Not your typical childhood books

In my murder class last night, I shocked a few people by telling them that I had fallen in love with a character in a book at age 12. The shock was due to the fact that I was even reading these books at age 12. The author is John D. MacDonald, and the character is Travis McGhee. He is a tarnished night who helps rescue women from difficult situations, with taking them to bed usually being part of the equation. I adore these books, even though I haven't read them in ages. I got into them because Mother read them. I couldn't bring myself to throw out a single one of them, and I still cannot. They make me feel connected to her in way that probably wouldn't make sense to anyone else. I doubt many people graduated from Nancy Drew to Travis McGhee with a few Agatha Christies thrown into the middle. However, I believe I am topped by my sister who was caught by Mother reading "Rosemary's Baby" at age 9 or 10. It was tough as a single mom to keep the voracious bookworms who were reading far above grade level out of her shelves.

So what are your favorite book memories?