Reader's Fave

I recently interviewed Nancy Toteff for our 42nd installment of Reader's Fave, a casual interview with someone who shares their favorite book. Nancy and her family live on Puget Island.

Nancy admitted she wished she had a list of all the books she'd read and that it was difficult to narrow it down to one. She finally decided to discuss "Dune" by Frank Herbert. Although there are more than 20 different books pertaining to the "Dune" series, only six were written by Frank himself. "I really enjoyed the series Dune," said Nancy. "I loved it. I remember almost wanting to cry when the series was over - when I realized it was done - that there wouldn't be another book. I first read the "Dune" books when I was in my 20s. I was living up in Alaska, working at a cannery, and I picked up the first book at some random place. I was just looking for a book to read when I wasn't working. After beginning to read it I thought, 'Oh, this is good.' I hadn't heard anything about the book up to that time. What I liked about it was the thorough background and history it provided about the characters, the planets, the economics of each planet, and the spiritual thinking. It was very colorful to me, a great escape, not boring at all. It was "Dune" that brought me more into reading other sci-fi type books, and realizing how many great sci-fi authors and books are out there. In the early 2000s, I took some classes at LCC (Lower Columbia College). One of them was a Sci-Fi reading class. It was really cool. The instructor did a great job of having us read these sci-fi short stories and look at sci-fi chronologically through them."

Reflecting on how she became a reader, Nancy said, "There were always a lot of books in our house when I was young. I don't remember my mom and dad reading to themselves necessarily, but there were always books present. They would read to us when we went to bed. I remember my dad would [bring] poetry to us in bed, read it many times, and challenge us to try and memorize it. I have many poems that I remember now from that."

Sharing the reading experiences she has with her family today, Nancy said, "We have this routine we do at home every night. It's an exact routine as a family. My husband, Chance, will read to them for about 15 minutes or so when they're in their beds. Then I'll go in and read to them. I often read too long to them because I'm enjoying it with the boys. We read different kinds of books to them. After that, I leave and go read the rest of the night, which is usually the only time I read now. We often have a big amount of books at home from the library. I prefer reading from a physical book if I have a choice, but I do use my Kindle for convenience, and I can read it while in bed without having a light on. Currently, I'm reading 'The Dragonlance Chronicles' (by authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman). It's entertaining, and I keep reading as the next one pops up on Kindle."

May you wonderful Wahkiakum readers discover a new book; one you hadn't heard of before. Perhaps one that's so good you almost want to cry when it's over.