I was always immersed in a book as a child, and later one of the few boons of commuting was the opportunity to get into a book. I loved Enid Blyton unreservedly, and read them time and again. I also had a set of two books about The Bobsey Twins - lord knows where they came from, as I recall they were set in the States, or maybe Canada (and it's where I take my pseudonym from, for reasons that escape me).
I now have a full set of Narnia in the wings, and I'm busy collecting books for my grandaughter ... I was never able to be at home in the school hols with my daughter, but I think I may get lucky this time around! And, like Greatnan I hope to instil a love of Austen (my absolute favourite novelist) and others - although probably not Trollope, who I could never get on with (however Joanna is a different matter!).
I always felt that my love of language - and vocabulary, which I'm told was unusually wide when young - stemmed from my love of reading. It also helped with my spelling - I knew when a word didn't look "right" - and, later, with my Latin vocab.