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

[scarletwoman]

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

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

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

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

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

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