Nov
25
Last year, I celebrated Thanksgiving on this blog by imagining what a Turkey Day dinner might be like for some of the best-known dysfunctional families in literature. While that remains one of my most favorite posts, I thought I’d try a different tact this year.
This year, in honor of Thanksgivings, I decided to make a list of all the literary things for which I’m thankful: the authors, books and people who have helped shape my love of all things literary.
Without further adieu:
- My parents (obviously) for keeping my home filled with books and stories from the very beginning and for indulging me when I asked for more books;
- My first-grade teacher, for teaching me to read (I still remember her using my name – Meredith – during the lesson on “th” sounds);
- My English professors in college: Dr. Erler, Dr. Pitchford and Dr. Suarez, for making me a better reader and a better writer and for reminding me again and again why I loved words;
- My friend Lindsay, for starting the book club I’m currently a part of, because without it, I probably would drive people crazy;
- William Shakespeare, for writing some of the greatest words – and stories – the English language has ever seen;
- Jane Austen, for letting me fall in love with Mr. Darcy and Captain Wentworth at least once a year;
- J.R.R. Tolkien, for being the foundation upon which so many of my favorite science-fiction and fantasy novels are built;
- Anne Shirley and Jo March, for being as real to me as everyone else in the world;
- The U.K. Parliament and the Public Libraries Act of 1850, recognized for being the beginning of the modern, free, open access library;
- The American Library Association, for doing the same in the United States;
- Amazon.com, for pioneering the online bookstore and feeding my book habit; and
- The graduate school assignment that led me to create this blog in the first place. I didn’t know what I was starting a year ago, but I’m sure glad I stuck around to find out.
[Photo Credit: Google Image Search ]
