I’m a chocolate connoisseur, a David Bowie lover, and a fantasy novel junkie. And I’m an English major.
My love for books was a sudden development. I can see my kindergarten self struggling over We’re Going On A Bear Hunt, wondering what on earth my teacher meant by “sound out the words,” and frankly hating the concept of reading in general. I wanted to give up and probably would have had my mom not insisted I continue. She forced me through picture book after picture book, and with each one I declared that I would never like reading on my own. One day, however, something changed. I opened up a book and the strange marks that decorated the pages weren’t just strange marks anymore–they were words. A new world was unlocked to me, and, in that instant, what had been hatred turned into a deep, unfailing love. That love, though it wasn’t love at first sight, is still burning today, getting stronger with each book I read and story I write.
One of my favorite works of literature is Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.
I had “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” memorized when I was little, I made my mom read it to me so many times. I loved the rhythm of it “swish, swish, swish, swish”. Two opposite experiences that led to the same outcome, a love of reading!