by age 11, i had read all the BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY books.
these poorly written books with short chapters, ending...
like the other popular episodic adventures of the time,
THE SHADOW, GENE AUTRY, ROCKET MAN, SHEENA OF THE JUNGLE,
AND FLASH GORDON, with an exciting impulse to continue to
the next chapter. Having read the Christian propaganda in
UNCLE ARTHUR'S BEDTIME STORIES,
a gift from my only religious relative, Aunt Frances, and
having survived without religion, I made it through the
sexist and racist children's literature of the day, such
as BOMBA, oddly unaffected......which confirms, today,
my theory that some just don't have the gene for religion
or unthinking fundamentalist prejudice, instilled and perpetuated by dogma....
I read Rick Blaine's Scientific Adventures....all of them...too!
And, each month, a new novel was sent by mail.....CAPTAIN'S
COURAGEOUS, LITTLE MEN, AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND....I eagerly awaited
these monthly reads...in addition to the racier books that my
step-father kept in his bedside cabinet......LADY CHATTERLY'S
LOVER, BLACK LIKE ME, SEPARATE TABLES and PEYTON PLACE.....Mother
read such tripe as LADY CONSTANCE AND THE WHITE KNIGHT or THE
MOORS OF LOVE AND REMEMBRANCE......girl stuff! CLASSICS
ILLUSTRATED.....all of them.......gradually filled a large box..
with quickly read pulp versions of MOBY DICK and THE INVISIBLE MAN....
The only magazine that i read, cover to cover, was FAMOUS MONSTER'S
OF FILMLAND, filled with gory pictures of triffids and creatures
from outer space.........
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