bookworm wednesday – the book that changed reading for me

today’s bookworm wednesday is not so much a book review as it is a piece of my reading history. i’d like to share the book that was a game-changer for me: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle (5 of 5 stars).

it seems as if i’ve always loved reading. i can’t remember not craving books — both old familiar stories and new engrossing tales. but the motivation behind that desire wasn’t always the same.

i don’t know if other readaholics out there can relate, but in my history as a reader, there is a distinct moment that stands out to me — the moment when i realized that this reading thing was so much more than mere entertainment.

A Wrinkle in Time was the first fantasy book i ever read. i was in sixth grade, and up to then my reading was centered on tearing through each new title in Ann Martin’s The Babysitter’s Club series, Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High collection, and the Saddle Club books by Bonnie Bryant. i had (inexplicably) not even discovered C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.

when the school librarian suggested Madeleine L’Engle‘s Time Quintet, i was intrigued, and started reading immediately. A Wrinkle in Time fascinated and thrilled me in a way i had never experienced through books. meg’s intergalactic travels, the profound and thought-provoking themes, the impossible time-travel and bizarre space creatures, the inspiring heroics…i wanted more.

after quickly finishing all of the books in that series, i moved on to books by similar authors, then broadened my tastes to other genres like allegory and history and nonfiction.

i feel like A Wrinkle in Time was a gateway to a whole new world of reading for me. a world in which books serve to inspire, teach, and make you think, as well as entertain. now i read many more academic and life-application books than in my pre-teen years, but i still love to lose myself in a fantastic story.

the A Wrinkle in Time cover above is more pleasant, in my opinion (it’s the edition on my shelf now), but the cover art to the right is what was on the library book that i read, and it scared the bajeezes out of me. i don’t think i would’ve dived in if it weren’t for my intense curiosity, and my admiration for and trust in my librarian. (every reading nerd’s childhood hero — the school librarian.)

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if you have been a lifelong reader, do you remember a moment that changed the game for you? if you more recently discovered the joy of reading, what book hooked you? (if you don’t like to read…i don’t know what to say. )