A long, long time ago in a land far, far away four children climbed into a wardrobe to hide from a mean governess and fell into a new world.
I was HOOKED.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first book I read from cover to cover without being told to do it by either parent or teacher. Something clicked during this journey through Narnia. I finished the book and thought, ‘So this is why people read.’ It was an important AHA moment in my life.
I think many people miss or by pass this moment, which is sad. I know more people who don’t read than do.
For me, reading is a chance of adventure. To be someone else. When I read my focus narrows and all around me tends to fade. It drives my husband crazy when I sit in my chair and laugh or cry at what I’m reading.
Why do you read?
13 comments:
You hit on every reason I read. I'm glad I'm not the only one who laughs and cries with characters! Thank goodness no one but the cats hear me talk to them *grins*.
I think everyone reads to escape to another world. lol When I was young I read to travel to other worlds. Smile. It was high adventure for me.
I read to escape the stress of everyday life. The funny thing is The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe is my favorite book. I read it as a child and was swept away to a land of magic. I think that's why I write paranormal, the magic that goes into my stories. There are very few boundaries in writing about things and characters that don't exist. When I read I want to experience the magic of make believe, vampires, were-creatures and all the other paranormal beings. I want to read a book that touches all my emotions, happiness, sadness, etc. I want to experience love through the authors eyes. A good book is a treasure. My grandmother was raised during the depression and told me to always respect books. She never owned one as a child. I took her words to heart and treasure the written word. Books for me are a way to visit a place in real life would never be possible. I feel sorry for people who don't read they are missing out on so much.
As an only child reading was a way to have instant playmates. As a teenager it opened my world up and expanded my small town horizons with exotic locales and mesmerizing characters. As an adult reading is still my main hobby and has allowed me to have the most fun sitting in a recliner that is actually "legal" in the US!!! Reading is as necessary for me as breathing and I am so glad that it was something shared by myself and my father when I was a small child because it has given me a lifetime of pleasure and still does!!
jackie b central texas
It was third grade for me. My best friend, Christy, was a bookworm, and she asked me what stuff I read. When I hesitated and said "What we're told to" she sighed and showed me her bookshelf, which was filled with Judy Blumes and other great young adult books.
Suddenly, universes opened before me. From that point on, I was never found without a book in hand and another three tucked away someplace. I'd been an "average" reader before, but my voracious consumption rocketed me to the head of the class, vying with my best friend for title of "best reader." We finally got a quantification of it in 8th grade, when I scored 5 levels above her in our SRA reading kits. I scored so high on those that my teacher, realizing I'd finish the set to 12th grade reading level before the first month was out, sent me to the library to write every Friday instead.
I wish I knew what the magic button was that influenced me to read that book. I'd love to pass this gift on.
Friends are a strong infleuence. I remember in high school the girl whose locker was next to mine consumed a book very few days. It lit a fire under me.
I grew up an Army brat and the longest we ever lived anywhere was two and a half years. Packing up all my books and moving them with us meant I always had something familiar in a strange new place. I remember rereading a lot of stuff over and over and I wonder now if I found that comforting, visiting with characters I loved over and over. My parents were also readers so they always encouraged me to read and never minded when I ordered a big stack from the Scholastic book club. :)To this day the only thing that makes me happier than diving into a new stack of books is writing my own.
I think Narnia is a common thread for so many of us. I already was addicted when the librarian came and read the first one to us at school, so I went and read the whole series immediately. I read because I love it, and I write because I have learned it's just about as much fun to create the places too. I never go anywhere with out a pile of books and my e reader.
I read to escape the pressures and woe life has dumped on me. It brings me great joy, peace and much satisfaction to be able to let go for awhile and submerge myself into another world...
It started as an escape mechanism. I was one of those totally uncoordinated, chubby, greasy haired, always last to be picked kids (because I was weird.)
That all changed once I became a Freshman (well, except for the uncoordination part. Still can't play sports worth a bean.) And even though I suddenly became popular - my love for books never died. They were better friends than most people could be trusted anyway.
Oh gee I've been reading books since I learned how to string the alphabet together to form words. I've always been so different from my peers I forget what book I picked up first but I do remember that I favored those that took me on some grand adventure. Eventually I found authors like Mercedes Lackey and Anne MacCaffrey and I got hooked on talking horses and dragons. I think that's why I started collecting unicorns. Later on in my life that ability to fall into the book took away all the pain from arthritis and other medical problems that I had. Then eventually I discovered Kate Douglas' Chanku wolves and Lora Leigh's Breeds.
I depend on authors so much and there are so many of you out there that I try to keep up with because you ignite my imagination and I get to discover new places and sexy shape shifters.
I first started reading to escape the crap that my life was growing up. I'd spend every waking moment at the library or haul the books home and read up in one of the trees in the back yard. The Anne of Green Gables series was what pulled me in and the Narnia series came after that. Now, I write to escape life so that others might read my stuff and escape to my world too :-)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is the book that hooked me. I read because it takes me to a different world or time. It gives me adventures I'd never have the courage to try. It teaches me about times and places where I can never go. It takes me places I can't afford to go. Reading takes me out of myself and into a new, unexplored world and I like it.
Thanks for sharing all your different and interesting experiences.
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