The Initiation of Raven

Well here is the first post of my new blog "Raven's Book Corner". For this post, I thought I would give a little insight from my About page. As I stated I used to be an avid reader at a young age. My father had been writing his own stories and my mother, around the time I was in Elementary School, became a librarian. So needless to say reading was a common pastime for all household members.

As a child, I absolutely loved R. L. Stine's books. However, my love for his work did not fully start with the Goosebumps series. I liked them as a kid and they were readily available in my school's library, but I was drawn to a much creepier set of books. My school, like many others, had the full set of "Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark" and they were in high demand.

It's hard to say what compelled me to first check out those books. I wasn't a particularly brave child, and often prone to nightmares or just seeing ghosts. Maybe it was the older kids always daring each other to read it, or maybe it was just the hauntingly beautiful artwork that accompanied the stories. Either way, I was often on the waiting list to get a copy and often at recess read the stories aloud to friends who could not get their hands on a copy.

Once I hit middle school and was given internet access I became more interested in "The Fear Street" series by R. L . Stine. My middle school library did not carry these books, but I was able to find plenty of people reselling them on Amazon so my passion for reading continued with the extensive writings of R. L. Stine. This series was still my main focus in high school.

When I got to college I made the dreaded mistake, becoming an English Major. To clarify I have no regrets about studying English, but it certainly is questioned when it gets brought up. Like any English Major, I was assigned to read plenty of the classics and did not read as many of them as I was assigned. Regardless I was able to enjoy a wide variety of stories and hone my craft as a writer. My passion for reading remained right up until my sophomore year of college. The dreaded 2020 took us out of in-person classes and claimed my attention span. I can't honestly say I had even finished reading any book in 2020.

More recently I started to pick back up the habit with new interests. I started reading non-fiction more and more as I started to find more topics exciting. The final push I needed to fully get back into reading was of course my job. I became a high school English teacher and of course, read the books I assign alongside my students. Now I am starting to get back into my full-time reading habits and hope to share all my favorites (and not favorites) with you.

In terms of what to expect, you'll see posts about my current reads, past favorites, books that changed me, stories I didn't like, and more. I hope you all will join me as we talk about books and our passions for reading.

-Sincerely, Raven