How did you become a reader? - Page 9

DreamWriter · 01-12-2013, 02:11 PM

My mother often read to me when I was a young child. She made books seem interesting and exciting. And I always saw my father, an extremely intelligent man, reading books and magazines. I especially looked up to my dad, so I tended to gravitate toward hobbies that interested him.

I enjoy learning new things, and fiction brings variety and a break from "the real world." I am an extreme introvert, and I think reading fits well with my personality type.

crich70 · 01-12-2013, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shushan

"When I was your age, television was called books" ;-)

Ah yes, "The Princess Bride."

sneakyspider · 01-12-2013, 03:40 PM

When I was young, reading was very difficult for me and I hated it. It was worse than math for me, and math has always been the bane of my life. It wasn't until I turned ten or eleven that my Mom happened to hear a speaker that talked about possible "vision problems" that can lead to difficulty with reading comprehension. Well, she took me to a vision specialist, and it turned out that my eyes weren't tracking together, so I'd read a paragraph several times and only barely understand what it was saying. The specialist helped me with several exercises meant to correct my vision problems. Well, to make a long story short, reading has since become my favorite thing in the world. Like a few others here have said, it's gotten me through some trying periods in my life, and I can't imagine how things would be now if I'd never "discovered" reading.

Maggie May · 01-12-2013, 04:46 PM

As a young child I always received books for Christmas and my Birthday. I joined the local public library at the age of seven. It wasn't possible to join before that age. It just carried on from there. I have always loved reading. It is a great way of relaxing and chilling out for a few hours. I couldn't imagine a life without books. It's one of my greatest pleasures.

Mag.

Mencken · 01-13-2013, 04:52 AM

For quite a long time as a child I could take it or leave it, reading. I was always good at it. What I mean is back then – don't know about schools now, whether they read at all – a schoolteacher would call on different students to read a paragraph or two from whatever text we were studying. Some classmates struggled mightily at it, mispronouncing words or getting the wrong word altogether, reading “thought” instead of “though,” reading “though” instead of “through.”

Other classmates would labor across a line of text, their voices rising . . . as . . . they . . .read . . . each . . . word . . one agonizing word at a time. The slow readers like that would sometimes reach the end of the line of text and continue on to the next line before realizing that the sentence had ended. They would then go back and read the last word of the previous line again, this time with a falling intonation, because we'd all been taught that one's voice should drop at the end of a sentence.

Taking reading or leaving it really changed for me after coming home from school one day and sitting in my father's recliner to watch television. He'd been reading The Godfather and had left the book face down on the end table by his recliner. Whatever was on television didn't interest me, I guess, because I idly picked up his book and started reading.

I got lost in the book. Just . . . lost.

I read a few pages at the point he'd left off; then I went back and started reading from the first. There was a passage in there about a bridesmaid, Sonny, and something about turning guts into macaroni that just had my hot little mind in a whirl.

My mother came out of the kitchen and passed between me and the television. She said, Wha'cha readin'?

I held up the book, showing her the cover.

She said, Hm. We'll see about that when yuhDaddy gets home.

Made my heart skip a beat, but I was already hooked on the book.

I heard him come in work at the mill, heard him walk down the hallway. Mama come flying out the kitchen and met him between me and the television.

You see what your son's been reading? she asked him in an arch voice.

What? he asked.

She turned to me.

Show him, she said.

Again I held up the book, turned the cover toward him so he could see it.

Well? Mama said.

It won't hurt him, Daddy said. Let him read.

I became a reader then because I could read what I wanted and not be restricted to what I thought I was supposed to read or had better read.

Well, within reason. Fanny Hill, that came later.

Dee Q · 01-13-2013, 07:41 AM

I don't know how to put it but I have a feeling that the love for books has been sown in my little soul ever since I was born. However, it was actually kindled about a year ago when a friend of mine asked me how many books I read a year. What a shame! I had no answer to that question. And I was galvanized into action at that very moment.

I'm not an English-speaking person, so reading books in English is something rather difficult for me. But I've been reading several books and I love it.

crich70 · 01-13-2013, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dee Q

I don't know how to put it but I have a feeling that the love for books has been sown in my little soul ever since I was born. However, it was actually kindled about a year ago when a friend of mine asked me how many books I read a year. What a shame! I had no answer to that question. And I was galvanized into action at that very moment.

I'm not an English-speaking person, so reading books in English is something rather difficult for me. But I've been reading several books and I love it.

Ah, but your English grammar is very good Dee Q.

Dee Q · 01-13-2013, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

Ah, but your English grammar is very good Dee Q.

Thank you!

I'd love to make friends with all great bibliophiles here. You must be one since you've got quite an accumulation of karma there.

crich70 · 01-13-2013, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dee Q

Thank you!

I'd love to make friends with all great bibliophiles here. You must be one since you've got quite an accumulation of karma there.

Thanks for the compliment, I do try. I've been a reader all my life. I got my 1st library card at age 3 and don't remember not reading. I love books.

Latinandgreek · 01-14-2013, 12:44 AM

I learned to read quite young (at age 3.5 - 4). My mum had read to me every night before bedtime, and once I learned to read I read to myself every night before bedtime. I still can't fall asleep without reading, usually for at least an hour. I was shy and did not have many children my age to play with in the neighbourhood, and had a public library up the street; book quickly became my best friends. I've been going to the library at least once a week since the age of 6. I vividly remember that first trip to the library with my dad; it remains one of my fondest memories. Since then I've rarely been without a book - I've always carried books with me wherever I went. There is always a book in my purse.

I really don't know what it's like not to be a reader. For what it's worth, no one in my immediate family is a reader, but several of my paternal cousins are very big readers. My father says that his grandfather was never seen without a book, and spoke several foreign languages, including Mandarin, which I imagine very few rural Europeans would have spoken at that time. I like to think that I inherited my love of reading and language learning from him.

My husband was not a reader when we first started dating. He now can't fall asleep without reading. I used every birthday, holiday and anniversary as an opportunity to buy him a book on a topic that interested him in an attempt to get him reading. It looks like it did the trick!

John Carroll · 01-14-2013, 12:47 AM

I remember learning how to read when I was in first grade. I thought it was fascinating. I'd go to the library every week to read more books. We didn't have a TV, so I'd check out as many as I could (The local library had a 20 book limit) and I spent all my time reading.

Daniel Jones · 01-14-2013, 01:35 AM

My sister suggested me a book to read, but I am really lazy to carry books with me so I searched for it over the store and found it for my Android device, and from then reading books became one of my favorite mean to pass time.

jessicalynn · 01-14-2013, 01:48 AM

When I was little, one of my parents would read to me before bed every night. Then, as I got old enough to read on my own, I was encouraged to spend a half an hour reading before bed (although by that point I was reading all the time anyway). Also, I always saw my dad reading, and my parents always supplied me with books and trips to the library.

Musashi · 01-14-2013, 07:58 AM

My mom taught me how to read when I was about 2-3 years old because I was too small to go to school, and my father bought a box of 20-30 child books for me and my brother. Since then, I can't stop reading. ^_^

frankenhooker · 01-14-2013, 08:21 AM

When I was about seven or eight, my parents used to make me do an hours reading before I was allowed to watch TV. As I got older and started getting homework they relaxed and it was up to me whether I read or not, I continued to read for that hour and it's something that's stuck with me. I'm now 37 and I still make sure I read for at least an hour, it's also something I've encouraged in my kids.

It's a bit of a chore for my son, but my daughter always has her head in a book.

01-14-2013, 12:44 AM	#130
Latinandgreek Warrior Princess Posts: 5,038 Karma: 9724231 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-505; PRS-350, PRS-T1, iPad, Aura HD	I learned to read quite young (at age 3.5 - 4). My mum had read to me every night before bedtime, and once I learned to read I read to myself every night before bedtime. I still can't fall asleep without reading, usually for at least an hour. I was shy and did not have many children my age to play with in the neighbourhood, and had a public library up the street; book quickly became my best friends. I've been going to the library at least once a week since the age of 6. I vividly remember that first trip to the library with my dad; it remains one of my fondest memories. Since then I've rarely been without a book - I've always carried books with me wherever I went. There is always a book in my purse. I really don't know what it's like not to be a reader. For what it's worth, no one in my immediate family is a reader, but several of my paternal cousins are very big readers. My father says that his grandfather was never seen without a book, and spoke several foreign languages, including Mandarin, which I imagine very few rural Europeans would have spoken at that time. I like to think that I inherited my love of reading and language learning from him. My husband was not a reader when we first started dating. He now can't fall asleep without reading. I used every birthday, holiday and anniversary as an opportunity to buy him a book on a topic that interested him in an attempt to get him reading. It looks like it did the trick! Last edited by Latinandgreek; 01-14-2013 at 12:55 AM.

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01-12-2013, 02:11 PM	#121
DreamWriter Books are brain food. Posts: 2,950 Karma: 4836916 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: U.S. Device: Paperwhite · Fire HD6/HD8/HD10 · Galaxy Tab A7	My mother often read to me when I was a young child. She made books seem interesting and exciting. And I always saw my father, an extremely intelligent man, reading books and magazines. I especially looked up to my dad, so I tended to gravitate toward hobbies that interested him. I enjoy learning new things, and fiction brings variety and a break from "the real world." I am an extreme introvert, and I think reading fits well with my personality type.

01-12-2013, 03:40 PM	#123
sneakyspider Ereader Addicts Anonymous Posts: 329 Karma: 1071692 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: USA, FL. Device: (2)KO2, PW7thGen., KT2, iPadMini1	When I was young, reading was very difficult for me and I hated it. It was worse than math for me, and math has always been the bane of my life. It wasn't until I turned ten or eleven that my Mom happened to hear a speaker that talked about possible "vision problems" that can lead to difficulty with reading comprehension. Well, she took me to a vision specialist, and it turned out that my eyes weren't tracking together, so I'd read a paragraph several times and only barely understand what it was saying. The specialist helped me with several exercises meant to correct my vision problems. Well, to make a long story short, reading has since become my favorite thing in the world. Like a few others here have said, it's gotten me through some trying periods in my life, and I can't imagine how things would be now if I'd never "discovered" reading.

01-12-2013, 04:46 PM	#124
Maggie May Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,907 Karma: 87755439 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ireland Device: CYbook Gen3 and Sony PRS 3505 Kindle 3 G Nexus 7 iPad	As a young child I always received books for Christmas and my Birthday. I joined the local public library at the age of seven. It wasn't possible to join before that age. It just carried on from there. I have always loved reading. It is a great way of relaxing and chilling out for a few hours. I couldn't imagine a life without books. It's one of my greatest pleasures. Mag.

01-13-2013, 04:52 AM	#125
Mencken Member Posts: 18 Karma: 5076 Join Date: Mar 2012 Device: Sony PRS-350	For quite a long time as a child I could take it or leave it, reading. I was always good at it. What I mean is back then – don't know about schools now, whether they read at all – a schoolteacher would call on different students to read a paragraph or two from whatever text we were studying. Some classmates struggled mightily at it, mispronouncing words or getting the wrong word altogether, reading “thought” instead of “though,” reading “though” instead of “through.” Other classmates would labor across a line of text, their voices rising . . . as . . . they . . .read . . . each . . . word . . one agonizing word at a time. The slow readers like that would sometimes reach the end of the line of text and continue on to the next line before realizing that the sentence had ended. They would then go back and read the last word of the previous line again, this time with a falling intonation, because we'd all been taught that one's voice should drop at the end of a sentence. Taking reading or leaving it really changed for me after coming home from school one day and sitting in my father's recliner to watch television. He'd been reading The Godfather and had left the book face down on the end table by his recliner. Whatever was on television didn't interest me, I guess, because I idly picked up his book and started reading. I got lost in the book. Just . . . lost. I read a few pages at the point he'd left off; then I went back and started reading from the first. There was a passage in there about a bridesmaid, Sonny, and something about turning guts into macaroni that just had my hot little mind in a whirl. My mother came out of the kitchen and passed between me and the television. She said, Wha'cha readin'? I held up the book, showing her the cover. She said, Hm. We'll see about that when yuhDaddy gets home. Made my heart skip a beat, but I was already hooked on the book. I heard him come in work at the mill, heard him walk down the hallway. Mama come flying out the kitchen and met him between me and the television. You see what your son's been reading? she asked him in an arch voice. What? he asked. She turned to me. Show him, she said. Again I held up the book, turned the cover toward him so he could see it. Well? Mama said. It won't hurt him, Daddy said. Let him read. I became a reader then because I could read what I wanted and not be restricted to what I thought I was supposed to read or had better read. Well, within reason. Fanny Hill, that came later.

01-13-2013, 07:41 AM	#126
Dee Q Born Yesterday Posts: 134 Karma: 2744112 Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Vietnam Device: Kobo Libra 2 & Kindle Scribe & Kindle 2022	I don't know how to put it but I have a feeling that the love for books has been sown in my little soul ever since I was born. However, it was actually kindled about a year ago when a friend of mine asked me how many books I read a year. What a shame! I had no answer to that question. And I was galvanized into action at that very moment. I'm not an English-speaking person, so reading books in English is something rather difficult for me. But I've been reading several books and I love it.

01-14-2013, 12:47 AM	#131
John Carroll kookoo Posts: 1,461 Karma: 7772454 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Colorado Springs Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Nook, LG4	I remember learning how to read when I was in first grade. I thought it was fascinating. I'd go to the library every week to read more books. We didn't have a TV, so I'd check out as many as I could (The local library had a 20 book limit) and I spent all my time reading.

01-14-2013, 01:35 AM	#132
Daniel Jones Nameless Being	My sister suggested me a book to read, but I am really lazy to carry books with me so I searched for it over the store and found it for my Android device, and from then reading books became one of my favorite mean to pass time.

01-14-2013, 01:48 AM	#133
jessicalynn Zealot Posts: 131 Karma: 10099 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Nook First Gen (broken), iPad, Kindle Touch SO	When I was little, one of my parents would read to me before bed every night. Then, as I got old enough to read on my own, I was encouraged to spend a half an hour reading before bed (although by that point I was reading all the time anyway). Also, I always saw my dad reading, and my parents always supplied me with books and trips to the library.

01-14-2013, 07:58 AM	#134
Musashi Zealot Posts: 106 Karma: 515166 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: iPad 4th Generation. Kindle Paperwhite.	My mom taught me how to read when I was about 2-3 years old because I was too small to go to school, and my father bought a box of 20-30 child books for me and my brother. Since then, I can't stop reading. ^_^

01-14-2013, 08:21 AM	#135
frankenhooker Member Posts: 12 Karma: 4452 Join Date: Jan 2013 Device: kobo touch	When I was about seven or eight, my parents used to make me do an hours reading before I was allowed to watch TV. As I got older and started getting homework they relaxed and it was up to me whether I read or not, I continued to read for that hour and it's something that's stuck with me. I'm now 37 and I still make sure I read for at least an hour, it's also something I've encouraged in my kids. It's a bit of a chore for my son, but my daughter always has her head in a book.

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