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BookChat: Journey Into Fantasy [1]

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Date: 2023-04-05  

Welcome to bookchat, where you can talk about anything: books, plays, essays, and audio books. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us!

I’ve previously discussed my path into reading mysteries, but I’ve read a lot more fantasy than mystery.

It all started with D&D, and a recording of a reading of The Hobbit. The two were inextricably linked, fine adventure, fantastic situations, and the wildness of riddle games in the dark, mysterious elves, and menacing giant spiders could be played out on the table. (Watching the animated version in class one day only reinforced the appeal.)

Or maybe it was the Eagle Scout from my troop, who volunteered at the library and pointed me to Witch World (Andre Norton).

Or it might’ve been finding The High King (Lloyd Alexander) on the classroom bookshelf, and sneaking it home to read (I did return it, of course, a few days later).

It’s been so long, I don’t recall the exact order anymore.

But, somehow, I suspect it was actually my fifth grade teacher, who read to us every day after lunch. That introduced me to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Also, Island of the Blue Dolphins and From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler, which had the delightful fantasy of living in a museum.)

It might’ve even been Star Wars, since that’s all laser swords and magic in space.

Anything with wizards, dragons, or swords is sure to draw my attention.

As a kid, I read (and reread) voraciously and widely, anything I could get my hands on. My parents’ library was anemic (a few books from my father’s youth, a couple of my mother’s English textbooks, and the National Geographic Our World, Our Universe set), and trips to the library were rare. But I did have a paper route, a bicycle, and a Waldenbooks in riding distance.

By junior high, I could keep my hungry eyes at least somewhat fed.

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