Now some people have been reading ever since they were wee people crawling around on the floor. But some of us (ahem, like myself) weren’t the best readers until later in life. I’m asking you to tell me what book got you into reading, if you weren’t one of those people reading since (basically) birth.
What book got me into reading?
I was a really bad reader until high school (16-17 years old). As a kid, I read Harry Potter and maybe one Goosebumps book and that was it. My parents couldn’t get me to read anything else AT ALL.
Finally, when I was older, I decided I wanted to be a reader (yes, I just decided it was something I wanted to be). So I picked up The Odyssey by Homer and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and those were my first two books I read officially as a self-proclaimed reader! I vividly remember walking around my high school campus with A Clockwork Orange and my little printed-from-the-internet dictionary for that book (if you haven’t read it, there are a lot of slang words made up by Burgess used in the novel, and you can’t actually comprehend the book well without knowing what the words mean). Looking back, it seems like those were quite ambitious reads for my first two? Nowadays I would have shoved Twilight or something like that at myself.
So now tell me your story about getting into books! I’d love to hear.
If you can’t really remember specifically what book got you into reading, can you remember one of the first books you read when you became a “reader”? Or have you been reading since forever?
A.S. Thornton has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts. When not writing, she’s caring for dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though, because those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention. Thornton’s debut, DAUGHTER OF THE SALT KING is available wherever books are sold.
Editing Advantage
I’ve always been a reader because my parents always read to me before bed. I know my dad read Treasure Island to me, but I don’t remember anything that happens. In elementary school, I was obsessed with A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Ali
Aw, I love that your dad read you Treasure Island! I just read that one for the first time a couple of years ago – it’s a lot of fun (:
Aj @ Read All The Things!
I hated reading as a kid and refused to do it. The book that got me into reading was The Tommyknockers by Stephen King. I think I read it when I was 11 or 12. After that, I wanted to read all the scary books.
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Ali
Hahaha that’s so funny, because I hated reading too EXCEPT horror. I read a lot of inappropriate horror novels for my age, but I definitely wasn’t a “reader” – I only read those once in a while. We were weird kids, I guess XD
Chrystal
I’ve always read. But my real jump into being avid reader came in college. My Mom had been reading Harry Potter and made my sister and I read the books. And she introduced us to Twilight too. We started countdown to the next book release for each and eventually for the movies too. After those two series – I began reading all the time again. I’ve always attributed my love of books to my Mom – as a child she took us to the library every week. 😀
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Ali
That’s awesome!! Both HP and Twilight were great series to introduce people to reading – it can be fun AND addicting!
Esther
Like most of our generation, Harry Potter were the first books that got me into reading. I started with book 1 when I was 7 years old and never stopped reading. I had my reading slumps, but I was always reading something (fan fiction, internet articles, blogs). After that, I remember reading a LOT of Agatha Christie because we had her collection at home. But I guess I can’t pin an exact book. I was one of those that loved reading since I learned how to. I remember vividly when I finished the last short story the book I was learning how to read with had and telling my mom excitedly. I must have been 5 or 6. It’s lovely to hear other stories about this. Your two choices were definitely very intense haha, I love that.
Ali
Harry Potter for sure was an important book for me, too. Though in elementary school I literally ONLY read the HP books… so I never branched out. I haven’t read anything by Agatha Christie, but I really want to because so many people talk about loving her stories as kids!
Aimee (Aimee, Always)
Whoa, seems like you started off with some heavy books! In contrast, I started off with a very light book–the movie tie-in version of Red Riding Hood (the movie starring Amanda Seyfried). I read the book because my parents didn’t want to watch the movie with me. XD I got addicted to reading YA after that!
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Ali
hahaha, I love that you have a very specific event that got you really into reading. You’ll always remember that book!
Irina
Can’t remember which one came first but it was either the Bruce Coville’s Alien Adventures series or Bunnicular by Deborah and James Howe (both of which I re-read last year lol) around the time I was probably 8. I still have some of my book reports that I wrote about Alien’s Ate My Homework and Search for Snout.
Lucia @Reading Is My Breathing
I have been one of those who have been reading since forever . One of my first thoughts as kid that I can remember was “I cannot wait to learn how to read because daddy never reads long enough to me” LOL. But there is book that I will never forget, the one that stopped my reading of fairytales and started my real “bookworm carrier” and it was Firestarter by Stephen King. It launched my one and only love for all paranormal/fantasy stories 🙂
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Ali
Awww, I love that. I definitely didn’t enjoy getting read to that much as I got older (I always fell asleep), so I think it’s really cool that you did! And hooray for Stephen King. There have a been a few people who said he got them into reading!
Bec (@booktineus)
I did a post about this ages ago and completely forgot I had hahahaa
I’ve always been a bit of a reader, but I didn’t really get into reading until I started high school. The friends who came over from my primary school because arseholes in high school, so I found myself floating around the edges of many groups and turned to books to fill my time. It started with Nancy Drew, and then eventually I discovered Kate Forsyth and fantasy.
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Ali
It was high school for me, too! That’s too bad that people being jerks is what caused it, but I guess it worked out in the end 😀
Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight
So I have been one of those “forever readers”, but I remember the book that got me from casual enthusiastic reader to straight up rabid reader. My former aunt (they divorced hah) bought me Stacey and the Missing Ring, which is a Baby-Sitter’s Club Mystery- when I turned 8. So like, middle of the series even, but I read that book until the cover was basically falling off. And then I started hoarding the series in general, and then I basically never stopped reading! The Hunger Games got me into adulthood reading though- I kind of fell out of it during college, but then read THG and was so, so hooked again!
And those ARE two pretty impressive books to get into reading with! I love that you just decided to be a reader, that is such a fun story! Thanks for sharing it with us 😀
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Ali
I read THG in college, too! I remember walking EVERYWHERE with my nose stuffed in those pages. I wouldn’t stop reading when I walked from class to class and I would keep reading until the prof starting talking. So I can relate! I love that you had your kid read that you read until the cover was essentially off XD I hope you still have that copy!