I also did not go to kindergarten, and I also started reading late, so we share that in common. :-)

I started devouring books by the third grade, and I think I read all the extent Boxcar Children series before I turned ten. I was also a great fan of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. For some reason, Nancy's habit of having "luncheon" after driving around in a sophisticated little convertible was impossibly romantic to my prepubescent soul - especially when the little restaurant was on a windswept coast.

I read more serious books too, but children's adventure stories formed me I think in many ways. And I thank my father for encouraging my love of reading even when he didn't share it.