READING

Patsy Liverpool © Thursday, November 8-2018

                     READING 

I have always been a voracious reader. I love to read and read everything I could lay my hands on from as early as I can remember. I loved books even before I could read. I remember looking at photographs in Ebony Magazine and Jet Magazine before I learned how to read. I read “fairy tales” and other children’s books when I was about four years old. Between 8 and 12 I was fascinated by stories of Greek and Roman “gods and goddesses” of Greek and Roman mythology. Aesop’s fables were even more fascinating because he was African (Ethiopian.) All the stories he told of animals with human qualities really fired my imagination. I would regale my younger siblings and cousins with tales of imaginary animals and surprisingly they believed my stories. As an adult I think back to those days and laugh. My mother loved to read and perhaps that is where my love of reading stems. We were a “reading family;” my parents, my siblings and I read varied authors during my teenage years. Some of our favourite authors were blatantly or covertly racist but we did not realize or care; we just loved the stories/plots. Louis L’Amour, Salvatore Lombino/Ed McBain/Evan Hunter, James Hadley Chase/René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, Nick Carter, Tintin, Dennis Wheatley were some of the suspect authors/books we read and just bypassed the racism, concentrating on the storyline/plot. Some of the books I read as a teenager and reread as an adult with a different perspective/better understanding; "The Scarlet Letter: A Romance" by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck. “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which I read at 8 years old.

My family read comic books galore; old war comic books with tales of WW1 and WW2. Comic books from Britain with tales of white girls and boys attending boarding schools (Billy Bunter and Bessie Bunter etc.,) Enid Blyton was one of our favourite authors.

I discovered romance novels when I was a teenager. I would read those books much to the displeasure and against the wishes of my father. He actually forbade romance novels in our home; he thought they might be a bad influence. Those books were harmless but no one could convince my father; some relatives tried to no avail. I would smuggle the books home, hidden in my school books and read them when he was not at home. My favourite authors were Anne Mather, Barbara Cartland and Penny Jordan; there were a few others including Charlotte Lamb, Violet Winspear and Betty Neels.

I stopped reading romance novels when I began working because there was no time. I had to read books for work, for professional exams etc., Then I got married and those romance novels did not match up to the real thing! After my husband unexpectedly and tragically transitioned I discovered African American romance writers. At first, I would buy and read books by any African American romance writer. 

I eventually realized that I preferred the writing style and storytelling skills of a few of them including Sandra Kitt, Beverly Jenkins, Brenda Jackson, Rochelle Alers and Donna Hill. I recently saw a book by Sandra Kitt that I read a few years ago. Rereading “Significant Others” by Sandra Kitt has rekindled my interest in romance novels so I am on the lookout for books by my favourite romance authors including Rochelle Alers, Donna Hill, Brenda Jackson, Beverly Jenkins and Sandra Kitt. 

Patsy Liverpool © Thursday, November 8-2018