Bookstream: The Evolution of a Bookworm

I've always loved books. Even when I was a child, I liked books more than I liked toys and dolls. My favorite books were those of fairy tales by the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. I loved the story of the Little Mermaid and Rapunzel. I liked reading about myths and legends. Stories of Persephone and Narcissus, Maria Makiling and all those legends about star-crossed lovers never failed to entertain me.

Going into my teenage years, I started looking for longer stories like Sweet Valley Kids and then moved on to Sweet Valley High. After i got a bit tired of reading about the same people again and again, I discovered Sweet Dreams. Ah! I loved those teen romance novels! In fact, I loved those novels so much that I wasn't content with just reading...I had to write my own stories. One of these days, I'll talk about that in a different blog post.

Anyway, Sweet Dreams eventually became too short for me and I started exploring longer novels. Now, one thing you have to know is that my mother used to collect romantic novels as well. She had tons and tons of Mills&Boon books. I remember the first Mills&Boon book that I read: I was in high school and the author was Violet Winspear. I loved her books! She was engaging and had the most wonderful plots and story lines. After a while, I found that those M&B books were not enough...it was like the stories started ending too soon for my taste. So, like an addict, I wanted more.

Shh! I still have the book!

One day (still in high school), I came across this thick paperback novel in my mom's room. On the cover was a beautiful girl and a handsome guy (not Fabio) in a lover's embrace. It was a book titled "Magic Embrace" by Jennifer Horsman. I read the blurb/synopsis at the back and got intrigued by the story line. I asked my mom if I could borrow it. She said it was fine but I had to return it to her because the book was lent to her by a friend. I started reading it and couldn't put it down. Being in high school, I read through most of the more sensual parts without really understanding anything. Believe it or not, I wasn't really interested in that part of the book...it was the whole story itself that I was after. It's funny how anyone who finds out that I read romance novels would immediately assume that I read it for the "sensual parts." Those parts, I consider a bonus and not a must! LOL! 

Now, back to my story...(she doth proteth too darn much! ;-)


That one book got me hooked on those thick paperback novels. I couldn't put them down. I could read a whole 365 paged book in one day...in one sitting. Jennifer Horsman became my favorite romance author. I made it a point to visit any and all booksales that I could find and look for her books. It was then that I started collecting romance novels. I had shelves-full of books by different romance authors by the time I graduated from college.

These days, I think I have grown tried of romance and I'm now moving on to thriller/suspense/action novels. When author Iris Johansen moved from romance to mainstream fiction, my tastes evolved as well. I began to like novels that combined action and romance and eventually moved on to action and male authors. It all started with Dan Brown. Now, James Rollins is taking most of my book-reading time. 

Throughout all this, my book-reading comfort zone will always be in the form of fairy tales and children's books. I would always go back to Roald Dahl, Hugh Lofting and Hans Christian Andersen whenever I need a warm comforting hug in the form of a good, timeless story.