My Reading History
My First Memories of Reading
My mom read all the time growing up.
She melted away into her books.
It fascinated me at first.
The Change
My father would make negative comments and get upset that she was giving her attention to whatever book she was reading. So, at a very early age I had a distain for reading and could not understand why anyone would want to waste their time doing it.
Early Years of School
I carried this attitude throughout my years of schooling, pretending to read and daydreaming about going outside to play. I also read very slowly, I still do. I have a difficult time skimming because I think I’m cheating or not being honest. I have to read every single word and really concentrate and think about those words to really comprehend a text.
Junior High
In 7th grade I fell in love with Shakespeare.
The love of reading was short lived because Shakespeare was only covered in 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th grade.
One play each of those years.
College
My entire attitude toward reading changed in college when I read Fallen Angels in Adolescent Literature my junior year. That one book was the key to opening the locked door of literature. I couldn’t get enough to read. It was a whole new world for me. This continued with another class, Great Books that same year and the teacher was amazing. I will never forget how mesmerized I was when she read Old Yeller to us as adults, I felt like I was hearing it for the first time and I didn’t want her to stop.
Presently
I still love reading today but am leery of reading around other people because I don’t ever want to be treated the way my father treated my mother.