I gained interest for reading great books

by Dally
(Tampa, FL)

when I was younger, I lived in a sort of "boarding school" until I was 15 years old. My parents had emigrated to the United States, while I stayed behind on my native island. I was probably 4 years old when they left. I remember with fondness the time I spent with this woman, her name was Laurette, but we nicknamed her "Tante Lolotte", or Tatty Lolotte in English. Some of the greatest stories I've heard in my youth were told by her. Those stories were a compilation of her life experience as well as things she had read in books over the years. At some point, she noticed that I loved to read and she nurtured that interest in me even further. She shared with me some of the books she had read, suggested new readings, or would discuss books that I had selected on my own. those were amazing times, when i would sit on the cold concrete floor next to her bed for "book discussion". I always loved to listen to her stories as they enthralled me so much! it is because of her that I grew up with a thirst for knowledge, and far away places as they were so vividly described in all the books i read or in the stories that she told.

Thank you so much Tante Lolotte!