Cowboys, Gangsters, and that Anne Girl

Hello,
Hope you all had an excellent weekend! Mine was pretty active. Happy B-day to my younger brother. I hope he enjoys strange books from his older sis. Today I give you another installment of our monthly series:

Life Changing Reads
Kick back as I give you a little autobiography.

1. Lonesome Dove
I had heard of the famous mini-series on TV but when it aired I was too young to follow it. So my first exposure to Larry McMurtry occurred by accident. Occasionally if I felt like it I would spend Saturdays hanging out at my mom's library in Bountiful. I could basically do whatever I wanted all day as long as I didn't get in trouble. Or bug my mom while she was working. I was wandering through the paperbacks and there it was. It was a thick book (over a thousand pages!) but I had heard that it was a classic western. I was into outlaws/gunslingers at the time so I thought I'd give it a shot. I grabbed it and read it in the breakroom for the rest of the day. I begged my mom to check it out for me, which she did. The rest is history. I went on to read Lonesome Dove a couple of times and many other McMurtry novels beside.

2. Billy Bathgate
After I had seen a couple of movies such as Untouchables, Mobsters, and The Godfather I became obsessed with gangsters. I even dressed like a 20s gangster for Halloween with suit, fedora, and fake gun. The school didn't really appreciate the gun. Anyway because of my reading up on the subject I had heard of gangster Dutch Schulz. This led me to Billy Bathgate. I picked up a copy at the Sprague library. It was a hard cover with a kid juggling on the front. I sat down and started reading. Three hours went by and I didn't even know it. I really connected with the lead character and his luck/ability to keep his head above water.

3. Anne of Green Gables series
As a tween girl I was never into Little House on the Prairie or Judy Blume. I was an "Anne" girl. Yes I responded to a book with a red-headed protagonist with a strong imagination. Anne Shirley has a big mouth, fanciful dreams, and a love of literature. She wants to become a writer. I became obsessed with reading this entire series. I picked them up one after another all summer long from the library. I believe Anne's House of Dreams was read while camping. Nature could not compete with Anne's need to find the perfect curtains for her first house with Gilbert!

Have a good week! Book Slave.