Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

Today is Mother’s Day, so I want to talk about mothers. Since this is about books, I want to talk a little bit more about my mother and books and how the two of them are linked together in my life. When I was around 7 or so, my mother got a job working in a small bookstore called Reader’s Market, which was attached to a department store. She was an avid reader and loved her job ordering, arranging, and selling books. She brought home a good number of review copies. The best thing for me, though, was that she would always buy me the newest books by the authors she knew I loved despite us hardly having enough money to pay the bills.

For Christmas, she would put books on layaway, a whole batch of them that numbered into the 30s easily, which she would pay off the months leading to and wrap up one by one for me. The best presents to get were always books and my mother loved to make sure that I had enough books to last me a lifetime. She didn’t judge what I wanted to read, either. If I wanted to read Christopher Pike thrillers at 10, she bought them for me even though my grandmother said they were bad for me. If I wanted to read The Stand by Stephen King when I was 13, she gave me her old copy. When I wanted to read IT by Stephen King at 13 and my sister wouldn’t let me borrow her copy, my mom took me to the store and bought me my own copy. When I saw The Joy Luck Club as a kid and wanted to read the book, my mother took me to a second hand bookstore and bought me a copy for $.25.

No matter how tight money was, we found money for books. Most of the time, second hand books. My mother went to great lengths and spent a lot of money on it, but she always said it was well worth it. If she had to pay for any hobby, she was delighted that my hobby was reading. I give her a lot of credit today for making me so successful in school. If not for her support, I wouldn’t be as advanced as I am, or as intelligent and academic. It all comes from her first getting me into books at 7 by reading me Piers Anthony’s Xanth series. Because of her, I developed a love for books that has never waned.

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