Cozy Mysteries discussion

Hi All!
I was wondering if anyone wants to help me with a project. I looking for fond memories of being read to between the ages of 7 and 13. If you would like to be part of my project, leave you memory (a sentence or two) along with your current age and state. Thanks!

Hello Emily. I am 38 years old and live in IL. I have so many fond memories of my mother reading to me when I was young. She loved to read, and instilled that into all of her children. She passed away from breast cancer when I was 13 years old, so to this day, I feel my connection to her through the books I read.

I am 48 years old and live in So. Colorado. I mention So. Colorad because I really believe alot of my love for reading and my fond memories of it also started with oral story telling by my family, we all lived in the same three blocks about 40 of us. My grandfather, great aunts and uncles, lots of cousins, ect, we were so lucky to have them there to teach us about our family and our spainsh history. They would tell us stories and then encourage us to look up some of the stories and read them to see how they compared. My father loved to read to us at night and always encouraged us to read anything and everything.

Thank you Susan and Heidi! Such touching memories, really shows the power stories can have!

Hello. I am 26 years old and live in Pennsylvania. My fondest memory from ages 7-13 were the plays that my family, and sometimes school would create. I loved readers theater and it was our family time on Sundays that we would do that or play games like Scattegories, Boggle, etc
As a teacher I often try to incorporate a readers theater and hope to one day carry on my families Sunday traditions.

I'm Chris and I am 48 from MA. By the time I was 7 I was intent on learning to read everything by myself. I remember being thrilled to graduate from kindergarten so that I could go to "real" school and learn to read. I was so incredibly jealous of a boy named Roy who lived down the street. He was a couple of years older than me and could read Peanuts in the paper by himself and I longed to be able to read the comics too. Both mom and dad read to me and my sister and bought us lots of books. Mom was always reading and I inherited my love of books from her.

My 5th grade teacher, Mrs Bailey, always had one book going for special times when the class finished tasks early or had to stay in for recess due to bad weather.

We had oral book reports about the time we were finishing up one of our story books and the class voted on the next "class book" based on the book reports. I am 61 now so this has been a few years ago. My school did not have a library so our sources for books were the local library or paperback books ordered through "TAB BOOKS" which was a publication we received at school.

When I was in 4th & 5th grades, the teachers read us the Little House series. I loved it, and maybe that helped spark my lifelong love of reading!

Reading memories ........ I hated to read when I was younger, but my mother read a lot and I thought it was so cool that she should enjoy reading so much. Sometimes she would cry while reading and sometimes she would laugh out loud. So as I got a little older 7th/8th grade, I told her I wanted to read too (like her) and I asked her to purchase a book for me to read. Of course she did, and I began reading the Silouhette Young Adult Romace books and then in high school I would pick out novels from the library and go there instead of the cafeteria just to read.

I've been reading ever since and now I carry a book with me everywhere I go and I love to read. So I say "Thanks, Mom".

I have two children of my own (one in high school and one in college), and I have encouraged reading since they were little. My daughter (the one in college) loves to read (even more than I do), but my son (the one in high school) doesn't care for it so much. I still buy him books ocassionally hoping that he will eventually discover the rewards of reading.

Once upon a time, when I was a young 'un, I would read and read and read. All day long. I would read so long, that my mother would get fed up, and tell my dad to take my books away so that I'd go to the table and finally eat dinner. :-P

Another once upon a time, when I was a young filly, my mother wouldn't let me go out to play in the hot afternoons of summer for fear of sun stroke, etc. So, in my cool air conditioned bedroom, I would lie back and read and read and read, until it was time to go out to play. But when I'd finally get up to go out and play, playtime was already over.

Long ago, when I was a tiddly-tot, I discovered the library at my elementary school. The librarian loved me, because I was always in there reading, and if ever I'd see a book out of place, I'd go and fix it. For that reason, I'd get special library privileges. When all other students were only allowed to take out 3 books at a time, I was allowed 4 or 5. Nice librarian.

I'm talking as if I was ancient, but I'm really only 25, so this was long ago, but not aeons ago. *chuckles*

Sundays were a big reading day for me then and now. Our family was quiet after church and I usually had a stack of book from the Baptist church library: Louisa May Alcott, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, for kids bios (Betsy Ross, Susan B), the Oz books. I made friends with the Jr high librarian and got to check out alot of books like: A Wrinkle in Time, the Betsy books, science books, fairy tales, Tolkien,. Also, I had a best friend with lots of books:Trixie Beldon, Narina, and kinda embarrassed to say- Harlequin Presents Romances. I loved going into my own little reading world!

i have alot of lovely memories of reading in the garden on hot summer days or under the cover of my bed at night with a flash lamp so i wouldn't wake my sis

To ease, I think, the trauma of a move from the big city to the furthest reaches of suburbia (a small farm town) my Dad started reading 'The Lord of the Rings' to me for about a half hour every evening after supper. I was a preteen and missed all my old pals, but Dad's extra attention made the transition much easier. He also made sure I had a card for our new library asap!

Another thing Dad did when we were young was to remove a tube from the TV in mid May....we played outside and read on the front porch all summer long. Thank God for the Chicago Park District Pools and Public Libraries! I believe the TV 'broke' at least 5 years in a row only to mend just as the trees turned color!
Illinois, just 60

Haha, Barb! That's a great idea! If I ever have kids, you can be sure I'll be doing that!

I'm 32 and my family moved quite a bit when I was younger the one constant in my roaming childhood were my books. I currently live in Michigan. My family has always been big readers. A trip to the mall always included a trip to the bookstore and we never left with less than 2 books for each of us. I remember when I was around five wanting to read so badly that I picked up a book I found laying around the house and spent most of that afternoon pretending to read. Up until I could read for myself my dad read to me before bed. Even today I have to read something before I can go to sleep. I still remember the first book I read all by myself, Ribsy by Beverly Cleary. I was about 7 or 8 when I read that, but it was the first of many books I've read since. :)

Caroline, 56
My parents signed me up for the Weekly Reader Book Club in second grade so I got a brand new, hardback book in the mail, addressed to me, every month or so. I remember The Road to Agra particularly - I even had an imaginary dog that I named Kanga after a dog in that book. : )

Beautiful memories, Shanna and Caroline. Books are so much fun. I wish there were some way for us to keep book culture alive and well in kids today.

Hi I am 30 years old. Reading was a huge part of my childhood. Being read to included. We did not have much so we hardly had TV but we (my brother and I) could always take comfort in the fact that my mom would read to us when we were little. When we got older we took comfort in having our books to read to ourselves. We gained confidence and it gave us a little get away from reality when we needed it. We had some great past times. When we were little we would also pick out our favorite characters and pretend we were them, it was so much fun. I am so grateful my mom took time to read to us and to encourage us to read as well!

Georgia, 44 years old.
My earliest memory of developing a love for reading goes back to 1st grade and a teacher who praised my reading skills and made me feel special, like I was an exceptional reader. All these years later I don't remember her name but still remember the way she made me feel and the impact she had on my life. One of many unsung heros of education.

http://www.DanielAFoxworth.com

I have always hated summer - largely because of the heat, and growing up in a house with no central air and windows that didn't seem to open in summer or close in winter did not help. When I was about 9 I started reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Long Winter every summer, trying to imagine a blizzard to cool me down. I still sometimes re-read that book!

Zoe, I'm sure it was tough at the time, but your comment sounds really sweet now........

Zoe wrote: "I have always hated summer - largely because of the heat, and growing up in a house with no central air and windows that didn't seem to open in summer or close in winter did not help. When I was ab..."

We didn't have air conditioning when I was growing up either and we lived downwind of a pig farm (yuck--the smell when you opened the windows). We had a basement though and a bed down there (I'm not sure why as we never had visitors and no one ever slept down there) and it was nice and cool in the basement so I would go down there and read while I did the laundry (wringer washer, no dryer, had to hang clothes outside and then bring them in and sprinkle them and iron them. That was my job from the age of 10 (along with dusting, and dishes, and keeping my room clean. I would drag out doing the laundry to be an all day project so I could stay downstairs where it was cool and read.

Hi, Emily ... what a lovely project. I'm 56, and live in Florida. I can remember sitting on my father's lap in the kitchen on Sunday mornings, the smell of bacon frying, as he read the newspaper comics to me. The memory is especially cherished, as my dad died when I was just 8.

Deborah - you and I are the same age. : ) In our house, when I was younger, we had open windows and fans if it got hot (didn't get central air until I was in college and that was only to help my mom's allergy problems). For our car, my dad used to say we had the 4/60 system (4 windows/60 miles an hour). LOL My dad died the year before I graduated college. But he always let me sit on his lap and work crossword puzzles with him when I was little. That really helped my vocabulary!

Caroline wrote: "Deborah - you and I are the same age. : ) In our house, when I was younger, we had open windows and fans if it got hot (didn't get central air until I was in college and that was only to help my mo..."

I don't know what I was talking about, when I was growing up I didn't have central air, heck, I don't have it now! I live in a house built in 1920 and all I have are 2 window air conditioners, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. When anywhere else in the house you sweat. Actually I sweat in the livingroom with the air conditioner and a fan running. (I have a large livingroom). I know, I sound like I'm having a pity party for myself. :-)

Hey Denise ... I grew up in south Fla. with no AC, so we had some tricks: put your bra and undies in the freezer (TRUE), and you'll have at least a half-hour of COOL comfort when you dress in the AM.

Deborah wrote: "Hey Denise ... I grew up in south Fla. with no AC, so we had some tricks: put your bra and undies in the freezer (TRUE), and you'll have at least a half-hour of COOL comfort when you dress in the AM."

That sounds like an interesting trick to try. I like to get wet and then stand in front of the window air. Ahhhh, heaven.

When I was little, my dad would read to me every evening before bed. He'd lay on my bed and read, and I'd grab a pillow and lay on the floor listening. Then, I'd crawl into a warm bed, and it was lovely. It was such a neat time. Oddly enough, my dad instilled a love of reading in me, but he doesn't really read unless it's a book about golf! I know he only did it because he wanted to have that special time with me, and he knew I enjoyed it. I'm 38 now and currently live in Colorado.

I remember learning to read at primary school.. Chicken and fox books then the 'Cat In the Hat' And my mum making up stories to read me at bedtime.
As I grew older mum bought me 'Care Bear' stories.. early Nursery Rhymes. I still have some of these books.. Then mum and dad got me this selection of christmas books,every year or Birthday..it had my Name in them as the main character and she could have two other names in the story with me. and mum chose my cousins.

Then in my teens reading became a bit popular with friends the 'Point Horror' collection. Which used to scare me but I loved the way they were written, I still read them now If I can find them. I used to read in my bedroom as a kid, but could never read in bed as it hurt my neck.. And now I enjoy reading in my cozy sofa! Until early hours..

I grew up in the beach town of Laguna Beach, California. My mom was a very busy person who didn't really have time to read to me, but I loved books. Her solution was to teach me to read very early. I was a pretty good reader by age four. I remember having teachers read to us early on, then I would get those books out of the library and read them to myself many times over. When my daughter was very young, she also learned to read by age five. That, however, didn't stop us from reading to her every night until she decided she was too old for it at age 12. Now, I am 63, and still love to read.

I have always loved books, always. One of my earliest memories is my grandparents back porch in the summer afternoon. I would lay on the cool floor gnawing on one of my grandmother's cold biscuts. While my grandfather read The Bobbsey Twins. Oh for those simple days.

Oh, the wonderful Bobbsey Twins. When I stayed with my aunt in Kansas, my best memory was going to the book store and actually "buying" those books. That was a GIANT splurge because at home I was only allowed to borrow books from the library. To this day, I still have my B.T books, even with the book jackets still in tact!

Favorite books of that age (I'm creeping up on 50) were the Little House Books, Gone With The Wind and anything by Mary Stewart... no A/C for us either and I was more than 7 when we finally got a color TV. Didn't watch it much. I was always ether reading or writing (on an old manual typewriter that bruised the fingers).

I remember going with my mother to the library when I was seven, and I have continually been a library patron. I love mysteries, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, all the older mystery writers. Something about the written word appeals to me.

Hi, I'm 68 and live in Vt though I lived in NYC until I was 14 and remained in NYS until my middle 20's when I moved to Vt. My earliest recollection is sitting on my Dad's lap when he was reading his NYS Conservationist magazine, with wonderful wildlife pictures labeled with both common and scientific names. I would keep pointing at one, as the poor man tried to read, and asking what's that. Without losing his temper he patiently helped me to sound out the names. By the time I went to kindergarten I could read.

In the second grade, when the class was doing math or reading, I was sent to the big kids classes to read to them--imagine a 2nd grader reading to 6-8th grade kids! But it was a small Catholic school and we all knew each other --we lived in the same neighborhood. I realize now that the Sisters did this because I probably got bored and talked or something in class--since I'd already learned this stuff at home. As a matter of fact they skipped me to 4th grade at the end of the year.

I loved to read always--Mom took me to story hour at the NYC library on 23rd and 7th ave. and when I was old enough I went by myself. I borrowed books by the shopping bag full all the way through College. Now I have shelves and shelves of books. My husband is voracious as I and our daughter is,as well. Our tastes are incredibly eclectic. M

My Dad, who would be 108 this January was incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable and he attributed it to his love of reading. I firmly believe that if one can read with comprehension one can learn anything almost on their own.

BTW, I wound up being a biology teacher so those early sounding out of scientific names had more of an impression on me than I realized!

I also instilled the love of reading to my daughter, she always wanted to know the words around her, for example in the store, she wanted to know breakfast, at a young age, I was reading to her a Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day book and at one point I made a voice inflection, and at one point, I just left the word out and she chimed in to tell me the word, she was advanced in preschool, was already printing, by the time she got to kindergarten she was recognizing sight words of a 3rd grader, as told to me by her kindergarten teacher, so reading at a young age is critical in a young child's development. I have an Associates in Science in Early Childhood Development, so what I was taught has rubbed off, I guess.

Robin wrote: "I remember going with my mother to the library when I was seven, and I have continually been a library patron. I love mysteries, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, all the older mystery writers. Someth..."

I've enjoyed those also. Remember Phyllis Whitney? Now I've moved to cozies but still relish a good old-fashioned gothic. I have Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis which I think is Daphne du Maurier solving a mystery.

Thanks for sharing your memories Katherine and Robin. I enjoyed reading them.

I LOVED Phyllis Whitney, du Maurier, Holt and Stewart--I used to wait for the new ones just as we do in series now--well, except for duMaurier--she was a bit before my time. lol I have all of Stewart's Merlin books and several of duMaurier's too--haven't a clue what happened to my Whitney and Holt. I should reread some of them but there are so many NEW books to read...such problems!

My Mom read to me every night before bed. I can still see the book in her hands. One of my favorite was a one volume book of Bible stories. I always asked for the story of Samson. I continued the reading with my own children and now with my grandchildren. My daughter has the Bible storybook and reads to her children from it.

I also remember reading Victoria Holt, all those gothic mysteries got me enthralled with reading. Mary Stewart, as well. We are on the same wavelength, I remember reading the Merlin Series, too.

Merlin Series? Who is the author? Did Mary Stewart write that? I have not thought of her in a long time. Thanks for reminding me.

Yes, Mary Alice there were at least three books in Mary Stewart's series on Merlin. I loved them.

If you go to http://www.fictfact.com and search for Mary Stewart her series Arthurian Legend appears. There are four books in the series and this website lists them in order and has links to Amazon to buy them.

I love this website--I've entered all the series I have followed and those I wish to follow. It allows you to mark the ones you've read and provides a list in which the next book to be read is listed as well as one in which the next book to be released in the series is listed. A great boon for someone like me who gets confused easily!

Katherine wrote: "Yes, Mary Alice there were at least three books in Mary Stewart's series on Merlin. I loved them.

If you go to http://www.fictfact.com and search for Mary Stewart her series Arthurian Legend ap..."

I like fictfact, too. I know what you mean about confusion, Katherine. Since I hit 50 I figure if I'm NOT confused something's wrong! LOL

Melodie wrote: "Katherine wrote: "Yes, Mary Alice there were at least three books in Mary Stewart's series on Merlin. I loved them.

If you go to http://www.fictfact.com and search for Mary Stewart her series A..."

Well, then, Melodie, you can imagine my situation at 68!!! LOL

I hear you about 50 Melodie, I am that and counting. . .

Robin

My one aunt introduce me to Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart...I read those books several years ago and I love Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart. I read them from cover to cover. I dearly love those books.

I know what you mean, when I read them they took me to another world, that is the beauty of books. Love the Merlin series.

Me too Robin..I dearly love the Merlin Series...I still have some of those books to this day...some of Victoria Holt Books, Mary Stewart Books and the Merlin Series too.

Something about women authors, they truly know their craft. I used to love reading Agatha Christie as well. Some of these young authors don't seem to have the same cachet as the older authors, meaning the ones from our youth.