I grew up in a house of books. My mom loves books and my grandparents were always reading books, so while I wasn’t an early reader, books have always been a part of my life. I’d like to take these four 5th Tuesdays of 2023 to share some of my favorite reading memories with you all.

When my siblings and I were growing up, my mom used to read to us. And I’m not talking about little kid picture books, though I’m sure she read those too, I’m talking about longer chapter books. Classics such as Little Women, Carry On Mr. Bowditch, Eight Cousins, Jack and Jill, Little House, and other books.

I remember rushing to get ready for bed or brush my teeth because Mom was going to read! We’d sit and knit, crochet, cut out pictures from catalogues (this was way back when companies sent out catalogues with alluring pictures of toys and dolls, and things), or color, and listen to Mom read.

In December she’d read Christmas stories like The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas, The Bird’s Christmas Carol, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and A Pint of Judgement.

But not only did Mom read to my siblings and me, but she also read to the neighbor kids. We had two other homeschool families in the neighborhood and a couple times a week for quite a while all the kids would gather at our house and would knit, crochet, work on plastic canvas projects, or cross-stitch for an hour or so while Mom read aloud.

So many memories!

We also listened to long unabridged books on tape when we went on trips. Books like Around the World in Eighty Days, Swiss Family Robinson, Heidi, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Men, and Pilgrim’s Progress.

I think this constant immersion into good literature helped instill my love of good books today.

What about you? Did you grow up hearing unabridged classics on audio or being read to you? Do you enjoy audio books? What do you like doing if you are listening to a book?