# Tell Me about your love of reading



## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

Inspired by my Younger Gen Aversion to Kindle thread it got me thinking:

What is it about reading that you e njoy and what inspired you to enjoy reading? Have you always loved it or was it a latter in life hobby?


I personally had a very hard time learning to read. While my peers were excelling in Reading I didn't fully grasp the concept until well into 3rd grade.....once I did however I took off like a rocket and read everything I could get my hands on. From that point forward my reading comprehension/reading level was always above grade level and I excelled in English. 
I cannot fully say what it is I enjoy so much about reading......but I think it comes down to a] seeing the world and new situations through the eyes of books and B] expanding my knowledge of concepts and ideas I've never looked into before on my own. 

Care to share?


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

I have read as far back as I can remember. Always enjoyed the printed word. As to what reading does for me, depends on why I am reading. For education: learning about something that interests me, or information that I need to know. For entertainment, becoming immersed in other places, times or worlds is my goal. I can forget about the mundane for a while. The Kindle helps me to enjoy reading even more.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

My mother has always been an avid reader.  When I was 10 years old, I made the decision to be a reader like her and I'm very glad I did.  

Reading is knowledge. Reading is meeting new people, new places, new concepts and ideas.  When you read, you always have something to talk about, something to think about and even sometimes, it leads to more research and more knowledge.


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

I started school in England when I was five {69 years ago! My! Time flies when you are having fun! }and by then I was reading fluently. {If course, at that age I was basically a really good decoder and word caller--comprehension took a while to catch up!}I can actually never remember anyone teaching me to read and cannot remember a time when I couldn't read.

I know that for a long time I read to avoid what was going on in my life. My mother was an alcoholic and school was probably the only safe place for a long time.

Now I read for enjoyment. And my kindle has been part of getting me back to this.

patrisha


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## kguthrie (Feb 23, 2009)

I've loved reading since I was about 6. I started reading the Hardy Boys shortly after that and read every book within the next couple years. I branched off to Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and have continued ever since.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652) (Jan 20, 2009)

Well, I had a strange childhood with a mother who has problems of her own that a child can't deal with.  I read all the time!  I don't know what actually started my love for reading, but I think my earliest memory is Nancy Drew books.  My BFF from grade school and I would walk downtown to the bookstore and buy a Nancy Drew each and then sit on her front porch and each read the one we bought then switch.    I was also big into Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume!

Of course, my tastes grew as I did.  When I married at 20, I had pretty much left reading in the past.  I didn't pick it up again until about 2 years ago when I started my new job.  I had an hour lunch in a strange town by myself so I joined the library and read every day.  The Kindle appeared late last fall on my radar even though I didn't get it until February.  It changed my life for the better and the light weight is an unexpected bonus that I never thought would matter to me.  Of, course, who knew that I would have joint pain to this extreme even 6 months ago?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I've always read, when I was a kid, I would read the cereal boxes if I didn't have a book.  I guess I could read some when I started school, the school told Mom she had prepared me well; I think we always read.  I would go to the library and leave with 20 books, the librarian would ask if I would read them all and my father would say firmly, yes she will.  I always had a book with me at school, too, and would frequently read under the desk and then get caught when I didn't hear the teacher ask me a question. 

Betsy


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## KindleKay (aka #1652) (Jan 20, 2009)

Oh yes, Betsy!!  Your post reminded me of the days when I was so engrossed in a book in grade (high) school during reading time, that once it was over, I couldn't close it and would get in trouble for reading under my desk and not paying attention!!!

Memories....


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## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

LOL Wow I also hid books under my desk and would read them during class. Although [when caught] my teachers seemed a bit annoyed I don't think they were ever as annoyed as they were if someone was caught listening to an Ipod/CD Player/ gameboy.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652) (Jan 20, 2009)

Ah, pom, and now I show my age:

There was no such thing as a iPod/CD player/gameboy when I was in school.....

*sigh* I am old....


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Hey KindleKid, least you did not have to have room to unroll the scroll like I did. 
On a serious note, (sort of) I got my first calculator in college, Texas Instruments.
It had the basic math functions, squares and square roots, Pi and I believe that was about it. Only cost $110 dollars and the battery would last about 3 hours, so I kept it plugged in most of the time. It was a waste of money for my chemistry class because there we had to use a slide rule.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652) (Jan 20, 2009)

intinst (or 1204 if you prefer) said:


> Hey KindleKid, least you did not have to have room to unroll the scroll like I did.


In Harry Potter, that is they way it is!!!

I would love to visit Hogwarts....

I would love to read Harry on Kindle....but that is for another thread on another day...

(EDIT: WOW! Just noticed that this is post #600 for me!!)


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

KindleKay (aka #1652) said:


> In Harry Potter, that is they way it is!!!
> 
> I would love to visit Hogwarts....
> 
> ...


Congrats, I hit a milestone today as well, not that anyone noticed.


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## purdueav8r (Feb 7, 2009)

Well, I don't know if I count as the younger generation or not.  I just turned 34, but am a voracious reader. I completely credit my mom with my love of reading.  I only hope I can pass that same love of reading on to my future children.  I think it's one of the best gifts a parent can give their child.  

I'm the oldest of 3 children & I think I benefited by Mom being a stay at home mom until after my youngest sibling was born.  She read to me constantly.  So, I knew my ABC's by age 2 & was reading my mom's old Nancy Drew books by the time I hit kindergarten.  She didn't set out to teach me, it just happened.  Consequently, the teachers did NOT know what to do with me when I got into grade school.  Mrs. Hamm, my first grade teacher, would often send me to the library to pick out a big kid's book to read to keep me quiet while the other kids were going through their Dick & Jane readers & trying to learn how to read.  Yes, I am just old enough to have had those in school.     

I never got in trouble for talking in class, I was always in trouble for reading in class.  Reading everything but what I was supposed to be reading.  The elementary school librarian cried on the last day of fifth grade when I left the school.  We had a very special relationship & she always used to tell me I was her best customer.  

At the town library I outgrew the kids' library cards by 3rd grade & had to have an adult card issued by special exception at that time.  Kids were limited to 5 books, adults could have 20.  My mom used to have to take me to the library once a week even on an adult card.  

I love reading so much that I absolutely cannot stand to be without a book to read at all times.  If I don't have a book to read, I feel lost and at odds.  It's an escape, relaxation, a vacation, a journey, a way to make new acquaintances, and a lesson all at the same time.  It's the mental engagement, the interplay of words on a page, be it a paper or electronic page.  I would be bereft without books.  They have been such an integral and constant part of my life from such a very young age.  Books are a huge part of who I am.  

*Edit*  Betsy & Pom, we were much alike as kids it seems.  Seems weird a kid can be in trouble for reading, of all things.  But there you have it.


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## Tippy (Dec 8, 2008)

My mother was a teacher until she got married.  When I was in kindegarten and first grade, she felt my teacher was not doing a very good job of teaching me to read.  Back in those days we did not have television and we did not have electricity, as such.  We had a windcharger.  After dinner was over and the dishes were done, we sat in the living room.  Dad listened to the radio and read the paper.  My mother and I sat on the couch and I read to her.  I loved reading to Mom.  She taught me about phonix and the meaning of words.  We laughed together at silly things.  To this day, these are memories that I cherish.  

By the time my brothers arrived the Rural Electric Association had made electricity a reality on our isolated ranch.

Mom was a great reader and believed in taking a book with her wherever she went.  She told me I would never be bored or alone if I had a book to read.  She made sure that books were always available.  I can't think of a more important gift to give a child.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I grew up in a house with my mother and grandmother and they were both readers. My mother read me Jaws as a bedtime story, leaving in all the gore, but editing out the swear words.

It must have been first grade when the teacher said we could take a book home for the weekend, I don't know how many times I read it to my family, but people made a big deal out of my ability to read. Even though I had trouble believing the word "said" -- kept thinking it had to spell something else.

I read my favorite books repeatedly and adult books, too. The grown-up books included historical romances and Stephen King. The former filled in blanks for me -- oooooh, it gets _hard_ -- and was instrumental in my development. The only book I was forbidden to read was the autobiography of Linda Lovelace, and I was just about adult by them, so while I understood it also seemed like a dubious time to begin to censor my reading.

While I liked the occasional classics growing up -- Eyre sisters, Steinbeck, Harper Lee -- most of the stuff I read was popular fiction and Harlequins. Oh, and VC Andrews. I caught a lot of grief from teachers for the books I brought to school, and in their defense I was reading them while other things were to be learned, still it surprised me to discover that some types of books were less well-regarded. I got the impression that a few educators would rather I not read at all if the alternative was "bodice rippers."

Frankly, my teen years were traumatic and I needed the escape.

In recent years, my family as told me they were disappointed I didn't go to college, but it didn't seem like there was encouragement at the applicable time. I made a point to educate myself and can either legitimately hold my own in most conversations or can fake it. 

Several years ago, my MIL told me I could not be much company for her son, because I read too much. My husband seems okay with it though.


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

I don't remember how old I was when I started reading and can't remember a time when I didn't read.  The first book I remember reading was Sleeping Beauty (hence my oldest daughters name Dawn and my KK Aurora).  I was sick at home with the Chicken Pox and was out of school for about 3 weeks (they wouldn't let you back in school until all scabs were gone) My parents brought home the most beautiful book I had ever seen and I could not put it down.  The library was a favorite place to go when I was a child.  I always have a book with me.  My husband would buy a book and it would take him weeks to finish it I on the other hand would read several books in a week, he couldn't believe how many books I could read but never said I couldn't buy one.

My reading is for pleasure and I can get lost in a book and lose all track of time.  The only draw back to the Kindleboards is that I have been enjoying reading and posting here so much lately that I have not been doing much book/kindle reading.  Brassman has been leading a book klub for his book Distant Cousin and I have not been reading enough to keep up with the klub (and to think I was one of them who said that the klub was moving too slow at one time).  I will say that if you have not read Distant Cousin that I have found the story to be very entertaining and highly recommend it.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

intinst (or 1204 if you prefer) said:


> Congrats, I hit a milestone today as well, not that anyone noticed.


Wow, did you go over 1000 today And you're up to 1074 already WOOHOO! I wonder what the record for most posts in a single day is...

Betsy


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

What can I say, I've been home and on a roll all day.


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

Congrats KindleKay and Intinst on reaching your milestones.  It looks like at the rate you are going it won't take long for the next one.  I'm getting close to reaching one myself.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Wow, did you go over 1000 today And you're up to 1074 already WOOHOO! I wonder what the record for most posts in a single day is...
> 
> Betsy


My personal record (by about triple!) for the day: 89 posts!


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

I remember learning to read in 1st grade (no kindergarten in my era) and never stopping since. I was odd-one-out in my family: since I didn't feel understood or accepted by anyone around me, I turned to reading for escaping. Then as school stopped being any challenge at all, I read even more to keep from being totally bored out of my mind. Now, with my laptop (with forums, email & mobipocket reader), my cellphone (with data plan, email & mobipocket reader), my mp3 player which I use only for audio books (from my library), and my KK - I am lamenting even more often: too many books - too little time.


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## KMA (Mar 11, 2009)

It's funny, my memories become clear at the point I learned to read. I probably have fewer than 100 memories of any detail before age three, but after that, it's pretty much all there. I still remember my mother's face when she realized that I was reading. It was my third birthday and she had just come home from the hospital with my new baby sister. It was a big deal at the time that she came home only two days after the baby was born (yes, I'm 35), but she didn't want to miss my birthday. My mother had just sat down to rest and the baby started to fuss so, I told her, "don't worry, mama, I'll read to the baby." I did, too.

Reading has always been vital to me. Like so many here, I spent a huge amount of time in trouble at school for reading. In kindergarten, my teacher confiscated my Lord of the Rings books and refused to concede that I could read them. My mother got them back by promising that I wouldn't read at school any more (yes, she was being ironic). I did grow more adept at hiding books after that. I also remember getting in huge trouble for reading Lady Chatterley's Lover in the fifth grade.

Thankfully, school did not kill my love of reading. It tried, though. I absolutely agree with the pps who said that students should have freedom to choose their books. There is an near infinite number of good books out there. For a bright 14 year old boy, Ender's Game is probably far more relevant than The Scarlet Letter. This is a large part of the reason our children are unschoolers. My oldest daughter is almost seven and is an equally voracious reader. I had a weird feeling of deja vu when, right after her third birthday, she demonstrated that she was a fluent reader. She reads everything from classics to candy and back again. My youngest is just starting her reading journey, but she loves to listen to us read aloud.

I read every day, both alone and with my kids. I'm another who will read the cereal box if there's nothing else.


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## KMA (Mar 11, 2009)

btw, CegAbq (#2880), I love your avatar!


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## JetJammer (Jan 18, 2009)

My mother insists that, where other kids had a stuffed toy or a blanket as a *comfort* item, mine was always a book.  I didn't go to sleep, eat, or anything without carrying a book around with me.  I insisted on reading it myself as well, never did have the patience to let anyone else read it to me.  I guess I made up my own stories from the pictures until I was old enough to start understanding the words, which was well before I started school.

It was family tradition to visit the library every Saturday as far back as I can remember.  I literally read every book in the childrens section (probably a lot smaller in those days than they are now).  I still remember the childrens' librarian taking me out into the "real" library to help me find something to read.

A lot of decades later, I still never go anywhere without a book.  Some habits are hard to break   !


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I remember wanting to learn to read and begged my mother to teach me, but she didn't -- only because she didn't know how, not because she was being mean. I started nursery school when I was 3 but all we did was paste and play games. They didn't teach us the alphabet or anything. I learned to read in first grade and once I got started, there was no stopping me.

Sesame Street came on TV when I was about 11 or 12. I remember thinking that I wished it had been on when I was little -- if I had learned my letters, I would have taught myself to read, I know this. Oh well.

L


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

purdueav8r said:


> I love reading so much that I absolutely cannot stand to be without a book to read at all times. If I don't have a book to read, I feel lost and at odds. It's an escape, relaxation, a vacation, a journey, a way to make new acquaintances, and a lesson all at the same time. It's the mental engagement, the interplay of words on a page, be it a paper or electronic page. I would be bereft without books. They have been such an integral and constant part of my life from such a very young age. Books are a huge part of who I am.


No matter how long I'd sit here I could not come up with a more eloquent way to express my love of reading. 
deb


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## Pawz4me (Feb 14, 2009)

I can't remember much about the time before I learned to read.  I do remember always being a voracious reader.  I was a shy kid and often didn't "get" other kids my own age who wanted to play with Barbie dolls and Easy Bake ovens.  I learned early that reading could take me anywhere I wanted to go and introduce me to lots of "friends" that I enjoyed tremendously.  I was the kid who always won the "who can read the most books by the end of the year" contests in school without trying.  I never could understand why other kids found it to be a challenge.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652) (Jan 20, 2009)

Ye-Haw!!!  The KB are alive and well with posters!!!  Congrats, my friend, intinst on 1000 and an "almost" congrats to B-Kay as you approach the big 1-0-0!!!

I posted a lot yesterday myself as I was home and checking in often!  But now it is back to work.....


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Pawz4me said:


> I can't remember much about the time before I learned to read. I do remember always being a voracious reader. I was a shy kid and often didn't "get" other kids my own age who wanted to play with Barbie dolls and Easy Bake ovens. I learned early that reading could take me anywhere I wanted to go and introduce me to lots of "friends" that I enjoyed tremendously. I was the kid who always won the "who can read the most books by the end of the year" contests in school without trying. I never could understand why other kids found it to be a challenge.


I too won reading contests by accident, if you will. I was active as any other boy, participating in sports, scouts and the other things that boys do. But when I was at home, instead of TV, I read. Still do.


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## Rhiathame (Mar 12, 2009)

I used to read a bit because all the people in my family did, that is how we spent time together, all sitting in the living room and reading. But I found that most of the books I was reading were, well...boring. It was not until I was in 4th grade and home with tonsilitis that I became hooked on books. My sister (who is 12 years older than me) got tired of me whining about being bored so she tossed me the book she had just finished reading (Clan of the Cavebear) and it was all over from then on. Of course I had to ask some questions about some of the themes but I pretty much got it and was totally hooked. Of course the elementry school librarian was appalled at what I was reading and called my parents. That was a call she quickly regretted


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## webhill (Feb 12, 2009)

I do not remember a time when I could not read, although my parents like to bring it up frequently as "back when you used to occasionally pay attention to us." Apparently they learned of my newfound ability to read when I found something highly inappropriate hidden under a bed at their friends' house during a dinner visit, and brought it into the dining room and read from it out loud (FYI it was a publication which is usually distributed in a plain brown wrapper). I was three years old.

I read everything. I am one of those people who will read the back of the cereal box or wine label if that is all there is on the table. I get very frustrated and anxious if I do not have something to read handy and my sister-in-law the psychologist says it's a pathological problem of mine. Whatever. I'm a compulsive reader, though. If I have nothing else to read, I have been known to spell words out with items at hand and read them back... I remember once in jr. high using an eyeliner on a napkin to write down a poem at a football game, so I would have something to read....

I love general fiction, history, biographies, humor, chick lit, sci-fi, how-to books, textbooks on subjects of interest to me such as animal science or textiles, oh, really, I just love reading. It feels like when I am NOT reading, there is too much empty space in my brain or something. Reading fills it up and I feel happy. That sounds psychotic when I read it back, but honestly, it's the best explanation I can come up with.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

webhill said:


> I I just love reading. It feels like when I am NOT reading, there is too much empty space in my brain or something. Reading fills it up and I feel happy. That sounds psychotic when I read it back, but honestly, it's the best explanation I can come up with.


Welcome to the asylum. If we are all crazy, at least we have company and something to read!


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Posted this to another thread. It contains a story about breaking one of the commandments. Beware! 

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,5837.msg122169.html#msg122169


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## busy91 (Feb 27, 2009)

I was able to read by the age of 3, as a small child I really liked to read.  Then I got to middle school and high school and I really didn't like it at all.  So for about 8 years I really didn't do much reading (too busy hanging out), but by the time I was in my 20s I picked it up again, I mostly read memoirs and biographies.  Then when I had my son, reading stopped again, and didn't really pick up again until about 4 years ago.  And now I consider myself a constant reader.  I don't plan to take any more hiatuses.


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## Aravis60 (Feb 18, 2009)

My mom read to me all of the time when I was a kid. She would tell me to pick out a book and I would come back with a whole stack. I was fascinated by books and I was in a hurry to learn to read so that I could work their magic all by myself. I always got in trouble for reading a book under my desk, too (which makes me a lot more sympathetic when my students do it). There has never been any point in my life so far where I have not been practically addicted to books.


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

Neither of my parents graduated from High School for different reasons - but they were the most intelligent, well read, heck even brilliant people I have ever known. They were always reading - and started me when I was tiny - there is a picture of me when I was so small that I would have fallen in the toilet -- sitting facing back with a book in my hands reading while resting the book on the tank    

They told me that there is no place in the universe you can't go with a book, there is nothing you can't learn if you have a book about it - There are things to make you cry, laugh and ponder on for ages after you have read a book.  And they read anything and  everything - which I suppose is why I do the same thing. But I do find I go on author or Genre kicks - where I will read all of one authors books in a row - or get stuck on mysteries, Sci-Fi, Horror, Paranormal Romance, adventure etc.  for months then I move on to another one.  

Did anyone else go to a school (or got to school around the same time as I did) where in 5Th  grade you would get a catalog of books that you would take home and then you would pick the books you wanted to buy and get the money and come back and turn them in  -- then about a month later a big box would come with all your new books in it - that day was better than Christmas for me (although I got lots of books for Christmas too) It would be so heavy I would have to stop on the walk home and put the box down a few times -- then deciding which book to read first .... oh so hard! 

BTW today reminded me how much I LOVE my Kindle - I had it in my new Bella Borsa travel bag when we went to the ortho. today (figuring I could use it during the wait for doctor and xrays) - then we went to Lowes to look at fridges and stoves - after which hubby decided to look at all the power tools -- WELL I know what that entails (it is almost as bad as fishing and gun stores   ) - so I went out in the truck and spent a happy couple of hours reading with no interruptions - the only thing that would have made it better is if I had thought to bring a bottle of water with me.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Ohhh, wasn't that called the Book Club...or something classic?  Oh gesh, I wish I could remember the name.  I loved taking that paper home to choose books.  
deb


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Was it the Scholastic Book Club? I loved getting that piece of paper, and even though money was tight at my house, I never remember either of my parents saying no to a book. Just asked how much this time. I tried to hold it down, but then as now I loved books.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652) (Jan 20, 2009)

Yes, it was Scholastic Book Clubs for me and for my 12 year old, they are still going strong (at least here in Arkansas) today!


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

I am thrilled that others remember the Scholastic Book Club - and that it is still around alllllll these years later - seriously like 45 years later - that is the best!


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Yes!!  That's it.  Thank you.  I think it was only about 4 or 6 pages long, but I loved loved loved that paper.  And money was also tight at our house, but my mom always let me get at least one book.  
OMG, I had forgotten all about that.  What a great memory.  Thanks guys.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

I think the fact that I NEVER had control of the remote (the youngest) and my family was always moving influenced my reading. I also always had a lot of 'aunts' and 'uncles' who encouraged my reading. instead of getting grounded from tv or something else. I'd get grounded from the library or bookstore/booksection. (My uncle was always there to sneak me books.) meanwhile my parents were happy I was quiet, because according to everyone in the family I sounded like Nibbles (from Tom and Jerry) and I never stopped talking. Parents wanted to get me an ereader years ago (about 5-6yrs), but they didn't think I was mature enough for the material that was available at 12-13yrs. That was all the censorship they did. If they only knew that I was reading the Anita Blake series at 13-14. 
I started reading the American Girls books. Then went to Harry Potter, Nancy Drew, Hardy boys, and whatever family would give me.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I belong to a Homeschool Co-op and I'm in charge of taking the Scholastic Book Club orders each month. I get the catalogs for every single grade level..My kids LOVE it when they come. They help me separate out all the fliers and get to look though them first.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

that's too cute


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## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

The scholastic book catalog and book fairs were by far my favorite things in school! In fact that's where I began reading Harry Potter! I used to love ordering books and then receiving them a few weeks later!


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## Malibama (Jan 29, 2009)

I taught myself to read at age three.  Got my first library card at age five - the youngest age Los Angeles Public Library would give a card to.  My mom was thrilled because it meant she didn't have to share her library limit of ten books with me on each visit for books!  I always chose my books carefully (painfully!) and books like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe series and Misty of Chincoteague transported me to other places and times.

I was an only child for ten years; books were my siblings.  I can remember many, MANY dinners out where while my parents ate dessert and had coffee and talked and talked and talked I would lie in a booth with my head in my mother's lap in some odd position so that the light would hit my book pages "just right."  I would squirm and squirm (we frequented dark, romantic restaurants if I remember correctly) until I found just the right light -- and then would complain if my mom moved her arm and momentarily blocked my light.  I remember this so clearly I can smell the restaurant booths.  Funny, we will celebrate my dad's birthday at one of these restaurants tomorrow night.

Scholastic Book Days (both the day when the catalog came, and the day the books were delivered) were my happiest days all throughout  grammar school.  Remember how the paper smelled that the sheets were printed on?  I can almost conjure it up as I sit here 30 years later.  It was the best smell in the world to me as a child.  My mom indulged me almost every book I wanted to order (though she did edit for content, which always bummed me out.  She would not let me order "junk books.")  I read each and every book I ever ordered.

Reading has given me an education I didn't get in school.  I read novels and non-fiction.  I read The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The National Enquirer.  I read blogs and I read the Bible.  Reading allows me to talk about a lot of different things with a lot of different people I meet.  My love of reading makes me my friends' first call if they need information of any sort -- they know I will have read about it, or will know where to read about it..

Yeah, I'm a reader who loves reading.


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## RangerXenos (Mar 18, 2009)

I'm not sure where I got my love of books and reading from, as books were never big in my house growing up.  I practically lived in the library when I was a kid, I'd walk down there most Saturdays and spend hours there.  It's still one of my favorite places to go, I love to just browse through the shelves!  I'm wondering how my Kindle is going to change that, I already feel kind of sad that I don't spend nearly as much time there any more!


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

I have always loved reading and can't remember not being able to read. My mom took us to the library and I was so excited at age 10 when my mom convince the librarian to increase my book limit because I would run out of books to read long before it was time to return. I was pretty much like Betsy. I would read anything and everything that had print on it! I would read the labels on the boxes and cans of food while helping put groceries away, and of course the cereal boxes. I even like to read cookbooks. My first one was my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook! When traveling as a child, I couldn't read in the car because I would have motion sickness, so I would read billboards. I have discovered however, that for some reason, I am able to read the Kindle in the car with no ill effects!


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

I was reading before starting school too -- my mother still tells people that it was never a problem to take me anywhere as a little kid because she could just plunk me in a chair with a book or two and I'd be happy for hours.

The first library I ever went to frustrated me because kids were only allowed to take out TWO books. And it was a bus ride across town, so we didn't go that often.

The library in the town we lived in after that had a rule that you could take out as many books as you could carry by yourself, a cool idea! My mother had a big wicker basket and it held quite a few books; the limit was just the weight I could manage at age seven or so.

Then when I was eight we moved to the U.S. and I had to learn English. (Never mind that my father is British, but I really spoke no English at all.) So I started all over again in the public library, reading the easy books and being very frustrated at the see-Jane-run reading level. Read my way though their elementary school books and YA by 11 or so, but they wouldn't let me into the adult section until I was twelve. So my mother took me to her own bookshelves, and said I could read anything in there that I wanted, except _that one_ and _that one_ and _that one _because the content was still too grown-up for me.... As soon as I was alone at home, guess which ones I read first 

Sadly, for a time I was in a (bad) relationship with a non-reader, who made it very inconvenient and difficult for me to read. It took me years to get back into it. I've been catching up, though!

Now my own daughter sneaks books after bedtime. I have such a hard time being a strict mom and enforcing lights-out time when I know how much she wants to finish that book...

A German author, Erich Kaestner, said in one of his children's books that people who can read have a second pair of eyes. Somehow that phrase always appealed to me.


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## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

KindleKay (aka #1652) said:


> Ah, pom, and now I show my age:
> 
> There was no such thing as a iPod/CD player/gameboy when I was in school.....
> 
> *sigh* I am old....


Ditto! We had transistor radios when I was in elementary school (AM only, of course). LOL

To answer the original question, I grew up in a family of readers. Both of my parents were readers. My father loved Sherlock Holmes and all mysteries. My mother read everything. Dad did watch TV as well, but Mom read a book while he watched. My brother and one of my sisters are big readers still. One sister doesn't have time or inclination to read for pleasure. I don't think she caught the "bug" as a kid.

My kids are all readers as well. My teen daughter is reading everything she can find that she likes. My youngest son just plows through books like crazy -- big huge ones are no match for him! My oldest teen son doesn't read at the moment. He's too busy IMing with his friends.

Oddly enough, my hubby does not read at all. His mother is a voracious reader as is his sister and her husband. I think they are the only ones in the family that read like I do though.

I love books, all kinds of books. Our house is filled with books, much to my hubby's dismay. I didn't read much for pleasure for several years while my kids were little due to lack of time. I only recently got back to reading for pleasure. I never thought the Kindle would re-kindle (haha) my passion for reading but it has. I've gone book-nuts!

EllenR


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