I want to start a somewhat different sort of conversation here: What made you into a book reader?

[scarletwoman]

I know so many people who do NOT read books at all. In fact, I've known people who will recoil in horror at the very idea of reading a book. How in the world does that happen?

I certainly could not live without reading books - I honestly don't think that's an exaggeration.

I do believe that my love of books is rooted in having wonderful parents who read to me when I was little. Not just bedtime stories, but also time spent sitting beside my mom or my dad on the couch on quiet afternoons while they patiently brought me along as they turned the pages of a favorite story. It probably helped that our family did not get our first TV until I was almost 6 years old. It was the early 50s, and they simply could not afford to buy one in those early days of my childhood. So we had books instead.

I remember how impatient I was to learn how to read myself. It was my stay-at-home mother who taught me the alphabet - and best of all - taught me phonics, so by the time I was 4 I knew how to "sound out" unfamiliar words and start reading on my own.

I've been totally hooked on reading ever since. A proud bookworm all through school, suffering taunts and mockery for being an "egghead" - but I didn't give a shit. Reading was as essential to my life as breathing, and my weekly trips to the public library, hauling home armloads of books and devouring them all, are some of the most vivid memories of my childhood. The books I received as birthday and Christmas presents were some of my most treasured possessions, and I hung onto them long into adulthood.

So, how about you? What made you into a reader of books?

[TexasProgresive]

1. A great topic

I love stories. I couldn't get enough of them when I was a small child. I knew that the key to getting unlimited stories was reading. My Dad did something I think Scout's Dad did in To Kill a Mockingbird, when he was reading to me he would run his finger under the lines-that may've been the the start of it.

I remember clearly the moment the switch turned on and I was reading. I was riding in a car along with a friend. We were about 4. Both of us knew our letters and were trying to sound out words on signs-like ESSO and so forth. In an instant I went from struggling to being able to really read.

This did not cause any trouble in kindergarten as they didn't teach reading at that time-it was mostly coloring and modeling clay, oh, and nap time which sucked. The trouble began in 1st grade. I was reading at a 4th or 5th grade level and couldn't have been more bored with Dick, Jane and Spot, not to mention impatient with my fellow students' stammering. I turned my book upside down to make it a bit more interesting.

The teacher notice and with alarm had me stand up to read. I read a page upside down, and she insisted I turn the book over. Big deal I thought- I could read this book with it closed.

My Dad went with the director of the Library system and she gave me full run of the place so that by the time I was in 4th grade I was reading young adult and adult novels. I have reread some of those early books and will admit that I must have glossed over some "adult" situations, because they were new to me in the reread.

Anyway it has been a 6o year love story. Some books are read multiple times such as the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I am amazed at how new things stand out boldly that I never saw before.

So scarletwoman, I am jealous of 1 thing, you got phonics- I really learned to read by look-say and my spelling is atrocious. This missive is reasonably spelled correctly because I have spell check on and it catches me regularly with squiggly red lines.

[scarletwoman]

4. Thank your for replying!

I love your car-ride reading epiphany! That's SO how learning works, isn't it? The sudden click-into-place that happens after a certain accumulation of effort.

I love your upside-down reading in first grade, too! I'm a great upside-down reader, too - have been since I was a kid, although I don't think as early as you.

Thank you so much for sharing your reading story, this is exactly what I was hoping this thread would instigate: readers sharing their own stories of why they love to read.

Re: phonics - I think it is one of the greatest crimes ever that teaching phonics was left by the wayside. One of the stupidest educational moves, ever! Yes, I was most definitely lucky in that regard.

Many thanks again, for sharing your story!

[applegrove]

2. The first book I read was non fiction, history. I really enjoyed it. Love of history is in my

family. We listened to public radio all the time when I was a kid. I mean all the time. My parents were pretty quiet and we had the CBC on in the car, at the cottage and on both floors of the house the rest of the time. That got me interested in newspapers and other factual information. I could process and place history or science. I was a real information snob....judicious about where I got my information. And I still am that. I read novels and short stories too but was not so understanding of psychology that I could get much out of them till I was way into adulthood and started to grow psychologically. Today, I alternate between fact and fiction. I don't have a detailed mind....so I don't process all the themes all the time. But I love it.

[scarletwoman]

5. History is wonderful! It teaches us to imagine a different time and place.

It's no surprise that a love of history would lead to a love of reading. And we could certainly use more "information snobs" in the world!

[Downwinder]

3. In my family it was self defense. Everybody else was reading.

There was nothing else to do but read, too.

[scarletwoman]

6. Well, there you go!

Positive family influence.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. I think that my experience is like yours.

My mother read to us all the time when we were little, from the first books with mostly pictures to wonderful stories. She bought us books as well. And my mother was an avid reader. She would be reading every evening.

I did not, however, love reading when I was young. I struggled terribly with reading, and I still read very slowly. But I got into reading when I was in junior high with the books that they sold us at school for teens. Most of the books I read at the time were haunted stories and things like Poe. I really started to love the way stories could make me feel---scared, or sad, or happy. But I still hated to read books that I had to read in English classes, and just got Cliff's Notes to get through those classes. We had to read Shakespeare (the worst to this day to read). It was college before they introduced me to some great books and authors.

So it really came down to early exposure to books and a good example from my mother. There is always a book cracked open for me now, just like my mother.....and most of my favorite books were her favorites, so that is how I know she had a big influence on me.

[scarletwoman]

8. I think that having a parent (or parents) who read to us when we were little, is probably THE most

important factor in leading to a lifelong habit of reading.

And even though you struggled with it when you were younger, you still ended up catching the reading bug.

Poe is wonderful for hooking kids - ooky and scary and weird. Just the thing!

I love this: There is always a book cracked open for me now, just like my mother.....and most of my favorite books were her favorites...

Thank you!

[northoftheborder]

9. similar history to those posts above with me

I learned to read at home, with my mother, who taught me 1st grade. She had been a teacher, and had lots of children's books, which I devoured over and over. Don't remember NOT knowing how to read. I loved the fairy tales, princess stories, Louisa May Alcott books, later Nancy Drew and Wizard of Oz series. My dad, a teacher of literature, insisted I read Dickens at age 13, Mark Twain, and other classics, which I could read, but did not have the historical background to understand what was going on and so enjoyed rereading later. When visiting grandparents I read every book in their house. This was long before television. In the summer we had to entertain ourselves, no camp, little family travel, so reading was my main diversion. I still love to read, although I've gone through a period when I read non-fiction more, but now I'm going back to fiction. I've inherited books, bought books, checked out library books, listened to audio tapes in the car, and now I'm reading books on my IPad. I'm going to have to cull my library soon, will not have room for all of them - guess will donate to library, or try reselling some of them.

I have managed to pass on my love of reading to several grandchildren, and one of my sons, who mainly listens to audio books during his long commute. Me manages to go through a lot that way.

One thing I wish I had started long ago, is a list of all the books I've read; would be very interesting to review. Reading so enriches one's depth of knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding of other cultures. Can't imagine life without reading, or listening to stories.

[fadedrose]

10. Grade school and High School Book Reports

which I enjoyed doing, turned me onto fiction books..

My mother never learned to read, I offered to help her, but she had no interest. Dad never read English too well, but read the bible and newspapers in Czech and Russian...

I mostly got yelled at for keeping the lights on to read at night...

[SheilaT]

11. My mother always read to us when we were little.

I had an older brother and sister, and was very eager to learn to read, but I couldn't get anyone to teach me. I had to wait for first grade. I can remember the first couple of weeks of first grade, and then it's as if a curtain descends, and I can't really remember anything until after the Christmas break when the curtain lifts and I CAN READ!!!

Pretty much the next thing I did was read every story in my reader at school, and then my older sister's, who was in 3rd grade at the time. I'd also stop at the public library, which was right next to my school, once a week or so before going home. I was reading well above my grade level and absolutely devouring books.

This was in the mid-1950's, and inexpensive paperback books barely existed, and as there were by this time six kids altogether, money was always in short supply to very few books were purchased. It was the library, the wonderful library. In that era the particular library in question (the Carnegie Library in Utica, NY, for anyone reading who might be familiar with it) shelved the science fiction books in a separate room, as the genre apparently was considered terribly respectable, although they did have a pretty sizable selection. I'd sneak into the science fiction room, select a couple of the books, and then have to hope there'd be a librarian on duty who was willing to let me check them out. It was quite annoying.

Everyone in my family reads, and most of us read a lot. Being surrounded by readers helps.

Here's another interesting story connected to reading. I had a particular favorite story that my mom read to me quite often. When she'd hold me on her lap and read, all I ever saw were the pictures, and after I learned to read and picked up that book myself, I was astonished to see that there were words on the pages. They had been completely invisible to me before I could read.

[llmart]

28. My story is somewhat similar...

in that I grew up in a large family (6 siblings) and was one of the youngest. I was envious of what they would talk about when they came home from school and couldn't wait to go to school. We didn't have kindergarten in our small, rural town in the 1950's so I didn't start school until first grade. I could already read fluently by then. I clearly remember sitting on little red chairs in a circle as the teacher went around the circle making each one of us read (I was put in the advanced reading group). I was so impatient with the kids who couldn't read well and wanted to get up and slap them. I thought the advanced group would be better than that!

On Fridays the sixth graders would walk us down to our little public library and the first few times I went I would only take out one book at a time and I'd be done with it way before the next Friday. One day someone told me I could take out more than one - three, in fact - and that was better than candy to me.

The Sally, Dick and Jane books bored me to tears. I remember finding some more advanced books on my oldest sister's closet shelf and took them down and sat on the floor in my closet and read. It was the only refuge for me in a very small house with 9 people and all the chaos. I had a dysfunctional family with a father whose behavior was unpredictable from day to day, so reading was my escape. Another sister and I discovered the Nancy Drew books later on and we read every single one of them.

In junior high I discovered "Gone With the Wind" and didn't want to put it down to do anything else. My mother kept telling me that I was going to ruin my eyes with all my reading and maybe she was right because I have terrible eyesight.

My mother was an avid reader though I don't know when she found the time. She took me to the library with her when I was older and never, ever did she tell me I couldn't take out books from the adult section.

In my more recent past I ended up working in libraries for ten years.

[Old Crow]

12. I must've been about 10 or 11 when I started to love reading.

My parents had a set of shelves in the family room that were filled with books. On afternoons after school, I started to look through them out of boredom and opened a few that seemed interesting. There was a big, overstuffed bucket chair by the shelves, so reading was easy; before long, I was completely absorbed. Three titles in particular made a big impression. The beautiful prose in Updike's Rabbit, Run was absolutely entrancing. Crime and Punishment took me inside another human being's head in a way that I'd never known was possible: the guilt! And Catch-22 showed me shocking truths about life in a sometimes-crazy world that made my jaw drop: I can still remember being utterly stunned when an Italian wartime prostitute was pushed out of a window to her death and no one really cared.

In addition to the novels, I also found a copy of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style on those same shelves. I devoured it and read it several times.

Quite honestly, one of the biggest favors my parents ever did me was having copies of those books around. I strongly urge any parents of young children reading this to be sure hard copies of great novels are visible somewhere in the household. Don't hide them away in your bedroom. Put them in the living room or family room. Kids have a way of getting into things on their own and if good books are around, there's a real chance that they may stumble into a lifelong habit of reading great literature.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. I come from a long line of readers

My mother used to complain about how much money my father spent on books, but she admitted that the habit of reading before going to sleep had been passed down through the maternal line, at least from my great-grandmother's time.

The only time I can fall asleep without reading is if I have severe jet lag or am otherwise exhausted.

I learned to read early. In what would have been my kindergarten year, I had a couple of severe illnesses, and there were long periods of time in which I was still too sick to go back to school but too far recovered to just lie quietly in bed. My father was gone most of the day, and my mother had a two-year-old and an infant to take care of, so she didn't have a lot of time to entertain me.

Both my parents had put in time as elementary school teachers (my father in one-room schoolhouses in northern Minnesota and my mother in kindergarten and primary), so they decided to teach me to read. Once I got the hang of reading, I became a bookworm and read or tried to read everything I could find.

For years, I always carried a book in my purse, which was awkward at times. In recent years, I learned that one can put e-books on a phone, so now, whenever I have some downtime, I can pull out my small, compact phone and get a few pages in.

[closeupready]

21. "e-books on a phone" - YES! I love that!! I've read a number of

books completely on my phone now - I actually prefer that format sometimes, lol.

Skinner once posted something I related to, about when he was younger, big books intimidated him, but on the Kindle, not so - I agree 100%. I can read something on my phone/Kindle so much faster, it seems, than in real book form.

[nilesobek]

14. I was beaten so badly by my father

that I retreated into a shell of books. A world, any world, fictional or real written in a book was preferable to mine.

[Old Crow]

17. !

That sounds horrible. I'm sorry. I hope you've found a way out of the pain it must've caused.

[Tracer]

15. I don't quite remember the exact time.

All I know is that my mother read to me at bedtime and she always had her nose stuck in a book. But I do remember at age 7 or 8 reading "The Secret Garden", and was so taken with it that after I'd finished, I went back and read it again (and again!) And so began a lifelong reading habit.

I read constantly to my two children when they were little. The last book that I remember reading out loud to them was "Charlotte's Web".

My son turned out to be a voracious reader, but my daughter almost never reads a book. Strange.

[GOLGO 13]

16. A writer of one of my favorite comic books wrote a book...

Of his own characters/world which gave him complete freedom and it was such a different reading experience. That afterwords I began to notice the plethora of other books in the same genre. After that I began haunting Barnes & Noble and pulling anything that looked remotely interesting and skimming the blurbs. Found more authors and more genres that I didn't' know existed. Also reading the reviews on Amazon and looking at their suggestion led me to more reading material.

I know what you mean about people that don't read. Some of them lead, well, "colorful" lives that remind me of more younger and more action packed days of my youth. Eventually, we all find our way as we mature and our tastes & interests change in our activities. Mine have led to not only books but to other new (for me anyway) activities that I had not previously considered.

So yeah, comics was a gateway for me.

[japple]

18. Mom and Dad always read stories to us, mostly Bible stories, and we had 78 records

with stories and songs for children. Dad was in the army and we moved around, but when we got into school, Mom would take us to the base library and let us check out as many books as we could carry. I also remember a very special first grade teacher who read to us every day after lunch from her favorite childhood book. Whenever she took out that tattered, worn book, I would nearly swoon.

[Enthusiast]

19. Thank you for the thread, scarletwoman. The influence of my parents made me a book reader.

I can never recall a time when my parents didn't have a book to read. They mostly read novels.

My mother never denied me a book when I was young. If we were in a store somewhere and I wanted a book there was never a discussion, I got the book.

It was quite a different story with my wife. Her parents never encouraged reading. I'm not sure her father could read. He was a wonderful person but he might have had dyslexia. I doubt that her mother ever read a book in her entire life. But my wife has turned that all around now and has become quite an avid reader and lover of books.

[closeupready]

20. My folks encouraged reading - we'd go to Waldens, and

I'd see a fun book with a fun cover, and ask my mom to buy it for me, and she would, lol! Which doesn't mean I'd necessarily read it - a bad habit I acquired was not completing books I start. I've gotten much better at this as I've aged, since I now know what genres of book I enjoy and will stick with, and which ones I will NEVER be able to enjoy regardless of how much I feel I'm SUPPOSED to enjoy them.

So we were ALWAYS reading. And as I look back, I see that our community was also one where people would read. (It's weird to consider how widespread illiteracy is, even in the US - I think for a lot of people, the idea that many people can't read or write is not something they ever consider.) If I didn't read for enjoyment, my life and personality would be so much worse.

I'm ALWAYS reading something.

[pscot]

22. I was always read to as a little kid

I learned to read about the same time I learned to dress myself. I just assumed it was something everyone did.

[PDJane]

23. My mother read to me.

She claims I taught myself to read, but since I was sounding out words early, I assume that she or my grandmother or someone taught me how to read. I could read well when I got to grade school, was able to read everything in the school library. As a consequence, I aced everything except math, and didn't get that until I was well out of high school, being rehabilitated after an accident and a head injury. One of my instructors found out that I could barely do basic addition or subtraction.........if I could use my fingers. He took me from grade two math to grade twelve in six months. I have been eternally grateful to him, because he gave me the grounding for other things; technical math, chemistry, science, all the basics.

I read from the time I was a child; I read for information, for amusement, for escape and to understand what they now call 'the big picture.' If I had had my ability taken away during the accident, I doubt that I would have made a recovery at all. As it is, I have paresthesia; it's not as much fun as it sounds as though it should be. I am grateful that the damage didn't include intellectual abilities; there are far worse things than paresthesia, a hearing problem that means I don't hang out in crowded places much, because all the noise sounds as though it is coming from directly in front of me, and bum knees and hips which are slated to be replaced. I do have some retrograde amnesia, but from what I do remember, that may be a blessing!

My son is a reader, too, mostly e-books because he has nowhere to store the real paper kind. I remember him reading the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire the summer he turned ten; for a few months his favourite phrase was "spurious verisimilitude."

[oldandhappy]

24. Our parents read to us and took us to the library regularly.

I read as an escape as I was growing up. It was 'my' time. I still read all the time. My neighbor is a do do person, always working in the yard or painting in the house. Part of it must be a personality thing. I am glad I am a reader.

[raccoon]

25. Kindles and Nooks didn't exist when I was a kid. nt

[gratefultobelib]

26. Good question!

I don't remember when or how I became a book lover--just always have. I was a good reader, even remember the word "ocean" which I couldn't read in the 2nd grade and my teacher teased me a little. "Ah, we've found a word you don't know!" (I really loved this teacher, btw.) Devoured Nancy Drews and loved fairy tales.

[shenmue]

27. Mom and Dad

[Enthusiast]

38. ...

[oldandhappy]

29. Thank you Mom and Dad

Smile. We were fortunate to have parents who read to us. Mom took us to the library to get more books to read. I started reading because that was what there was to do! No TV etc. I had read all of the children's library before I was technically allowed upstairs but my mother negotiated that for me. My folks had books and I read way out of my age category. Mom would sent me to my room for some infraction. I always had a book under my bed. So, I would curl up and read and she would have to come and ask me to come to dinner! I still read everyday. Am at the library several times a week. Love it that now I can go on the website and request books and they are delivered to my local library. Nice.

Interesting question. Seems as if having parents read to you is critical to many of us.

[Enthusiast]

39. Another great story.

Thank you, oldandhappy.

[WCIL]

30. I went to a failing public school in the early to mid '70's

I started there in 3rd grade, and the teacher was so busy trying to help the other kids learn to read that I was pretty much left to my own devices. My dad started taking me to the library regularly so that I always had a book at school to while away the time. There was not a lot of money in our house, but my parents would always find a few dollars when the Troll and Scholastic book order forms came out. After that year I was so far ahead of everyone else that I was allowed to do "independent study" type projects until I went to junior high school.

I don't recall my parents reading to us, but we always had books around the house and they encouraged us to look things up and use the library. There were always books among our Christmas and birthday gifts.

[Enthusiast]

37. Books saved you!

Is it any wonder we love books as we do?

[Sweeney]

31. Reading is my education.

I no shit, flunked first grade. I was large for my age and put into kindergarten early, and a lot of it I did not get, was not ready, and was pushed on to failure. I was at the convent then as we called the Catholic school, and my penguin talked my parents into Dr. Seuss. and it gave me a leg up. We had books, I don't know why my mother and father didn't try harder to teach me to read. They were afraid of their books being hurt I guess. Any way; God bless that man. Because he saved my life. I generally struggle with Math, but did well with Geometry. Still, I tested about 2 point below genius on average. If I had to learn in a class room I would be a total failure. I do not process verbal information well. I learn what I read well, and I retain it well, and while self doubt makes me save my books, I can often grab a book I am looking for, and turn right to the page I am looking for, and find the phase or information I am looking for- as I remember it. But I am a little dyslexic, and may have some autism, very high functioning; but mostly because I have followed my strengths rather than beat myself to death with weakness.

I wish I could say I had your parents. I am certain I would have done better in life than being an ironworker. In any event, I started with fiction as a child, and before I was out of high school had already begun to prefer non fiction, though I still write occasional fiction. I would really like to do movies. I write poetry because it is cheap and fast, and therapeutic. I understand, if you really have a truth to tell, a social truth, then you need fiction, and this is because people are quibblers. It is better to give some one an allegory than an attempt at exact truth that in some way does not meet an absolute standard of exactness. A Wizard of Oz or an Animal Farm can give a better sense if not the exact sense of a hundred books of non fiction. Besides, nonfiction makes a rational argument, and it is emotion, and the irrational that changes people for better or worse. It is easier to sell the truth if it is not presented as truth, but only as entertainment.

Any way; I need to know, and like Faustus, I will never say: Enough. This is a beautiful world, and it makes me want to believe in God that where ever your interests may lie, discovery lies behind mystery, and behind discovery lies another mystery. Any way; I have a Dr. Seuss story. I happened to be in a small store when the news said that Dr. Seuss had died. I told the woman at the register that that man had taught me how to read, and she asked if I got anything signed by him. I just smiled. But it felt like I had lost a friend.

You do not know how fortunate you are that you had supportive parents. My teachers were telling my parents that they knew I was intelligent and that they could not figure out why I did not do better in school. My parents just thought I was lazy and told me so in any number of ways. I think my father understood how he had hurt me, and he realized how intelligent I was, but after he died I really unloaded on my mother, and I am glad I did. My older brother had polio, and was 80% paralyzed, and I think my parents used me for a beast of burden. Even as a child I was wrestling with moral and metaphysical problems. Without anyone's help I was working on phenomenology and existentialism and I was still the mule of the family. I felt used, and I still do; but at least I don't hold it inside any more. I may not be pulling his load, but I got the service to humanity ingrained into me, and it is really one of my better qualities. I want to know; but mostly I want to know so I can make things better for us all. So that is my story.

[Enthusiast]

34. Thank you for sharing that amazing story, Sweeney.

You have been tempered through the crucible of childhood.

[Sweeney]

40. It is a shame for a man to act like a child

I never got a chance to do that really, to be selfish, and live for myself until after I got our of that family situation. I think my wife never had a chance to be a child, but she is on her own now, and at fifty, I hope she finds the time. That is just the way it is, and it is not necessarily bad to have responsibilities, or for others to have expectations of us. Like I tell my grandchildren: Don't forget to be children. Play is the work of childhood, and we will all soon enough forget how it was, until children or grand children will remind us to stick our face in a flower to see how it feels AND smells.

I don't know if I will ever escape that feeling that I might have been a contender if I hadn't been so hamstrung. Now, it is as my life has always been: doing the best I can with what I got. I don't want to act like it was all terrible. Where I grew up the people were tough, and way too cruel, and everywhere we went, we went with brother in tow. But life was a great adventure, always a plan, pack a lunch and stay all day. If my life was rather earth bound, we did sometimes get my brother into the trees which was no mean feat for my little brother, and our friend. We were all half kid, half engineer. If you ever see the movie: Stand by Me, and imagine it with a kid in a steel cart, and all the gear hung in some fashion and us pushing, you would about have it. Years after the fact I ran into people I never even knew who never forgot the sight of us in our travels. And we had the run of the place. No one ever messed with us. They knew we would fight. Where I grew up, that is what you had to know about everyone, and what everyone was certain of everyone. We found the limits of our world which was the new world, one of the first outposts of New France. Reading gave me a sense of the world beyond our limits. Our world was our navel. My world was the soul.

[SheilaT]

32. I just read back through this thread and remembered

something else that I think was crucial in my love of reading. Comic books. They were cheap enough to be affordable, and we had a huge collection of all the Walt Disney ones -- Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, and other Disney characters had their own dedicated comic books that came out every month. The Archie and Betty ones. Superman, Supergirl, Batman. We'd get my mother to read the Disney ones aloud because she'd do different voices, and that was fun.

I think the comic books made a very nice transition from the picture books for very young children, and the chapter books for better readers. Back then, the 1950's, there just weren't that many books for specific age categories. I do recall becoming a little embarrassed at my love of the comics by the time I was twelve or so, but still read them, just didn't let my friends know. But at home, they were always there and we all read them.

We also had a lot of the Classic Illustrated Comics, so I read that version of Hamlet, and others I can no longer recall.

Interestingly, I have not gotten into the graphic novels that are now out there. I've gotten so I vastly prefer the image in my head, to someone else's image, but I understand why they are so popular and praised.

[scarletwoman]

33. Excellent point about comic books! My experience was much the same!

Although I don't recall ever having comic books read to me by either parent. Still I was never begudged a new comic - my favorites were Casper the Friendly Ghost and Little Lulu. I recall having some Disney comics, too, but mostly I liked other comics better. Like you, I was also into Archie, and Betty & Veronica - but that was later on. But I would pretty much read any comic book I could get my hands on.

And Classics Illustrated! They were wonderful! The main one that stands out in my memory is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I read that one over and over, repeatedly weeping over the unfair fates of Esmeralda and Quasimodo. I remember having quite a large collection of many titles that I saved into my early adolescence.

Like you, I've never gotten into modern day graphic novels, for the same reason: "I vastly prefer the image in my head, to someone else's image..."

Thanks for the reminder about our mutual comics-reading childhoods!

[Enthusiast]

36. I'm with you guys on the modern graphic novels.

I don't have The Hunchback of Notre Dame Classics Illustrated.

I kid.

I do remember it was a favorite of the kids in my fifth grade catholic school class.

[Enthusiast]

35. Interesting post, SheilaT. I still have a large stack of Classics Illustrated comics in a drawer.

They have yellowed pretty badly. I'm not much of a conservator of comics, unfortunately.

I was reading comics at start of the great Marvel Silver Age revival. What a great time to be a young man in the good ol' USA.

[Sweeney]

41. Ditto

I tell people struggling with reading to read. Find what ever interests you in life and read about it. You can always get the big stuff later.

[Are_grits_groceries]

42. Comic books

We had books but I remember comic books. We lived in the country and when we went to town we'd stop at the drugstore. Mama would buy my brother and me a Pepsi and a comic book. She bought herself a western. She'd read the comic books to us until we learned to read.

I later realized that we didn't have much money. She always saved enough for those treats.

[mackerel]

43. I read, It's Like This Cat, in the 6th grade and I never

stopped reading after that...dunno why that book in particular but I've had a particular fancy for YA lit all my lazy life.

[hippywife]

44. As best as I can pinpoint it

I believe my love of reading might have begun, or was at least enhanced and accelerated, when my most beloved grandmother gave me Little Women as a gift. I can't remember my age exactly, maybe around the time I was 10? While it may not have been my first encounter with reading, I only know it's the first book I have a very clear recollection of reading and enjoying so very much, and I haven't stopped since, with the library a central focus of my life from elementary school to present day, and reading well beyond my years in those early days.

I know not everyone enjoys the same past times or has the same interests, and that's fine, but I can't imagine a life without reading. It's been much more than passing entertainment, it's also been a door opened to learning so much about the world.

Though I haven't had as much time to read as I would like, I cannot go to bed without a book, and manage to make it through plenty of them quite quickly just doing that.

ETA: I nearly forgot the complete set of Funk and Wagnall's encyclopedias. I don't recall if my parents had purchased them or they were a gift from someone else since we didn't have much money, but I always enjoyed reading through those rather than using them to look up individual topics. The set was comprised of many volumes small enough for a child's hands.

[hermetic]

45. I always had books

Even as a toddler. I know because my mom saved a few of them and gave them to me when I was grown. Animal picture books.

Then, as a kid old enough to get an allowance, I spent it all on books. Nancy Drew! I had all of them. Black Stallion mysteries, too. Half Magic is a book I'll never forget. Some comic books, of course, but I preferred novels.

For the past 8 years, I lived without access to a library. Oh, the agony. Fortunately friends often gave or loaned me books plus I have a small library of books I never tire of reading. So, I survived. I am very happy to live now within walking distance of the local library. I'm in there every week. The librarians greet me by name. I hope to someday have the time to volunteer there.

[japple]

46. Love to see the new responses to this thread. Thanks for starting it Ms. Scarlet!

Hermetic, I LOVE, LOVE that gif with the wiggly cat butt. And, hippywife, it's so nice to see you back in our midst.

[scarletwoman]

47. I love to see them, too. I've read every single post in this thread.

It's wonderful to read everyone's story of their relationship to books and reading. I'm so glad so many have chimed in, and continue to add their own stories!

[anne neville]

48. Bad eyesight.

Up until 7 or 8, I was outgoing and athletic. Myopia turned me inward - I simply couldn't see anything! Except books.

[bravenak]

49. My mom.

I remember her reading 'The Stand' and other books when I was like 5, and I wanted to know why she was so into it. Lauging so hard. I could already read, but I could not read the words in that book. She told me to practice with shorter books and work my way up. I read through the Ramona series, Little House, the school library, then the local library, then I had to go to the big library. Finally at about ten I read it. Then I read It. At sone point I knew I loved books better than anything.
It's like living a bunch of lives all stuffed into one lifetime. I think it may be my destiny to write books. All because my mother was always reading and laughing about her books.

[scarletwoman]

50. Thank you so much for posting on this thread!

I absolutely LOVE the image of your mother reading and laughing! How wonderful for you!

It's like living a bunch of lives all stuffed into one lifetime. I think it may be my destiny to write books. All because my mother was always reading and laughing about her books.

That's a wonderful description of the joy of reading: "It's like living a bunch of lives all stuffed into one lifetime." And I really do hope you write your own books!

[bravenak]

51. Thank you for the thread.

I loved reading the responses, some so happy, some sad. All great reasons.

I do plan on going back to school for a bit, just to brush up on my technique. I still write little stuff though, just for me. Poems, stories... If I ever manage to get something finished, that would be awesome.

[scarletwoman]

52. I KNOW you can do it!

You are one of the most awesome DUers!

[bravenak]

53. Thank you!!

[Number9Dream]

54. One book led to another

Late to the thread, as usual.

Early on, comic books - From Marvel to Classics Illustrated. I then discovered Tom Swift Jr. books, which I collected. Next, an older cousin turned me on to Edgar Rice Burroughs books (Mars series, Tarzan). I'd read whatever interested me at that moment... history, dinosaurs, sports, sci fi, James Bond, whatever. I always had a library card. Growing up near the Jersey shore, I'd read paperbacks on the beach (sometimes still do). Later it ranged from dry text books, to Carlos Castaneda, Ken Kesey, and Frank Herbert.

Then, for the last 25 years or so, I got away from reading. Working 40 hrs per week, a house and property to take care of, cats, etc. I had/ have little free time. In the last few years, TV got so bad that I began taking out library books again. I've been mostly reading lighter stuff that I can put down and pick up... nothing too depressing... Robert B. Parker, James Rollins... recently re-reading some Ray Bradbury.

[scarletwoman]

55. It's never late to add to this thread!

Check out the dates of the most recent replies before yours!

Thank you for contributing!

[Enthusiast]

57. We must have had similar tastes back in the day.

I liked the Edgar Rice Burroughs books. The Carlos Castaneda books were fun.

Number9Dream, thank you for reviving this thread. I have gone back and read every post.

This, by the way, is a favorite.

[murpheeslaw]

56. When I was little, my Dad read to us most evenings.

He would only read Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer or Treasure Island again and again. He was kind of a book snob or maybe he just liked to do the accents ; ) We would do puzzles or just sit and listen while he read; neighborhood kids would also partake if there was a sleep over. When he passed a couple of years ago several of my generation mentioned that at the memorial.

By third grade, on Saturdays, I was walking a mile by myself (HORRORS!) to the little library in the park to pick out my grocery bag of books for the week. Dating myself: Walter Farley - The Black and Flame books, the Boxcar Children, etc. When we moved to Texas (Middle school) I discovered the bus system, the Main Library downtown (whoopee! the New Books shelf by the checkout desk!!) and a round of used bookstores I would hit with babysitting money.

The SMELL of a library (wooden shelves and varnish, dust, paper, glue, plastic protective book covers) is incredibly soothing to me. If I could bottle it I would spray it on my pillow . . .

I think the love of books is genetic. One of my children reads as much as I do the other reads well but does not do it for pleasure as far as I can see (maybe just wants to be different).

[Enthusiast]

58. Another great story!

Cute handle, murpheeslaw.

[ladyVet]

59. I don't know what it was, exactly.

I just know that entering first grade and having a teacher who read books to us everyday sparked something. I remember doing little worksheets, and learning to write letters, and then words. The day I realized that people wrote books as a job was the day I knew I wanted to be a writer.

The first time I got to check out a book from the school library was a big day. I couldn't believe they were going to let me take the book home! It was amazing, and started a life-long love of libraries. I've had a library card in every place I've ever lived, including one for the library where I took USAF basic training. I managed to read three books there.

My parents weren't big readers, mostly newspapers and my mother read those true confessions magazines. Neither of them read to me or my siblings, probably because they had little education and were too tired from working. I didn't read as much to my boys as I could have, but they could always see me with a book, and we had plenty in the house. My oldest has taken to reading, now that he has a Kindle.

Still working on the writing thing, though I worked for a local newspaper for a couple of years, and written other work-related things over the years. The self-publishing era has been a wonderful thing for me, and I'm putting out some stories. Just need to get back to it, now that it seems my parents' health issues have calmed down.