My parents had an amazing bookshelf.  I went there from the age of twelve and there I first discovered John Updike.  I read Couples, which was far too mature for me  but was a wonderful secret treat (my parents never censored my reading).  I also found J.D. Salinger, and Kurt Vonnegut, among others, but that, perhaps, is a story for another day. 

Couples mesmerized me, as did a collection of stories called Pigeon Feathers, which had a short story in it called "A&P "which sticks with me to this day.  I moved on to the Rabbit Trilogy (to which he added a fourth book later) which I still maintain is the greatest set of books about the American experience ever written.

 John Updike was one of our most amazing writers.  He ruffled a lot of feathers but he was unafraid to speak his mind; he was prolific, extremely literate, erudite, and he shaped me as both a reader and a writer.

 May he rest in peace.

 "The greatest thing about the dead, they make space."  from Rabbit is Rich.