I have always been a voracious reader. Even though my parents had very little education they always read to me and encouraged me to read. My mother took me to get my first library card at age seven. Back in those days the cards were hand stamped, and it was a kind of status symbol in our school to see who could get their card filled with stamps first. All of this engendered a life long love of reading.

It is my objective to collect here information about some of my favorite books as well as resources for reading material.

As a kid I received, in addition to toys, lots of books on birthdays, at Christmas, etc. Some of my favorites were/are:

As one matures, naturally one's taste in literature changes. Sometimes those changes are forced. As high school seniors, we had Chaucer's Canterbury tales on our required reading list. It's not exactly the kind of material to inspire kids of that age. We had a very smart young teacher however, who one day casually dropped a remark in class: "We're not going to read all of the Tales, because some of them are not fit for people your age to read." I think all copies of Chaucer sold out in the local book stores within a matter of hours!! Smart teacher!

Although I still read almost everything in sight, my tastes in recent years has gone in three directions: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Historical Mysteries, and Historical Fiction.

Science Fiction has, in recent years, undergone some changes. It's essentially split into two paths. The first is what is traditionally always been the realm of Science Fiction; space travel, time travel, BEM's (Bug eyed Monsters) etc. The second path is that of Fantasy. It's popularity is in part due to the popularity of fantasy games - both board games and computer games. It's in this direction that my interest lies. Most fictional scenarios involve "alternate worlds" that is, places, times and events which could have happened and which sound somewhat familiar. Some examples are below.

Fred is a very prolific author. My introduction to his work was through his "Swords" series. This series of books traces seven mythical swords having magic powers which were forged by the god Vulcan. The books are set in a vaguely medieval setting which is reminiscent of the real earth. Fred has written many other works and series including the "Berserker" series.

Eddings is far and away my favorite author. He has written as I count, nineteen books each one of which I've read several times. There are several series, each linked together. They have as their central characters knights, princesses, gods and godesses, evil sorcerers, trolls, magical gems, etc etc. Here are some of his works:

Martin has begun what he says will be a six volume series called "A Song of Ice and Fire". It's the story of a medieval world where seasons can last years or even generations. The first two volumes are epic in scope and size. The second has just been published, and they are fascinating.

My favorite kind of mysteries are those which have some background in fact. Often, these fictional works give added insight into reality. Two examples follow.

Elliott Roosevelt was the son of Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt. In many of his novels, he sets his mother up as the detective and "hero" of the book. Since Elliott was an eyewitness to many of the happenings in Washington, an element of realism is added. He was a very prolific author. Upon his death a few years ago, his wife found a trunk with a dozen or so unpublished manuscripts whose existence was unknown to anybody. She decided to spread their publication out over a number of years in consideration to her husbands many fans.

By strange coincidence an offspring of the next President turned out to be a mystery writer as well. Margaret Truman Daniels writes in a somewhat different style, but her writing also brings a sense of reality to the genre.

I guess having a BA in History makes me somewhat of a "sucker" for historical fiction. Well, be that as it may, any story which has some basis in reality I find appealing.

This is where, like many people, I got my start reading historical fiction. Is it really the best selling novel of all time?

There's a whole genre of books that have not only a historical basis, but offer strong social commentary as well.

Cambridge educated historian and novelist Edward Rutherford has written two Historical Novels which I consider to be the best of their kind. His first work "Sarum" subtitled "The Novel of England" lives up to its rather grandiose subtitle. It traces the history of England from the Stone Age through modern times by using several fictitious families in the area of Stonehenge and the Salisbury Cathedral. Although it runs 1033 pages in paperback, it's fascinating all the way.

I recently ran into a second book of Rutherford's entitled "London" which does the same for that city from 54 BCE to modern times. I rushed right out and bought it, but have only just begun to read it. I'm looking forward to another great read!

Like Ron, Judy's love of books began when she was a child. Her taste in books is even more catholic than his.

First of all, there's anything by Stephen King such as:

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