WARNING: For those of you who hold me in high regard and think I walk on water, this post is probably not one you want to read.
So you’d think that I would be prepared with an appropriate, WOW-em kind of answer when I’m asked: “So what is YOUR favorite book?”
I mean after all, I’m a reading consultant…it’s only a natural question! The question isn’t so much a problem as the answer. I mean, is People magazine really what people want to hear from their reading consultant?
So here’s the real answer. Please don’t judge.
My favorite book is usually whatever I’m reading at the time.
When I was a kid, I loved I-Spy kind of books and I adored Beverly Cleary and remember laughing out loud about Fudgie and his antics. It was a great day in school, in my opinion, when the Weekly Reader arrived – I remember getting the newsprint on my fingers and feeling very grown up because I was reading a “newspaper”.
I remember that at Dr. Snare’s office (yes, that was the name of my dentist) they had Highlights magazine and I would wait until the very end to read “Amos and Andy”. Looking back at it, I can’t figure out why I was so enamored by that column!
I mean….JUDY BLUME. She changed me! I remember feeling so grown up when I read her first adolescent book – I think it was called Tiger Eyes.
I remember those SRA colored/level booklets that came in a kit – every classroom at my school had them. More than the reading, you got to correct your own and if you got a certain number correct, you got to go to the next color. The fact that you get to correct your own work – I really like that. I still kind of do.
But now let’s get serious: I think my favorite novel of all time is The Great Gatsby – I had a great literature teacher in high school that brought that book alive for me and I still reread it every once in awhile and “get it” even more as an adult.
So as a responsible reading consultant, what do I read now? I read anything and everything that the greats in our field publish, but I also sneak in most everything that Oprah suggests, Eat, Pray, Love, The Kiterunner, anything by Jennifer Weiner. Alex Kava’s mysteries, true-crime novels and biographies and I love reading magazines – something about “finishing” an article gives me great pleasure. I’m OBVIOUSLY not a reading snob!
There’s nothing like reading Confessions of a Shopaholic or People magazine on the plane and having someone say, “Oh, and what do you do for a living?”…and sheepishly have to admit I’m a reading consultant!
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I am looking for a great beach read…I need suggestions! Leave ’em below!