“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

I almost wish C. S. Lewis hadn’t said this, because its so true of me that I probably would have said it myself, and then everyone would be quoting me instead of him.

Well … ok, maybe not, but I do love this quote. :)

(In fact, I loved it so much, I embroidered it on this book tote I made! I call it a “quote tote” and I stitched my paper beads on it – WooT!
One of these days I should finish it so I can actually use it….)

Another book quote I love is from Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail and I think its sooo true of fiction…

“When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”

I’ve always loved reading, and then by extension, writing. I remember when I lived in Prague as a kid I wrote all the time, coming up with overly-fantasical and highly predictable stories. You know, the kind where any time there’s a problem, suddenly someone has the perfect little magical doodad to fix that exact problem. Not “the great American novel”, but I was just nine and it was so exhilarating to create my own little worlds on the beautiful blank notebook pages. And one of the best ways to learn to write (besides reading) is to just go ahead and start doing it.

Pencil by Elisa Xyz
My love of writing grew so much that I decided to major in journalism in college. Journalism, as my professor always said, is just storytelling. True storytelling, of course, but the art is in the way you sculpt the information.

“A really bad storm came through town last night”
vs.
“This morning’s sunny sky seemed unfitting as Sarah Johnston found her missing roof scattered on the road in a tangle of branches and debris — evidence of the storm that swept over the city just the night before.”

But I know my love of writing really stems from my love of reading as a child. Recently, I was trying to come up with a top ten list of my favorite works of fiction, and I was amazed by how many of them were books I had read as a kid. So I gave up on a general top ten list, and instead, here are some of my favorite books from my childhood:

My I Love Books and Tea Illustration. See? I even draw about books.
Loosely in reverse order…

10 – Little House on the Prairie Series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
(Not exactly fiction, I suppose, but too classic to leave out!)

10.5 – The Little Britches Series, by Ralph Moody
(Weird numbering, I know, but its because its similar to the Little House books. Out west, based on a true story, but from a boy’s perspective. SUCH a touching story! My dad used to read this aloud to the family.)

9 – The Twits, by Roald Dahl
(I was pretty young when I read this, and I don’t remember a whole lot about the plot, just how much I loved reading it. Roald Dahl has such a contagiously fun style.)

8 – The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis
(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is probably my favorite from the series.)

7 – An Old Fashioned Girl, by Louisa May Alcott
(It may seem odd, but I was never a big fan of “Little Women” – probably because I’m a lot like Jo, but I always preferred Laurie to that old professor. But “An Old Fashioned Girl” made me much happier!)

6 – The Green Door, by O Henry
(This one is just a short story, and I was a teenager when I read it, but it really resonated with me. I even memorized it and delivered it as a dramatic interp for a speech event.)

5 – Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson
(You know how when you’re a kid you find names you love in the books you read? My little daughter’s middle name is actually a version of one of the character’s names in this book.)

4 – The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
(I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want to discover a magical garden tucked away on the grounds of a mysterious mansion?!)

3 – Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
(The hilarious poems were one of my favorite things about this book. I actually ended up putting on a theatrical version of this in high school.)

2 – Lorna Doone, by R. D. Blackmore
(I remember my grandmother recommending this book to me. One of my favorites of all time. Not a light read, but SO worth it.)

1 – Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
(Anne, with an e, is perhaps the fictional character I identify with the most.)

I love books!
So what about you?
Does reading make you want to write?
What were some of your favorite fiction books as a kid?
Tell me in the comments!