I’M 88 YEARS OLD AND HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK COVER-TO-COVER

Sometimes the best reviews of my books aren’t reviews at all, but mere acknowledgments that somehow, someway, I changed someone’s life. Maybe just a little, but at least for the better.

I got an email recently from a gentleman—I’ll call him Alf (not his real name)—who had signed up for my newsletters. I gotta tell ya, what he wrote made me feel better than if I’d won a Pulitzer Prize. (Well, that’s an exaggeration, since I’ve never won a Pulitzer–and never will–so have no idea how that might feel. But you get my drift.)

Here’s a transcription of what Alf wrote me (I’ve edited it a bit to make it read smoothly):

“I have read the series WHEN HEROES FLEW. The three books in the series got me reading. I am 88 years old and had never read a book cover to cover. I got started and couldn’t put the books down. Thanks for giving me so much pleasure. I always thought reading was wasted time unless you wanted to learn how to do something.”

I wrote Alf back and told him I was glad I got him started reading “cover to cover.”  I explained that reading fiction can take you so many different places, plant you in so many different times, and allow you to meet so many different people you might otherwise never have had the opportunity to know.  And yes, I said, even reading fiction can lead to learning.

Anyhow, Alf warmed my heart with his note. Five-star reviews are great. But missives saying I opened new horizons for someone are even better.