The newly released A FASHIONABLY FRENCH MURDER is the third installment in Colleen Cambridge’s An American in Paris Mystery series. American expat Tabitha Knight has found a new life in postwar Paris, along with a delightful friend in aspiring chef Julia Child. Yet there are perils in peacetime too, as a killer infiltrates one of the city’s most famous fashion houses. Colleen was a voracious reader at a very young age, and that’s because her mother instilled in her the same love of books that she had. This helped pave the way for Colleen to develop a special bookish bond with her own children.
I grew up with a mother who read and who instilled in me that same love of books. In fact, when my parents built the house I grew up in, my mother insisted that there be an entire wall of bookshelves, floor to ceiling, in our family room. She filled those shelves with every sort of book --- from novels to encyclopedias to gardening books and home improvement guides. It was like having my own personal library, and I would select volumes from the Childcraft series to read, cover to cover, during the summer.
My mom also would take me to the library at least once a week during the summer. She’d help me pick out books (always the maximum I was allowed to borrow), and she never complained when I wanted to go back three days later for more (because I’d read them all). Later, as I was getting to the end of middle school and heading into high school, my mom introduced me to the American Bicentennial series by John Jakes and the sexy romance novels of Bertrice Small and Kathleen Woodiwiss of the 1970s. Actually, I can’t say she really introduced me; I found them on her bookshelves and read them without ever asking permission. The fact that she never censored my reading --- even when I was reading THE BASTARD at age 14 --- is a special gift all on its own. She trusted me to learn from what I read and allowed me to broaden my horizons in many ways.
Because of this strong foundation of reading and love of books, the very first winter after my husband and I moved into our house, I asked him to build me a wall of bookshelves in my office --- just like the one my mother had in our family room. I designed it to look exactly the same as hers had. As with hers, mine is always chock-full of books. And even though I have to purge some of them on a yearly basis, I never seem to have enough room for all the ones I want to keep.
When my children got old enough to read (even when the youngest could only look at picture books), I instituted a weekly Family Reading Night. Instead of watching TV or the children being in their rooms by themselves playing or reading, each of the three of them, plus myself and my husband, would find a comfortable seat in the living room. I’d make popcorn (drenched with real butter and salt), which, along with Coke, was a treat reserved for Family Reading Night. We would snack while reading for at least an hour on those cozy evenings. Most of the time, the children would want to read longer than the hour minimum, and this habit helped to form them into becoming lifelong readers (and popcorn addicts!).
During the summer, I also encouraged my children to read on a daily basis. On the last day of school, I’d buy each of them a large posterboard. The three posterboards would be hung in the kitchen so everyone could see their progress. Each would be used for the kids to list the books they read over the summer. At the end of the summer, I happily gave them a monetary reward for each book read. That was money I consider well-spent to this day.
Even so, I can tell you that they didn’t really read for the reward; they read because they love books the same way I do, the same way my mother did. Sadly, my mom is at the stage in her life where she finds it difficult to concentrate and focus on reading, and I know she misses those opportunities to dive into an escape --- especially those books I write. She’s been my first and longest champion in my writing career, and although she can no longer enjoy my books, she is still cheerleading for me. Despite this loss for both my mom and myself, I am content with knowing that my mom created a strong, solid reading tradition in two generations --- a tradition that I know will continue as my children start their own families.
