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Article: Books That Made a Difference to Andrea Lee: Russia! Africa! Suburban New Jersey in the 1950s! The novelist's favorite books take you places you never knew you wanted to go.(Column)
- Article from:
- O, The Oprah Magazine
- Article date:
- September 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I BEAR PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF MY lifelong passion for reading: a wide, crescent-moon scar on my left knee that dates from when I was 9 years old. But let's set the stage. In the mid-sixties, before it was considered criminal neglect to let kids laze around the house, I spent many a blissful summer afternoon lolling on the sun-porch, submerged in books. Adrift in the suburban Philadelphia heat, as flies droned against the screens, I found out that reading allowed me to travel in time and space. When I'd exhausted the family bookshelves, I'd bike up to the local public library, an English-style cottage crammed with well-worn classics that ranged from Edith Nesbit's wonderful ...