Habitual Reader Profiles - Page 1

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	Name: Mark Miller
	State: Florida
	Vocation / Avocation: TBD

Why I'm a Habitual Reader:

I've been reading since I was old enough to read.

I've finally reached the age where I get to do very little reading for myself.

These days I discover the adventures of Harry Potter, My Little Pony or various Disney characters as I read to my book-end boys and two daughters. Still, we've managed to tackle Lord of the Rings and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as bedtime stories along with the likes of the boy magician. Sadly, that puts me about ten books behind on Stephen King. Oh wait, another minute has passed, make that eleven behind.

One of my earliest memories of reading is a book that I still have somewhere in storage. It was a children's story bought for me with no more intent than my name matched that of the title character: Mark the Magician.

I suspect it was predetermined for me since my father, an old newspaperman, named me after Samuel Clemens. Maybe it was destiny, but between bedtime stories and making ends "meat", I have found my passion in creating new stories.

Maybe someday, someone will put me on their Top Ten List.

My List of Ten: Stories that stuck with me as I have changed over the years (in no particular order).

1. Heart of Darkness
Author: Joseph Conrad
The journey. In some ways, it is the journey that we all take.

2. Starship Troopers
Author: Robert Heinlein
The book reveals the ideology and intelligence that was lost in the movie.

3. The Black Cauldron
Author: Lloyd Alexander
One of the great "young reader" epics. On the scale of Lord of the Rings.

4. The Dark Tower
Author: Stephen King
Epic story in a pop-culture wrapper.

5. Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
One of the few stories where I've cheered out loud during the chase back to the castle on Borgo Pass.

6. The Trial
Author: Franz Kafka
Haven't we all had times like these?

7. The Chronicles of Narnia
Author: C. S. Lewis
Beginning to see a theme in the epic stories.

8. The Odyssey
Author: Homer
Another gigantic story of heroes on a quest. These epics appeal to me.

9. Crime and Punishment
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
What a torturous story to struggle through. You suffer right along with him.

10.1601
Author: Mark Twain
If you haven't read it, find it. Oh and please still respect me in the morning after you've read it.

Have you read any of these titles? Review one now.

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