Week 3's Prompt Responses

     My love of reading was greatly inspired by my dad. In fact, one of my fondest memories is of us sitting at the picnic table in our backyard, with him reading Huckleberry Finn out loud to me. He was so big of a fan of the classics that he named my sister Dorian, after Dorian Gray.

    My reading preferences seemed to naturally have progressed through the genres. In grade school, I was a huge Nancy Drew fan, devouring 2-3 books per weekend, which led me into the mystery genre. As a teenager, to my father's delight, I turned towards fantasy - I loved the Lord of the Rings, all of the David Eddings books, etc. As an adult, I turned to Stephen King and similar authors. However, over the past decade, one of my job responsibilities has been to order non-fiction so I have a long list of "To Be Read" in that category. 

    Despite being an adult, I find myself being drawn back to books that may be considered Young Adult.  In fact, when I heard that Christopher Paolini was writing Murtagh and it was to be publish this past November, I started to re-read the Inheritance Cycle Series (Eragon). 

    My all time favorite book is an older book. It is fiction, but again, it probably falls in YA. The title is Good Night, Mr. Tom and it's by Michelle Magorian. It is set in England during WWII. Mr. Tom is sort of a loner, who takes in an evacuee that turns out to come from an abusive home. He enrolls the boy in school, gets him involved in the church, and encourages him to make friends. They build a great bond, until one day they receive a letter that he must return home. It is a very fast read, but highly emotional and heartfelt.