When I look back at my reading journey, there are 5 key influences that spurred my love of literature. I still see reminders of these people on my bookshelves today. I find it so interesting how parents, teachers, mentors, authors, and random book lovers can shape our bookish paths.
Here are the five people who indelibly marked my reading journey:
My Parents
My parents introduced me to my favorite author when I was a mere child. They had filled some shelves in my bedroom with books and I would read late into the night under the light from my fish tank. The book I remember most was The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. That along with a small paperback version of Tolkien’s The Hobbit were constant companions in my youth.
Mr. McDaniel
While those books fostered a love of reading, that was quickly driven out of me during my high school years. However, there was one bright light amidst an abysmal set of high school English classes. My 10th grade English teacher was an attorney who took two years off from his career to teach high school. I was fortunate to be in his class. He had a contagious love of reading. We didn’t just read Great Books for class. We dove into them. We read passages aloud. We acted out scenes. And most importantly, we witnessed a grown man’s pure pleasure and delight in the world of literature.
John Eldredge
Mr. McDaniel kept hope alive and John Eldredge fanned a flame that has continued to this day. Eldredge is an author who spoke at the church I attended during my senior year of high school. He gave a talk in which he quoted from great works of literature and he read with passion from poems. He made the claim that the greatest literature points to a larger story of Good News. At that point in my life, he gave me permission and a desire to read the classics. Soon after, I began reading books like Crime and Punishment, The Scarlet Letter, and Moby Dick. While I studied business during college, I spent more time reading literature.
Random Family in Warner Robins, GA
During my time at college, I was the member of a prestigious and secret society called the Men’s Glee Club 😉. One of our concerts was a few hours away from campus and we stayed with different families in Warner Robins, GA. The family I was assigned to had a room dedicated to books. They let me peruse the shelves and I felt like I had entered a small section of heaven. I had known that families could have books, but I wasn’t aware that an entire room could be dedicated to them. I think back often to that library and how it unleashed a strong desire in me.
Skip Nagelvoort
Skip was my mentor during my college years. The first thing he did before our first meeting was give me a copy of a book to discuss. We’d meet at his house and he had one of those rooms like the family in Warner Robins. He had a home office with his own personal library. I was mesmerized and began desiring an office/library of my own some day.
I now have a room of my own dedicated to books. It’s where I work, where I read, and where I podcast about books. When I look up at my shelves, I see the influence of these 5 people. I see the white paperback Narnia set my parents bought for me and that I read as a child. I see a small onyx marble jaguar that guards my books, an exact copy of one I saw in that library in Warner Robins, GA. I see John Eldredge’s Sacred Romance, a book I consider my hinge book, in that my entire library hinges upon that one book. I see the book gifted to me by Skip Nagelvoort. And I am so very thankful for their influence on my life.
Help Anisa Bring Hope to Kids
My college roommate and friend is helping a “bright and courageous young woman from a rural village in Bangladesh” study at Cedarville University in the United States. To do so, he is helping her raise funds here. The goal is $21,000 and they are currently at a little over $1,000. Please consider giving. You can read her story here:
I am always curious to learn about the bookish influences in people’s lives, so I clicked over here on a whim. I was shocked—shocked I tell you!—to see my tiny former hometown of Warner Robins featured. We used to think nothing good really ever came out of Warner Robins. It was the kind of town the teenagers all talked about leaving as soon as they could…and yet it was such a crucial part of my formative years. I was a military brat, so I had an “easy out,” and as such I never minded the town as much as my peers. We moved away, returned, and then moved away again, but the friendships we made there are still some of the strongest friendships we have. Our church there was crucial in forming my faith. I will always have a fondness for Warner Robins—and specifically for the small church library whose stacks I used to haunt on a regular basis as my own love for reading grew. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Erik. I've enjoyed listening to a couple of your podcast episodes with my husband. Your description of Herodotus makes it sound very appealing! I've also been in your bookstore once when we were travelling. This post makes me think it is a good time to reflect on influences in my reading life. My 5 beacons are as follows. 1)My parents and grandparents always bought me plenty of books and read nursery rhymes and stories to me from a young age. 2) My 3rd grade teacher, Miss Paine, loved reading, read stories after lunch, and gave us books as gifts. (She also left teaching to travel, which I think influenced my desire to travel the world.) 3.) Mrs. Madrid was my GT teacher in 5th and 6th grade. GT was a program that stood for gifted and talented. Back then, apparently, poetry was only for the gifted and talented! Anyway, Mrs. Madrid opened up a world of poetry to me and I believe my love of poetry began or at least was cultivated with her. 4.) My college Shakespeare professor, Dr. Walton, further opened up great poetry to me as well as Shakespeare. Poetry and Shakespeare are still great loves for me today. 5.) Finally, I am going to cite my Pastor, Pastor Martin, for encouraging and deepening my love of literature. He reinforced loves I already had (Flannery O'Connor, Shakespeare, and Lewis) and introduced me to more literary wonders in Waugh, Percy, the Space Trilogy, and others.