What got you to start reading?
What got you to start reading? Boredom and my mother. She was a big reader –read everywhere she went!!!!!!!
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What got you to start reading? Boredom and my mother. She was a big reader –read everywhere she went!!!!!!!
I think for me it was being read a bedtime story as a child! I passed this theme onto my daughter when she was young and she’s also a huge reader now.
I’ve been an avid reader since I learned to read, at age 4 or so.
Comic books and my third grade teacher gave a copy of Gulliver’s Travels. I still have it 200 years later ha!
I don’t remember not reading. I have tried to remember an event or time, but it seems like reading has always been a big part of who I am.
My mom says i always loved them. I borderline came out of the womb with a book. ?
I’m an introvert, and even as a young kid, I spent most of my time reading. It was a pretty good way to take my mind off my abusive father.
I was still in diaper when I got really frustrated that I couldn’t read the letters on the diaper packaging. I pretended to read until I learned how :p
I think I was born reading. I don’t remember ever not being able to
Just a general liking for read. Before i knew novels existed, i would borrow text books from university or college students and read them. I also tried english books of many different schools
I was trying to read (the 1948 Childcraft had glorious photos) before I could; I remember that. Everyone in my family were avid readers, my mother took me with her to the library every week or two, sweet old ladies in our church (my father was an Episcopal priest) gave me books for every occasion, and I loved being a Library Helper at my elementary school.
Diving into the worlds of English children having magical adventures, or hungry in their garret, or pioneer children crossing the Plains, or talking cats and horses or tiny little Borrowers, or a large Jewish family in turn of the century New York, or… or… almost any book was rich, delicious, delight.
@Becky loved those books. Read everyone. Lost them in a move
I don’t remember a time I didn’t read. Started at a very young age, got to school and the books were Dick and Jane, teacher had to give me better books.
With reading i could go places. I always enjoyed imagining and building the places and faces read about. Also, was very reserved and it was a good escape. Dont have any close friends/family that read much. I also enjoyed listening to stories as kid and realized books had those in plenty
Obe if the elders found a Dick/Jane book. Grandmother started me in school at 4.
Reading, and now the Internet, opens the door to a whole new world.
Because books are fun and made me laugh! My mother read Dr. Seuss to me when I was little. I was so excited to learn to read.
I think it was a combination of things. Dick, Jane, Ted, and Sally. A book of fairy tales I remember my mother reading to us at bedtime. The fact that my mother loved to read. My third grade teacher reading Bobbsey Twins books to my third grade class every day after lunch. Nancy Drew . . .
I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I was rather smart in Elementary school and finished assigned work very quickly. As a result I was too social and disruptive to over students. My teacher at the time, introduced me to reading. When I completed my work I would take a book and read in the corner while the other students finished. 20 years later, it is still my go too calming activity!
@Randi I am 66 and cannot remember a time I didn’t read going back to childhood. All m family were big readers. My neighbor was a teacher and she started me on Nancy Drew. I would read one and to get the next, I had to write a short book report! Read the whole series the summer I was seven. The Girls Club also had a lending library.
The first thing I coveted (outside of sports) was a library card. Once inside the library I discovered books. I was that easy to hook.
I guess being an introvert & enjoying time by myself. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t enjoy reading.
I don’t remember. I can’t remember learning to read and was under the covers in the middle of the night with a torch and Enid Blyton by 4 years old.
My Grandma
I learned to read by being read to, and so did my son. I learned to love independent reading when I was 9. I had the flu and my grandmother had sent me a whole box of Nancy Drew books for my birthday. I remember lying in bed and realizing I had just disappeared into the story for an hour.
Harry Potter!
Mid-1860s comic books, baby!
A friend got me reading James Patterson
My mother. She would read short stories after the supper dishes were done every night.
My mother. She loved to read. She subscribed to Readers Digest Condensed (not sure if that still exists!). But I have fond memories of her sitting down to lunch eat day and reading. She also took us to the neighborhood library to pick out books. ❤
My Dad read to us every night before bedtime – I think my Mom got the books so it was a united effort and made readers of all of their children
not sure…. i can’t recall a time when i wasn’t reading
My mother got me reading, too! She ALWAYS had a book with her, everywhere she went, mostly Stephen King. I would read over her shoulder, and trips to the library were quality time together.
Curiosity and the desperate need to escape from reality
My mother was a huge influence. Also books feed and encouraged my wild imagination.
My brother let me read his comics so I’d be quiet. Lol! I moved on from there.
My mom read to me and made good books accessible to me as I grew older.
I am Andrea’s mom. My mother read also, but I don’t ever remember her reading to me. However, she did read True Story magazines and such. Very interesting. Later in life she loved the Louis Lamour westerns, but said she skipped over the “love” scenes. I really doubt she did, at least I hope she didn’t.
Emulating my sister, two years older than me. I started reading when I was 4. She took me to school with her one day to show me off.
Source of escape
My mom loved reading. We always had a home library. I remember always loving books.
School and my favorite Uncle
My grandpa ?
It must have started because as a family we had a lot of travel time in the car to my grandparents or to the city. I was told to read to pass the time on a 3 hour car trip. Also my family her was a librarian and my mother her liked to read.
My criminal justice classes i took in college. Great genre!
Mom hardly ever sat down but when she did she was either reading, sewing or embroidering. I would get up late at night for a drink of water and she’d be reading in her chair. And she got me my first book before I was in school. I still remember it.
I was pretty much deaf by the age of 3. I started reading as a result to understand what’s going on. I’ve been a bookworm since.
Mom, back in the day she always had a paper back on kitchen table .. She also had me interested in words and their meanings, if I didn’t know what a word meant she would say look it up.. Thanks to all the moms that promoted curiosity and betterment!
My wonderful wife @Amber got me reading classical literature and current books……before that? Strictly comics. ?
My parents read to me and I watched them read. They were both avid readers. They got me started on The Borrowers books, horse books (I LOVED horses!), Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, The Boxcar Children. I think A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was my first “grown up” book and I was forever hooked on reading.
Family legend has it that I taught myself to read, and obviously my parents wanted to encourage that! I read every night before bed as a minimum ?
I’ve been a bookstore ever since the first grade. I grew up in a household with parents who fought and we lived in a rough neighborhood so the playground was not safe. We were not allowed to go to our friends either. I would grab flashlight, hide in the closet and read. Books have been my salvation.
Darn auto correct. Should say book worm. Not book store
I thought it was a unique metaphor.
My mom, an amazing tutor, and my own determination to get through a reading disability.
I don’t remember not reading. My parents were big readers, but I don’t remember being read to. The first book I remember reading myself was Winnie the Pooh. Books were everywhere in our house. I still have books my parents gave me & a few I bought from Scholastic.
My mum too, she always had a book and so did I.
My Grandmother had a small closet filled with books on floor to ceiling shelves. My mother, her daughter, was also a reader and had tons of books. I am the only one of my mother’s three daughters who reads. I make up for it by reading an average of two books a week.
My wife, she Is a librarian
I’m not sure. While taking public transit to work, rather than work on my computer, or play games on my phone, I started picking up books, and it just sort of fell into place. I’m not sure that I can nail it down to a specific time or person. It just sort of happened.
I suppose it was by example. I don’t remember being read to, but my mother read – never made an issue of it, but the message was that it was an important component of ordinary existence. We went to the library frequently. I found Trixie Beldon, The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew waiting for me. Those are the first things I remember reading.
Boredom and a summer reading challenge at my local library.
My parents both read voraciously and read to me when I was small. My mom took me to the library regularly, and our house was filled with books.
I can’t remember a time I wasn’t a bookworm. I am a loner by nature so that may partially be why I am a voracious reader. My Mum wasn’t a reader and she always says I hooked her on to reading as an adult which I am proud of. Every Christmas and Birthday she asks for books. My Dad and Brother would have read about five books in between them their whole lives. They don’t know what they are missing.
My mom was a teen mom. She loved to read, and read to me. I could read and write before I was 4 years old.
My mother read to me from the time I was an infant. She recently said she would sometimes read the paper to us.Reading was/is important to her and she passed her love on to my sister and me. My sister then passed it to her two children who have continued by passing it to their children, my mom’s great grandsons. My mom’s mother and grandmother were also readers so maybe our love of books has evolved to the point where it is in our genes! I can still remember the excitement of being able to write my name because that meant I could get books at the library. Trips to the library were a part of our childhood. She also told me that as long as there was a book I’d never be lonely. Besides the gift of life, I think my love of reading is the greatest gift my mom ever gave me. Thank you, mom!
Insomnia. I’ve never been good at sleeping, so my sister taught me to read when I was four. I managed to finish Little House in the Big Woods when I was five.
I was born.
I got grounded a lot lol. And my mom had a lot of books so I started to read them. I always read some while younger but didn’t really until my teens and found it as a way to escape.
I don’t remember ever not reading!
I had major back surgery in 1992 with a long recuperation – reading was my savior and I have been an avid reader ever since.
I aleays liked books. Enjoyed being read to before I could read, then once I could, found I enjoyef that even more.
Waiting for guests to check into my bed and breakfast. To explain how late almost ALL people are i read 125 books last year!
??
I remember learning to read and falling in love with books. Even dick and Jane.
The Happy Hollisters!!!! I loved them!!!!
Same with me. Mom is still an avid reader at the age of 89.
My mother was never without a book!
Don’t know, learnt to read and that was it! None of my family were readers so I was the odd one out but they all supported my reading
I don’t remember not reading. I’m the third of seven children and we are all avid readers. Every summer, my dad would sit each of us down and make a reading list. I loved it. He was so thoughtful about the books he chose for each child.
I honestly have no recollection of what made me read… It’s just the way I came to be ever since I gained consciousness of the world around me I always had a book in my hands
Mom and dad…always read to me
No television in home until I was 5
My mother taught me to read before I went to school at 6. Never looked back! I read with all my kids but they didn’t all catch that hook!
Stories have always been a big part of my life. I have a rich family background of oral storytelling. With novels, a story is always in your back pocket, ready to go!
My grandmother
Way back, tvs used to break and you could call the repairman…my mom didn’t call….and I started reading. ….. And haven’t stopped ?
Didn’t have TV when I started reading. My Dad reading comic books out loud. He always stopped too soon. Shortly after I leaned how to read I discovered that comic books were too short. Childrens books weren’t much better. By age 10 or 12 I was reading novels.
My dad and grandmother were both avid readers. Pretty sure I got bit by the same worm. Book worm that is. ?
A 6:30 PM bedtime as a child. In the summer months, the hours of daylight provided me with sufficient time awake stuck in my room. Couple with a full bookcase of my parents favorite books and voila. Love of reading was born!
All summer my cousins and I would hang out at my grandparents during the day.. My older cousin started reading a book when it was too hot to play outside so after a couple of days of being bored inside we forced her to read out loud to us. Not sure Flowers in the attic was appropriate for kids (she was a teenager..lol) but thats what got me into it.. so around 12 we had a bunch of VC Andrews books.. I started reading them during hot Texas summers.
Same, my mom. She introduced me to cool books, like Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell
I never stopped.
Taught myself when I was about 4. Would go to the local library and just be in heaven. Still like this in a book shop or library- my happy place ?
When I was little, my class ended two hours earlier than my sister’s. I had to wait for hers to end as our mom picked us up at the same time. I spent a lot of time reading at the library.
MOM ❤️
I don’t think my kids got a good look at my face until they could walk! I breastfed them, and mastered the art of holding a book with one hand while cradling the baby in the other arm.
Both my parents read constantly, and Mom read to me all the time. ? I was reading pretty much anything at 4. I remember my 1st grade teacher having me read to the class when she needed to pop out.
Have read since I can remember , a long time. If I didn’t have something to read, I read the cereal box.
We were a reading family. Dad a teacher, and being the 4th of 5 children, peer pressure. I would not be outperformed by my older siblings. Lol
My sweet Grandmother. She could read 4 books a day. Miss her
My whole family always read. I don’t remember having to be coerced. My first memories are of Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins.
OMG friends I’m reading all the ugly and wonderful.. What a bomb.. It’s not Dark it’s life,!
A lot of beautiful children’s books in my home, Little Golden books and Classics Illustrated comic books.
Loved those Little Golden books! My mom bought me one every time I went with her to the grocery store. What a treat they were!
@Denise I still remember how intrigued I was by the Santa’s workshop one!
@Jean I loved The Snowman’s Christmas Present.
Both of my parents but especially my mom. She’s a retired librarian and she encouraged my sister & I to read anything and everything we could get our hands on. I also discovered she could order us books through the library so we basically had access to whatever we wanted.
I have been reading since a little girl. I had a library card and would go weekly.
@Delores me too my dad would ride bikes with us
I didn’t like PE and would ask if I could go help in the library. The librarian would let me sit and here instead of helping. From then on I been in love with reading
My Grandmother, she gave me a book called the Lilly of the Valley. It is not a religious book it is an old romance book that I still have to this day.
A love for mysteries and Nancy Drew hooked me. No one in my family read anything other than the paper.