I'm interested to know about hobbies of other people, so I am assuming you would like to know about mine. I am not going to write about my favorite one first, though reading could be my favorite. I just need to start somewhere...and reading it is. First of all, let me give a little bit of background. I don't remember liking to read...ever. Wait a minute; that's not quite true. I remember in my baby-sitting days that I read The Five Little Peppers and Anne of Green Gables and one more that I can't think of right now. I loved those books. But when I had to read for English classes in high school, I refused, for the most part. My loss. I had good examples by my parents, too. I always remember my dad reading the newspaper and magazines. And my mom loved to read books. Her favorite was Les Miserables. She tried to encourage me to read, but it didn't work with me. I was rebellious out of the classroom as well. One day, maybe ten years ago or so, I mentioned to my friend that I never liked to read. She said it was because I had not found the right author or the right book to turn me on to reading, and that the reason she knew that was because she was the same way until she read a book that she loved...and has been reading ever since. It was The Secret Garden by Frances Dodgson Burnett. I know that's a young adult book, but I wanted to love to read, so I took her advice and read the book that changed her from a non-reader into a reader. I absolutely loved that book! When I finished it I wanted to start it all over. When I told my grand daughter, Hannah, who has been an avid reader since before kindergarten, that when I finished that book I wanted to start it all over again, she simply said, "Why didn't you do that Gramma?" Good advice. But instead, I picked up another book by a different author, and loved that one, too. So I got hooked on Dean Koonz and read a big stack of his. Then when one of his kind of turned me off, I just found a new author, and then another. And so it goes...I love to read. My mom would be thrilled. I should read Les Miserables one of these days, in her honor. Miss Beal would be happy as well, and say, "It's about time." Some of my favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks, Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson, and Richard Paul Evans. I think the only reason I like to walk on the treadmill is because I read while I walk. I read four pages in The Book of Mormon, then an article or few pages in our church magazine, The Ensign, then I read a novel until my hour is up. The only disappointing thing about reading is that I can't remember the stories after I have finished. I have started to put sticky notes in the books to either recommend them or not, and maybe written a sentence or two to help me remember the story. But the important thing is I now love to read.