He fell asleep reading. He read while he ate. He read while we watched Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. My parents had a bedroom built in the basement for him—with bookshelves! My room didn't have any bookshelves.

I was only jealous about two things in my life that I remember. This was one. The other was when my older cousin Nan got the whole set of Nancy Drew mysteries from our bachelor uncle. And I got a sweater.

But back to reading ... I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think that watching my brother love books convinced me to love books. Or at least pointed me to that miraculous road of fairy tales, biographies, and mysteries.

Junior high and high school was filled with Peter Pan collars, wrap-around denim skirts made in Home Ec class, new friends, and crushes on boys. And music. I poured over song lyrics on the crispy sheets of white paper that came inside the albums then, and even the lyrics to the old songs my parents listened to. I was very caught up in the words more than the beat.