How I Grew as a Bookworm

From an early age books have been a big part of my life. My earliest interactions with literature were with fiction, and later I remember learning from scriptural texts. Finally, more recently I have begun to create literature of my own, and to more fully appreciate literature’s role in our world. 

I never was able to go to bed as a kid until after my parents had read me a bedtime story. My Dad studied English in college, and has a passion for books, so it makes sense that I became a bookworm too. I can remember him reading Lord of the Rings and even Moby Dick to my siblings and me when I was as young as four years old. I don’t remember much about Moby Dick, other than that there was a really big fish involved, but I do remember the time and the feelings I had as I shared these stories with my family.

In addition to fiction, reading scripture was something that I learned from my parents. It may seem a little silly, but my parents would read the Bible or the Book of Mormon right before dinner every day, because that was the way that they could make sure their hungry teenagers would participate!

On my mission I started keeping a journal every day. At first it was tedious, but eventually it became as precious to me as the brass plates were to Lehi and Nephi. I never missed a day of journal writing my whole mission. From my journal writing, I started to see the vast importance of record, and consequently I have started to enjoy visiting historical libraries when I can, such as the Columbia library (pictured) or the Library of Congress.