Readers--When did you fall in love with books?

[Tuckins1]

Date: 9/12/2009 8:13:33 PM
Author: Luckyeshe

Date: 9/12/2009 6:09:05 PM

Author: Tuckins1

I learned to read very early. (Like, around 3 years old) I don''t remember a time when I wasn''t a reader. I remember the first series of books that I read voraciously was Babysitter''s Club. I also had all of the Beverly Cleary books. When I was little I would hole up in my room and read for hours! I loved escaping to various lands and adventures!

Wow, Tuckins! I learned to read at around 3 as well! (We have a few things in common- D diamonds, anime, and young readers) Little things though but by the time I was maybe 5 I was reading the Golden Books series. We didn''t have Dr. Seuss (did I spell that right?) when I lived in the Philippines. We didn''t watch too much tv either. I think we were only allowed an hour of tv on the weekdays, but my dad would hand me a book and let me read for hours!

Kindred spirits!
I my parents got divorced when I was young, and neither household was my favorite place, so I guess books were a good way for me to escape from things when I couldn''t physically go somewhere else...

 

[Mara]

I love reading everyone's stories about when they started loving books.

For me it was very young, I don't even remember when. My mom is a teacher and she taught me to read fairly early, I want to say by age 2. She read to me all the time and I grew up on all the fairy tale classics from Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm's. We'd go to the library 2ce a week for kiddie reading hour as well. Once I could read well on my own...I read almost everywhere. I used to ride my bicycle to the library all summer long and stay there for hours. I'd go through 10-15 books in a week. I'd read at the dinner table, in the SHOWER, in bed, in the car. When Greg and I moved into our last house, he had to take about 15 boxes of books to the library for donation. Now I try to be better about not hoarding them (we don't have the space), and I shop mostly at BetterWorldBooks.Com where they give most if not all (can't recall) of their proceeds to furthering world literacy.

Now that we are having a child, I am enjoying shopping for our little boy's fledgling library. I want to read to him as much as possible so that hopefully he also has the same love of reading. If not, at least he'll have it through me.

 

[wolftress]

My pre-school teacher told my father I was a slow reader who had no interest in books, so he started asking me to read to him at every opportunity. I can''t pinpoint the exact moment when I stopped being asked to read and began actively seeking out new reading material for myself. By the time I was 8, my parents punished me for being naughty not by banning TV but by taking my books away. I was hooked and have not looked back since!

Slight threadjack: I just finished ''The Lovely Bones'' in one sitting. What an incredible book!

 

[Elmorton]

Haha, in the womb, I think!

My parents read to me pretty obsessively, and thus I wanted to read on my own pretty obsessively.

At my last visit to my parents'' house, I spent a good 30 mins looking for (and finding) the first book I can remember reading with my parents. It''s called Sleepy Time by Gyo Fujikawa and is looong out of print. The book itself is kindof...well, it doesn''t really transition from one thought to another (which is what most people who know me would say resembles my thought process, so I wonder if there is a connection). But, I still remember both of my parents chiming in and doing their "parts" of the book.

One time, when I was 6 or 7, I taped my mom reading the Chronicles of Narnia before bedtime. I''d do pretty much anything to find that tape! I bet it''s priceless.

Anyway...once I could read on my own, I''d stay up sooo late with a flashlight reading when my parents tried to put me to bed at night. I''ve always loved a good story - and some pretty badly written ones, too.

 

[MonkeyPie]

This is a fun thread!

In kindergarten they tried to teach me how to read, and I steadfastly refused. For some reason I was completely un-interested! My mom would cry all the time worrying I would hate reading and never learn to do it properly.

Then I had a reading teacher in 1st grade that made it fun for me - she had fun stories, fun books, and a lot of more interesting ways of sounding out compounds and such. She was my favorite teacher and I loved her, because she wasn''t one to keep us in our seats and just force us to sound our vowels. She made a world of difference, and now I love to read.

 

[Cind11]

I don''t remember exactly when I started my love of reading. It was probably in elementary school some time. My mom who was an avid reader and I used to go to the library and come home with our books. She would make coffee (mine was mostly milk and sugar) for the two of us and we would sit down and read. I loved to read fairy tales and then I became rather obsessed with Nancy Drew.

The only time in my life that I had a decline in my reading time was in college. Too many textbooks and not enough time to read the things I enjoyed. I always have a book going now though!

 

[Haven]

This thread certainly proves that it''s important for parents and educators to instill a love of reading in children when they are young, doesn''t it?

Holly--Yes! Books do have souls. I love the feel of a good book in my hands, oh it''s so delicious.
I will never trade in my paper and glue for one of those electronic doo-dads, thankyouverymuch.

 

[Delster]

My Nana was a librarian who used to give me some of the old books from the library that were too tattered to stay on the shelves any more. She'd give me 'More Stories for Smart Eight Year Olds' when I was seven and tell me it was because I was as smart as a smart eight year old already - smart lady!

I have the clearest memory of reading Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series when I was six. I was afraid of paying for things on my own in shops and at the time my Mum was trying to teach me to do this. Nothing could compel me to go to the counter by myself and hand over the money and take the change, not even with my Mum standing at the door. I was an awful scaredy cat. Well after I read the first Faraway Tree book I was so enthralled that I walked in to the shop, by myself, picked out the second book in the series, by myself, and paid for it, all by myself.

I lived my childhood in the worlds of Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Elinor Brent-Dyer and Jane Austen.

Nowadays I read such huge volumes of material for work every day that I don't read for pleasure any more. I can't wait to finish this thesis and sink into reading for pleasure again!

 

[AGBF]

When I was raised children were not taught to read early. I learned to read in the first grade (although my mother was a professional elementary school teacher). Since I was so old when I learned to read, I remember it well. I remember the thrill of learning to read my first words (besides my name and, probably, "dog" and "cat"). They were "see" and "look". The first books I fell in love with were not the Dick and Jane primers on which I learned to read, but the Betsy and James books I was able to take out of the school library. I lost no time becoming a devotée of the school library. I had many loves throughout my childhood, some of the books I loved have already been mentioned above. Some of the books I loved have long been out of print although I have managed to get copies of them. One that falls into that category that I think I read in third grade was Jane Hope. I remember learning the word, "Commencement" from that book. I also remember loving, The Thirteenth is Magic. Since I had kept a copy of that book, when I taught fifth grade a few years ago I was able to read chapters of it to my class. The Chronicles of Narnia became a favorite in the fifth grade and are a staple set of books that I give out to children. I also read Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins (although not in that order). By the sixth grade I was reading adult books, as I have mentioned elsewhere. My parents didn't regulate my reading so I mixed teenage fare, assigned reading from school, and anything else I liked. In sixth grade I read Gypsy, the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee, the striptease artist, and apparently wrote a book report on it. I don't recall that very well except that it was not well received at school!

I remember that learning to read music was an epiphany equal to learning to read letters. When I first found that middle C on the piano corresponded to a specific note on paper, I was overwhelmed with joy!

PS-I assume my parents read to me all my life. They were both avid readers, my mother being well-known at the library at 90, and my father still is an avid reader. I know that I read to my daughter since she was born. Her first word was, "book". She is not, however, a reader now (at 17)! I do not know how that happened!


AGBF

 

[Delster]

Just remembered this feature was in the Irish Times last week, thought the reading specialists among you might get a giggle out of it!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0908/1224254064318.html

ETA - Oh! The Chronicles of Narnia! Thank you AGBF for reminding me of that, I loved that series so much!!! Bye ladies, I'm off down memory lane...

 

[AGBF]

Date: 9/13/2009 3:26:09 PM
Author: Mara

Now that we are having a child, I am enjoying shopping for our little boy's fledgling library. I want to read to him as much as possible so that hopefully he also has the same love of reading. If not, at least he'll have it through me.

Mara? Major threadjack about to happen unless you immediately point me to the thread where you announced this! This is news to me! Hearty congratulations!!!!

Hugs,
AGBF

 

[anchor31]

I don''t think I can name a particular time or book when I fell in love with reading, but there are circumstances that certainly helped. When I was very young, my mom was a SAHM. Once my siblings and I started school, she started volunteering at the school library, which then lead her to volunteer and eventually be employed at the municipal library. We''d often have to join her there after school. So, we all spent a lot of time around books, and we all became avid readers. I had a bit of a fallout with reading in college, though. I spent so much time reading my school books and studying, my brain would turn into mush and the last thing I wanted to do was read. I started again recently though, and I do still enjoy it very much.

 

[elrohwen]

When I was very small I had these big hardcover picture books with stories. One day I went up to my mom and said "Look! I can read now!" and ''read'' the entire book cover to cover. There was no way I knew how to actually read, but I had memorized everything to the point where I even turned the pages at the correct moments. I don''t remember this at all, but I''ll assume that''s when my love of reading started

 

[geckodani]

It seems like I''ve loved reading forever. Just - always. I started reading really young, and it was fantastic. All of these new worlds and ideas at your fingertips! I think my Mom being such a voracious reader probably had a lot to do with my interest as well.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 9/14/2009 8:57:55 AM
Author: anchor31

I don''t think I can name a particular time or book when I fell in love with reading, but there are circumstances that certainly helped. When I was very young, my mom was a SAHM. Once my siblings and I started school, she started volunteering at the school library, which then lead her to volunteer and eventually be employed at the municipal library. We''d often have to join her there after school. So, we all spent a lot of time around books, and we all became avid readers. I had a bit of a fallout with reading in college, though. I spent so much time reading my school books and studying, my brain would turn into mush and the last thing I wanted to do was read. I started again recently though, and I do still enjoy it very much.

R & J
08-02-08
Expecting baby on 12-30-09

anchor...I just saw your sig line. This seems to be the thread in which I find out that long time members are expecting. Congratulations! So yours will be a holiday time baby . Very special.

AGBF

 

[anchor31]

Date: 9/14/2009 12:08:22 PM
Author: AGBF

Date: 9/14/2009 8:57:55 AM
Author: anchor31

I don''t think I can name a particular time or book when I fell in love with reading, but there are circumstances that certainly helped. When I was very young, my mom was a SAHM. Once my siblings and I started school, she started volunteering at the school library, which then lead her to volunteer and eventually be employed at the municipal library. We''d often have to join her there after school. So, we all spent a lot of time around books, and we all became avid readers. I had a bit of a fallout with reading in college, though. I spent so much time reading my school books and studying, my brain would turn into mush and the last thing I wanted to do was read. I started again recently though, and I do still enjoy it very much.

R & J
08-02-08
Expecting baby on 12-30-09

anchor...I just saw your sig line. This seems to be the thread in which I find out that long time members are expecting. Congratulations! So yours will be a holiday time baby . Very special.

AGBF

Thanks!

 

[doodle]

Hahaha, my entire childhood, my mother told people that I was 14 hours of labor because I was reading in the womb. Mom taught us to read and speak simultaneously with homemade flash cards, so I could read by age 2 and spent most of kindergarten and first grade in the library while the teacher taught the rest of the class how to read. I remember reading Mom''s old copy of The Crucible in second grade and becoming OBSESSED with the Salem Witch Trials, and I had a huge dilemma in fifth grade trying to decide if I was more in love with Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice or Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing! Other books that have really stuck with me: White''s The Once and Future King, Styron''s Sophie''s Choice, anything by Edith Wharton, and Plath''s The Bell Jar.

As for kindles, BLECH. Nothing can replace the delight, the smell, the texture, the JOY of holding a hefty leather-bound! Plus, I''m kind of creeped out by how much is computerized nowadays--100 years from now, how will people know anything whatsoever about our culture other than that it was disposable enough for us to leave nothing behind? Orwell''s probably marveling over his psychic abilities from the grave right about now!

 

[Mara]

Date: 9/14/2009 8:30:58 AM
Author: AGBF

Date: 9/13/2009 3:26:09 PM
Author: Mara

Now that we are having a child, I am enjoying shopping for our little boy''s fledgling library. I want to read to him as much as possible so that hopefully he also has the same love of reading. If not, at least he''ll have it through me.

Mara? Major threadjack about to happen unless you immediately point me to the thread where you announced this! This is news to me! Hearty congratulations!!!!

Hugs,
AGBF

Thanks AGBF... I don''t even remember where it was first mentioned, but you can read more about my updates in the Pregnant PS''ers thread in FHH!

 

[AdiS]

Date: 9/13/2009 9:58:50 AM
Author: Tuckins1

Date: 9/12/2009 8:13:33 PM
Author: Luckyeshe

Date: 9/12/2009 6:09:05 PM

Author: Tuckins1

I learned to read very early. (Like, around 3 years old) I don''t remember a time when I wasn''t a reader. I remember the first series of books that I read voraciously was Babysitter''s Club. I also had all of the Beverly Cleary books. When I was little I would hole up in my room and read for hours! I loved escaping to various lands and adventures!

Wow, Tuckins! I learned to read at around 3 as well! (We have a few things in common- D diamonds, anime, and young readers) Little things though but by the time I was maybe 5 I was reading the Golden Books series. We didn''t have Dr. Seuss (did I spell that right?) when I lived in the Philippines. We didn''t watch too much tv either. I think we were only allowed an hour of tv on the weekdays, but my dad would hand me a book and let me read for hours!

Kindred spirits!
I my parents got divorced when I was young, and neither household was my favorite place, so I guess books were a good way for me to escape from things when I couldn''t physically go somewhere else...

Another early reader here!

I was maybe 3-3.5 when I learned to read. I remember that my brother was born at the time and my mom couldn''t dedicate all her attention and energy to me anymore. She gave me this book, The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery to keep me busy. She had the syllables in the words of the first couple pages separated with a pencil to make it easier for me. She says she never expected me to *actually* learn how to read but rather wanted to keep me occupied as I was a wild child and a trouble maker.

My mother couldn''t believe her ears when she jokingly asked me to read aloud for her and my baby brother a few months later. She expected to hear some childish gibberish but what she heard was the story of the Little Prince. That''s how it all started. I read Gone with the Wind a few years later, then started reading books in English too and it was the beginning of a lifelong romance between me and literature.

 

[Black Jade]

Can''t remember. I always remember loving to read.
My Mom says I could read from age 3 and she does n''t remember teaching me.
I remember going to kindergarten and heading straight for the bookcase and being stopped. It was 1962 and the idea was, that it was bad for kids to read too young or to be ''pressured.'' (Very different from today. Kindergarten was optional, definitely only half-day and just for fun and socialization, absolutely no learning). the teacher actually scolded my mom because I already knew how to read. the books were there for her to read to us.
However, in second grade, when the teacher saw me reading the Iliad for fun, the tune changed and they gave me IQ tests and wanted me to skip grades and all kinds of things (that were actually a lot of pressure).
I don''t know if I started hiding what I was reading then, or a little later becuase I could ''t stand the attention. But that was probably than that I realized the books I liked to read were attention getting to adults--and very off-putting to my peers. Later, in HS and college, I met other people who liked the books I liked and who had been considered to be wierd by other children also.
I was looking forward to being an English major in college, but unfortunately hit the period where ''deconstruction'' was in fashion. Seemed to me that that just ruined good books, so I became a Chinese language major instead--and kept reading English books on my own for fun. It''s my favorite thing to do.! Often,during family reminiscencing, my siblings or mother will mention some event that happened that I have no recollection of. they will say--Oh, you must have off been off somewhere with your head in a book. they say it affectionately, though. and my husband thinks my reading is a cute habit, as do my kids, who are all readers (as they should be--I started reading to them aloud in the womb and kept it up until they were like 13 years old!)

 

[Haven]

Today, one of my college students shared that she has never actually read a book. Ever.

 

[Lilac]

Date: 9/17/2009 11:37:51 PM
Author: Haven
Today, one of my college students shared that she has never actually read a book. Ever.

Wow - that''s so sad. How did she even get to college without reading ANY books??

 

[KatyWI]

I have loved books for literally as long as I can remember. I was reading by the time I was three, so about as early as any conscious memories I have, and I''ve been devouring books at a ridiculous pace since I started reading.

You''d never think you''d get mad at a kid for reading, but I used to read instead of sleeping, so if my parents found me at all hours reading by the little light trickling in from the hall or by flashlight, I was in trooooouuuuuuuble!

Man, if I ever have a ton of disposable income, all I want to do is travel and read. And probably volunteer for the Humane Society or ASPCA since if I''m traveling all the time I won''t have pets. Hah!

 

[Haven]

Date: 9/18/2009 7:32:10 AM
Author: Lilac

Date: 9/17/2009 11:37:51 PM
Author: Haven
Today, one of my college students shared that she has never actually read a book. Ever.

Wow - that''s so sad. How did she even get to college without reading ANY books??

I imagine it''s pretty easy for a kid to get through high school without reading nowadays, considering most public schools are under pressure to teach kids to take tests rather than to think.

 

[TooPatient]

I have always loved books. I don''t remember learning. I do know that I started pre-school able to read and write. My parents never read anything so I am pretty sure my memories of them not reading to me are correct. My grandmother had a bunch of books with records that came in each one so I would put the record on and follow in the book. (yes, the round black vinyl things with holes in them)

I remember reading rainbow. The earlier shows were great. Before they tried to get fancy with the special affects.

Going to the library was a special thing. It didn''t happen often but I loved it and was excited when I got to go to the school library. A Wrinkle in Time and The Hatchet were a couple I really enjoyed.

We did the standardized tests and I scored in the top 1% nationally and had the highest score in the class. Everyone thought it was the nerdy guy with glasses and were shocked when he told them that he was only 2nd best. They never figured out that it was me. (not sure how since I always had a book or two with me and walked from class to class with a book in front of my face)

Yard sales and bazaars are a great place to buy more books. Fairly often I''d buy so many they would hand me another box and tell me to take these too.

I don''t have as much time to read any more. Always stuff to clean and cook and study.

The best part -- I found a man who loves to read at least as much as I do.
When we moved we had several cars full of boxes of books. Book cases everywhere and more boxes waiting to come out still. And more books delivered all the time.

We are planning to do an extension on the house in the next 5 years or so and one of the additions will be a library. Floor to ceiling bookcases and comfy chairs to read in. Can''t wait.

 

[dragonfly411]

That student probably just used Cliff notes, one of the worst inventions in history. How sad that so little emphasis is placed on knowledge now.

 

[Sabine]

I think I''ve loved reading since I was 4 years old...maybe even earlier. I remember reading "my" books on my own at 4 years (I probably just had them memorized) but I loved being read to before that. As soon as I started school, books and reading were always my favorite part of the day. Some things that made me fall in love even more...the Ramona books, the babysitters club series, and the book Where the Red Fern Grows (first book to ever make me cry!).

 

[TooPatient]

I loved the Baby Sitters Club. Read most of them. Owned many of them.

Also the Box Car Children. Read any I could find. Again and again. I might still have a few in one of the boxes.


My parents divorced when I was 6. My brother and I lived with my mother and visited our father. For several weeks we slept in a broken down moving van (one of the big box types) in a family members driveway. Even when we got into a rental house, things were still tough and weekends with my father were miserable.
Books were how I got away. They were my safe place to go to.
The rental house my mother found had a forest just feet from the bedroom window. I used to dream about leaving and living in a forest like the kids in my books. (luckily the books showed how hard their life was so I never tried it)

 

[Black Jade]

Rather easy to do nowadays. I had a lot of students who had never read a book. They weren''t reading Cliff Notes either. that would ALSO be reading.
They watched the movie version, sometimes.
But you can get through school without reading nowadays just fine--it gets easier and easier to do. Before college, you listen to class discussions on the book. Then, it''s a multiple choice test (scantron, you know, the teachers have no time to grade), you have a good cha ce of passing. If its a test where you actually have to WRITE (something that many also cannot do nowadays) chances are good that it''s a couple of paragraphs and that what they will ask for are YOUR FEELINGS about something in the text. All the students know all the politically correct things that they are supposed to feel about everything to get a good grade and can put these dow n (albeit, misspelled and with not much grammar) at a moment''s notice. Without any thought at all. In college classes, textbooks have more and more pictures, and those little boxes with a few crash facts and your professor is likely using powerpoint presentations a nd passing out the printouts of said presenatations, so you don''t actually have to take notes. Research is all done on the internet (try convincing them that wikipedia is not a valid source) and often consists of copy pasting large blocks of texts and fitting the together (with some minimal kind of attribution).

OUr students (at a quite well respected college) never had to read a whole text of anythi g--when we did the Aeneid, for instance, that meant chapter 4 (Chapter 4 being notoriously easy to read from a good feminist angle--not what Vergil meant, but it''s what students can understand well) "Shakespeare" might be a sonnet, which you would have to translate from English into 21st century speak--I''m not exagerrating. I wish I were. We have lived through a loss of literacy (people 40 and older) which is actually worse that what took place at the fall of the Roman Empire when the Dark Ages began and while there is an elite which still knows how to read its a rarer and rarer skill. As for writi ng--this is why ''English major'' has gone from being somethi ng you did if you didn''t expect to have to get a job, to one of the most desirable diplomas out there. Employers assume that if you did this, you might know how to write at least a little bit, a skill now very scarce on the ground.

 

[princesss]

Date: 9/18/2009 2:13:20 PM
Author: Black Jade


OUr students (at a quite well respected college) never had to read a whole text of anythi g--when we did the Aeneid, for instance, that meant chapter 4 (Chapter 4 being notoriously easy to read from a good feminist angle--not what Vergil meant, but it's what students can understand well) 'Shakespeare' might be a sonnet, which you would have to translate from English into 21st century speak--I'm not exagerrating. I wish I were.

That is the most horrifying thing I've ever heard. I thought it was bad that apparently many college students graduate without knowing what a peer reviewed journal was or how to find one, but that's downright disgraceful. I didn't think I went to a particularly challenging school, but apparently it was better than I thought! My professors seriously would have murdered me if I'd tried to make the argument that Wikipedia was a valid source. (Though one of my friends wrote her senior thesis on Wikipedia. That was a fascinating paper!)