sacrifice of comfort or enter a magical world with wizard, witches, feline shape-shifters and the like. Or, if I’m feeling like a jolt of reality, I can have a contemporary adventure. Ah, so much choice!
And one of the best things is I can jump into the hero or heroines shoes and be them, I can disappear from my normal world and be someone else. I can be very naughty, if that’s what I’d like at that moment in time. I can change occupations and fight wars or hunt down criminals. I can even wear clothes and shoes that I’d normally pass by. I can be anyone and do anything each time I pick up a book from my to-read pile. As you can see from my bio I spend a lot of time wearing detective shoes.
I’m assuming most of you who read this post are readers as well. Just what is it about reading that you enjoy so much? How did you come to be a reader? Have you always been a reader? Do you read one book at once or many? And, do you prefer your reading journeys to be in one area or are you, like me, a bit of a wanderer, going from genre to genre?
Today, as I stated a couple of days ago, was a lazy day. I’m reading my final RITA book and I also read Red Garnier’s Amatista. It’s a hot, little number that I enjoyed very much. Kavi and his people are searching for the lost city of Amatista but their search is hindered by Earthmen, wanting to find the city first. Kavi and Liana are a great couple. Did I mention hot? Anyway, Red’s Amethyst book, Amatista hits the Ellora’s Cave store tomorrow. Make sure you check it out and buy a copy because Red is a great writer. She also has a new release out with Liquid Silver Books called I Take Thee with a very eye catching cover. Actually, there are no eyes on the cover but when you see it you’ll understand what I mean.
If you’re agent hunting, check out the Q & A with Laura Bradford from the Bradford Literary Agency over at Lauren Dane’s blog.
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February 6th, 2008 at 10:44 am · Link
I swear, I think I was just born a ‘reader’. I remember staying up late w/ a flashlight under the covers so I could finish the Harlequin I’d stolen from my mom’s stash. I usually read only one book at once, but I’m such a fast reader it doesn’t matter. I don’t stick w/ one genre either. I pretty much love them all! I love romantic suspense, but I also like historical, sci fi, paranormal, etc.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:36 am · Link
Ah, I’d forgotten the flashlight trick. Very hand when my mother said it was time to turn the light out!
My mother gave me my first Harlequin to read when we were at the beach and I’d run out of books to read. I think it was a desperate attempt to stop my whining.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pm · Link
Hehe, I’m a member of the flashlight gang, too. I think my parents even knew about that little secret, but since reading was education, they decided to overlook it.
I can’t remember not reading, and I never stuck to the age appropriate stuff. Yes, there were some girly horse books, but also the Illiad, War and Peace, History of Medicine in 6 volumes and Lady Chatterley – all ere I turned 12. My parents never restrained my reading choices, but they were always willing to answer questions. Though my mother left the naughty stuff to my father to explain.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:26 pm · Link
Yes, horse books. I read those by the dozen. There was this one called “Shelley and the Pony of the Year.” Once I saw it, I had to have it.
War and Peace? Illiad? LOL I still haven’t read those ones, Gabriele. Your parents sound cool. I would have liked to hear your father explain the naughty bits.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:36 pm · Link
I used to love reading as a kid, but then I got into partying as a teen and books weren’t a part of my daily . My sister got me to read two awesome books during high school A Magicians Tale and Trick of Light by David Hunt, but I was dissapointed because he didn’t write another book under David Hunt. I didn’t start reading again until I turned 21, my cousin gave me a Border’s GC and I picked up Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon and I’ve been hooked ever since. With school in session again, try to get at least one book in a month.
Hugs, danette
February 6th, 2008 at 2:09 pm · Link
He did just fine, Shelley. My mother came from a more conservative background and always felt a bit uneasy about ‘those things’. A bit later my father also taught me a few tricks what to do to a man who didn’t understand No. Very useful.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:20 pm · Link
You pick great subjects for your blogs.
When I was small, we travelled light and a book had to be very special to earn its place on the T Model truck that carried our worldly good and I remember some of them only by odd quotes I came across in later life.
Chief among them was a huge (so it seemed to me at the time) dictionary that I still posess. (It has Latin and foriegn language quotations and loads of other esoteric stuff that fascinated me as a child.
For the rest, we were fortunate that the Mechanic’s Institutes in the bush were very understanding of the clientele’s nomadic lifestyle and a book taken from one and returned to another was common.
Later, when we settled a while for my secondary education, one of my aunts ran a private suburban lending library, including such under the counter works as “Lady Chatterly”, and I had free reign of it.
Until then, my reading was determined by what was available and the dictionary was well used. Afterwards, I ran through fads of pursuing individual authors and genres until I settled down to tertiary study and my reading became directed and focused.
In later years, I could indulge myself once more and one wall of my writing cave is a book case and a small lobby all filled shelves. I find it great to take down a well-loved book and browse a while, greeting old friends and sharing their lives. Books, or gift cards from booksellers, are favored birthday gifts and the memory of my computer has a considerable portion allocated to e-books- all read.
Ah…the joy of reading.
Amy
February 6th, 2008 at 2:50 pm · Link
Thank you for the pimpage, Shelley, I’m so glad you enjoyed!!! And first and foremost, I am a READER. I love reading romances, nothing can compare to it. Sigh. I started with Pocket’s Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux and it was love at first read.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:51 pm · Link
I really got into reading when I was about 12. I love getting lost in the stories. I have stopped reading since.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:51 pm · Link
I learned to read when I was five and have not stopped since. I started out with Bambi and have progressed to all genres. I only read one book at a time, but average one a day.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:03 pm · Link
I got to read Amatista in it’s first stages. But I bought it today, interested to read it after the first draft I read. Red’s books never disappoint me.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:18 pm · Link
I started reading romance (and only romance) when I was 15 (in 1993). I was at one of my aunt’s house and I was bored. Nobody home and nothing to watch on tv. Saw several paper bags full of books.I went through them and found one that sounded really interesting. Passions of the Realm by Joan Balser. Took me 4 days to read it, but I loved every page of that book. Still have it too. Got me so hooked that I couldn’t stop reading romance novels, had to go get more to feed my new addiction.
Now, I read so fast that I feel that I need a huge reading pile in order for me to feel that I won’t run out of books. But hey I guess for addictions, reading romance novels isn’t such a bad one. My hubby appreciates the benefits, especially after me finding Ellora’s Cave and Samhain, and any other e-publisher.
I read romance and only that, ’cause there is something within the pages of a book that quiets my mind and I’ve found that is something that I need. I can go all over the world, beyond or back in time.
Hi my name is Sandra and I’m a romance reader-aholic.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:18 pm · Link
I’ve been reading voraciously ever since I was a kid. My fiction reading took a backseat when I was in college and law school, just because I was constantly reading 500 or more pages of poli sci or law every week, so I’ve been making it up ever since. LOL!
I read anywhere from 2 to 3 novels a week, mostly while I’m on the exercise cycle or just lying in bed on the weekend. I can’t read more than one at once or I’ll get confused.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:19 pm · Link
Gabriele – Your father sounds great! Tips like that can come in handy.
Amy G – I had a child’s version of a dictionery that came with lots of pictures and was full of stuff. I used to page through that all the time, so I understand your fascination with the dictionery. In fact, I see I still have that dictionery in my bookcase! I’ve just checked.
Like you, I agree space must be made for books because they are like old friends.
Red – you’re very welcome. Amatista was a great read! I also have Julie Garwood and Judith McNaught books on my bookshelf. They were my historical stage and I can’t bear to part with them.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:24 pm · Link
Larena – yes, there’s nothing better than getting lost in a book. My hubby does get a trifle grumpy when he has to speak to me a couple of times before I answer him.
Estella – do you have Golden books over in the US? I read Bambi as a Golden book. I remember my favorite Golden book was a story about a dog that liked to dig holes.
Amy R – I have to agree with you about Red’s books. I’m a big fan.
Sandra – romance of any genre is my favored read, too, although I do trip into urban fantasy and mysteries for a change. I think reading is a great addiction to have!
February 6th, 2008 at 5:26 pm · Link
Amanda – yes, it’s true. Study does tend to chop into reading time. I know it did for me as well. Actually writing interferes with reading too, but I tell myself that these days, reading is market research. I must read every day!
February 6th, 2008 at 6:45 pm · Link
Me too with the flashlight!! I have the bad eyesight to prove it
( know thats the EEK icon, but it looks like glasses – LOL)
I started reading Nancy Drew when I was about 7, moved on to Sydney Sheldon by junior high and Harlequin by highschool.
And like you, I’m a genre wanderer. I’d get bored with just one.
Great bio, Shelley.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:28 pm · Link
Shelley,
In answer to your question—yes, we have golden books in the US.
I read Bambi as a novel by Felix Salten(not sure of the spelling) in the late 40′s.