Adventure always on a bookshelf

An enduring pastime of mine has been reading.
The first book of consequence I read was sometime in the mid-1950s. Since then, with a few interludes, I’ve had one going most of the time.
Nowadays, it’s more like two or three at a time. I have a downstairs book or two and one on the head of the bed upstairs. Reading a chapter or two just before bedtime prompts a good night’s sleep.
Early on, my fare was typical for a grade school kid — Dick and Jane stuff. I wasn’t too keen on reading at the start, but an event in third grade made a difference. My marks in reading weren’t too good and the teacher decided I, along with a couple of classmates, needed help. We stayed after class to read aloud.
Being singled out was a catalyst. That summer I devoured books. I’d finish one only to start another
With interest sparked, weekends, evenings and summers were given as much to reading as anything else — which should be tempered by the fact we didn’t have TV until I was in junior high. I enjoyed radio programs — Sky King and The Shadow come to mind — but if your mind’s eye is going to be the creator of adventure you might as well pick where you want to go with a book.
My love of science fiction was whetted by “Forbidden Planet,” the first paperback I ever read. Mom raised her eyebrows when I carried the dime novel home from Garvie’s Drug Store. She equated paperbacks with unsavory literature.
For a good long while now my reading has centered on non-fiction, and much of it to do with World War II. If I dip into fantasy, it’s usually vintage science fiction.
I recently read Albert Speer’s recollections of his years as Hitler’s architect and Osa Johnson’s “A Bride in the Solomons,” a terrific account of her and Martin Johnson’s experiences with cannibals in the South Pacific 20 years before many of the islands were laid waste in WWII.
My current science fiction read is Arthur C. Clarke’s “Earthlight,” an intriguing piece set 200 years in the future on the Moon. An interesting aside is Clarke’s anticipation of what technology would be like in the future; it is couched in 1950s terms, elementary for today and it’s fun to see his references to electric typewriters and banks of magnetic computer tapes.