You are what you read.

Dear Diary,

We've often heard the expression, "You are what you eat" and I've always believed that.  But I also believe that it is equally true that we become what we "digest" through our reading.  We internalize to some degree the words on the page especially if we read certain genre over and over again.

I love murder mysteries and I own every one of Agatha Christie's 80+ novels. It is the puzzle that enthralls me, the "who done it" element.  It has developed in me the questioning and seeking mind.

Right now I am reading all I can on the 17th, 18th and 19th century because I am so immersed in my genealogical research.  This is a wonderful biography about Louisa May Alcott (a cousin of mine) and her mother.

The years spent reading my "who done its" led to my passionate search for the "who were they".  What we read is often a reflection of who we are and it directs, in perhaps subtle ways, who we become.

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.
~Oscar Wilde