An Appetite

I think I have an appetite for stories the way most people crave their favorite foods. I thirst for a tall glass of C.S Lewis and hunger for a hardy serving of Victor Hugo. And then there is the junk cravings. The sickeningly sweet stories I refer to as brain candy, the fluff with little to no substance but you crave none the less.
I'm not exactly sure when I developed this overwhelming urge to curl up and escape into other perspectives but I vividly remember falling in love with Robin McKinley's Outlaws of Sherwood. I was in 8th grade and bored out of my mind with school until I was captivated by the infamous plight and romance of the Bandit of Sherwood.
Of course I'd been exposed to translations of Beowulf and now that I think of it The Dark is Rising and Catherine called Birdie two years earlier were fun but while I loved the adventure of it all I had a hard time relating to the characters.
Then, somewhere in that same time frame my brother Miles put me in the way of her The Hero's Crown and The Blue Sword and I just couldn't get enough.
And of course my all my brothers have excellent taste and fed me Bradbury, Robert Jordan, Tolkien, T.H White- you name it, if it is classically awesome, my brothers led me to it.
So here's a shout out to all you angels who encouraged me, fed me, and enriched my life.