Childhood literary memories...
Over at HMS Blog, there is a series of posts on books which were favorites of the posters as children. I remember that when I was eight my two favorite books were, believe it or not, the book of Genesis (which I read from my grandmother's beat-up Douay-Rheims Bible), and Mythology by Edith Hamilton. ( Yes, I was a weird kid. ) In Genesis, I was fascinated by the 'baby competition' between between Leah and Rachel. I think it was because I'm an only child, and I found the idea of a family with that many siblings amazing. In the Hamilton book, I was very fond of the line drawings, particularly one of Glaucus and Scylla in which poor, lovesick Glaucus has dragged himself, mermans scaly tail and all, up to the rock where the then-pretty Scylla looks down upon him with disdain.
When I got to college, I took a class called "Biblical and Mythological Backgrounds to Literature". When I got the list of required books, I spotted Mythology on it, and nearly burst out laughing, wondering if there was anybody who had taken that course for whom that book would be a nostalgia kick.