My Great-Grandmother Was My Bookish Influencer

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Let’s talk about anything bookish!

Happy Monday, Wormies! I want to apologize for being MIA last week because – @adulting. However, that time offline got me thinking about who influenced me to read. There really isn’t a clear answer since I don’t really remember much of my earlier years. But I do remember my childhood and the stories and of course, the books that I read. Most of all, I remember my great-grandmother who told me stories.

Let’s back up a bit and let me tell you a little bit about my childhood. I was basically raised by a whole lotta people and on weekends, I would stay at my grandparent’s house. My great-grandmother also lived at the house (she’s my grand father’s mother). It was around this time that she told me a lot of stories, which I later found out were Aesop’s Fables! I didn’t know where my great grandmother got these stories from, but it seemed like she just made things up as she went along. I can vividly remember the story about the race between the animals.

She also told me a lot of stories about the war – World War II. I guess that’s why I love watching documentaries a lot. Especially historical documentaries.

Another treasure trove that I discovered at my grandparent’s house was the books! I never really brought them home with me, so I would look forward to the weekend to read them! One of the books that I remember reading was a compilation of stories. The book was called Cavalcades and for the life of me, I can’t find a copy anywhere! I may be remembering the title wrong, though. I remember the cover vividly an orange and yellow cover with an artistic flying bird. Okay, so I quickly did a Google search for it and I FOUND A COPY ON AMAZON! And before you ask, I already bought it! OMG, my childhood! Also, before you ask, I Googled this book a few years ago trying to find a copy and it did not pop-up!

I also found a few books on Greek Mythology for kids that were illustrated! And a copy of this huge book with barely any illustrations – Classics of Children’s Literature which contained a lot of stories that I loved and limericks! I wish I can find that copy now. I will have to do this when I visit my hometown next time. Sadly, Google wasn’t any help to me this time.

It was really nice going down memory lane and remembering my great-grandmother. She passed away when she was 92, back in 2001 and I dearly miss her. I also need to look for photographs of her.

 

Who was the person (or persons) who encouraged or influenced your love of reading?

 

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