Some Meme Filler

I am not crazy about memes, but I have to finish another Cybil book before I can do any reviewing, and in the meantime I need some content that doesn't require a trememdous amount from me. The memory meme below is one that fits very well with kidlit, so I'm not feeling creepy about using it. I found it at Booklust, the blog of a young Canadian illustrator named Patricia Storms.

1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you?
I was in first grade, which means I was six. Presumably Mrs. Farnham taught me.

2.Did you own any books as a child? If so, what’s the first one that you remember owning? If not, do you recall any of the first titles that you borrowed from the library?
My sister and I received a pile of Little Golden Books for Christmas sometime before I turned 8. I remember borrowing Billy and Blaze, probably from a school library, when I was in first or second grade. (See The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen for a riff on a boy and his horse.) I also remember borrowing Alice in Wonderland from the bookmobile after we noved to another school. I believe I was in third grade because the bookmobile lady was surprised I hadn't read it yet. Clearly this was a humiliating experience, which is why I remember it.

3. What’s the first book that you bought with your own money?
Nancy Drew, of course. I also bought 48 Marvel comic books during my early teen years. If I hadn't read them to bits, they'd be worth something now. I know because we had a couple appraised when I passed them on to a young relative who now owns hundreds--if not more--of the things.

4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often?
Hmmm. I don't think so. I think even then I felt there was so much to read. I did, however, re-read my mother's copy of Little Men so many times the final page fell out. Little Men has been hugely important in my life. I am Jo in Little Men.

5. What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it?
I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes books, which were written for adults no matter what people believe now. I also read a great deal of historical fiction when I was a teenager, and I'm sure I was reading adult historical novels at a pretty early age. I was particularly fond of generational books, things that took place over a century or more in one family. I know I was also reading historical romances--Victoria Holt, Daphne du Maurier. I was hugely fond of Mark Twain (though not Huckleberry Finn) and read his autobiography in eighth grade. I was quite young when I read To Kill A Mockingbird.

6. Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones?
I never read Anne of Green Gables when I was young, Understood Betsy, or The Little House books. I can't say I learned to love them as an adult. I respect them.

So I think that's a meme that stays on topic pretty well.