How Did You Get into Reading?

Posted on by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

Every bookworm I encounter has a story to tell.

Finding out how they started is always a heartwarming tale of discovery and exploration. But how come reading still seems to be an activity that very little people around us actively invest in? It’s as if picking up a book is a taboo act that should never be looked into and even thought about. Some even see those who find themselves enjoying the act of reading as Satan-possessed creatures!

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Growing up I realized how fragile the passion for reading is in a lot of us. It doesn’t take much for people to vow to never pick up a book again. As blasphemous as it sounds, it’s true.

Required reading remains one of the biggest reasons why many of them shut themselves off at the mere mention of literature.

Nowadays time seems to be the better excuse to not partake in any reading activity.

But what I also noticed is that with every year, mankind seems to lose a bit more of their ability to maintain an undivided attention. Yes, that very skill that allows us to focus on something without being distracted. I confidently point my finger at how society has evolved (is that even the right word?) into this world where everyone is constantly seeking distractions, constantly trying to stay up to date with everything going on around them—not just in a small radius, but in the whole wide world. Instead of being the expert of a certain thing, we strive to know a little of everything. And hey, it’s a lot easier to do so with Internet being so accessible. So, reading a book for a solid hour without doing anything else? No way. Not when I can do so many other things real quick!

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That being said, there still seems to be a lot of bookworms who survived this war of concentration and came out with an incontestable love for reading. A love so deep that it is also incredibly contagious.

But where did it all begin?

childhood

These people have been at it since the day they could open their eyes. Their parents or anyone in the family usually had a hand in it, whether it was directly or indirectly. This love for reading is what I call an intangible heirloom. With every year their love for reading was solidified and nothing could now stop them from having a book by their side at all times. And guess what? They’ll pass it down to the next generation too.

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luck

These people found their love for reading thanks to a lucky star that got them to cross paths with that one book that changed their life forever. This includes that person who got a recommendation from a friend and said: “Why not?” And what exactly happens once they try it out? They fall in love. Imagine that. A soulmate in the form of a book. Once they met, the act of reading was born and lived forever.

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selfdiscovery

These people went on to try something different. We all go through that phase in our life where we embrace everything and try to find out who we are. The exploration leads them to find exactly what they’ve always wanted and that’s when reading became a synonym to breathing.

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selfimprovement

These people looked to get better at the craft. It was about understanding how some writers were so good at hypnotizing you with words. The goal was always to perfect the art but it sort of got them hooked to reading too. After all, isn’t reading one of the best advice for a writer?

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punishment

What the hell is he going on about, right? What I’m referring to is those books that were shoved down the throat of countless folks. And that includes required reading. How exactly is a punishment an introduction to reading? No, it ain’t some twisted form of masochism. It’s that moment of epiphany, of realization where what was forced upon you turns out to be a mind-altering experience. From that moment on, no one would be able to torture these folks with a punishment in the form of reading. No, no, no.

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And what about me? Young, libraries were my secret lair to beautiful lands. Whether it was just a manga or a short story, I always did find a refuge in a book and I knew that I wouldn’t depart from them as I grew up, even if I went through all kinds of reading phases. And I completely thank my mom from letting me run around those bookshelves looking around for a book to bring home.

Now, ever since Bookidote came to life, reading really did become a huge part of me. Without it, I’m lifeless.

Now I want to know how you got into reading.

What’s your story?

Until next time,

lashaansignature

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Published by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

Reader. Reviewer. Researcher. Criminology Ph.D. Candidate. Montreal, Quebec (Canada). Want to know more? Connect with him!

110 thoughts on “How Did You Get into Reading?”

  1. My parents and older sister read to me when I was little, and my dad taught me how to read when I was in kindergarten. He wasn’t a teacher or anything like that, but he stumbled across a method that worked and showed me that reading was fun, and I’ve been a bookworm ever since!

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    1. I’ve always wondered what I would have turned out to be if I was read to as a kid to be honest. And now you got me super curious on that method your dad used on you hahah Sounds like something the world could benefit from! 😛

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      1. It turns out that he used a method that’s used in a lot of schools! It seemed logical to him, even though he never went to school for teaching.

        I wish more parents read to their kids. It seems like the easiest way to get mids into reading.

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  3. My mother was a big reader. She used to read to me all the time when I was very young, and as soon as I was old enough she would encourage ME to read to HER. I still love reading aloud to people to this day… I was a total nerd at sleepovers when I was younger reading to my friends… Weirdly enough they loved it! I’m fairly certain I was invited to more sleepovers BECAUSE OF THAT!…. And because I couldn’t sleep in strange places as a child and would stay up all night and clean their rooms… Now that I think of it, their mothers probably forced them to invite me! A private tutor and maid in one and they didn’t even have to pay me! 😂😂

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    1. Waaaaahhhhh! That is honestly really cool. The idea of making your kid to you. I do wonder if that’s something that other parents encourage. And for you to become the go-to narrator at parties???? You must also have one of the smoothest voice on earth. 😛 READ TO ME!!! ❤ You sound like the kindest souuuuul yooooo To do all that for others without thinking twice AND not get paid for it all. 🤣🤣🤣

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      1. Ha ha ha!!! Well, any excuse to read. And I wouldn’t say my voice is smooth… I once caught a girl staring at me starry eyed while I was talking to my friends way back in high school, and when I asked her what she was doing she said “listening to you. I love your voice…. YOU COULD BE A CARTOON CHARACTER!”…. I still to this day don’t know what that meant. Apparently it was a compliment?? 😕🤓📚📚📚

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  4. I credit my elementary school library for instilling a love for reading. When i was in first grade, I was so proud of the step up I took when i discovered ‘The Three investigators’ mystery series. Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Somethingoranother with their detective headquarters hidden in Jupiter’s uncles salvage yard.

    I don’t read as well as I did when I was younger. Failing vision is part of my excuse. and as you say, Lashaan, society in general has a greater difficulty in maintaining focus on a specific task Remain vigilant! Keep reading!

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    1. I’ve crossed paths with some very unenthusiastic librarians during my childhood, but those that I see in movies have ALWAYS made me wish I knew them in real life. Those fictional characters had more impact on me than real ones!! The book covers of those series are such a throwback! I don’t remember them, but they do remind me of those very used library books hahah

      Aw man, that’s unfortunate. 😦 Have you ever tried audiobooks? I feel like that situation (failing vision) would make me explore audiobooks and see if I can adapt to them.

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  5. I was just a young kid with good parents. They encouraged reading books and appreciating a good story. My dad introduced me to Lord Of The Rings when I was a young teen and I’ve read it every year since I was 15. Even have a LOTR tattoo on the left shoulder!

    My advice for a person is to read what you love. If you love romance then read a stupid romance novel. If you love horror and fantasy like me, then find Stephen King and freak yourself out with IT. I’ve read that book two times and it’s probably one of the scariest most amazing novels I have ever read. Such amazing character development! For some reason King was a big fish hook for me. I think I’ve read over 20 of his novels and it’s always a treat. Right now I’m on The Wheel of Time and it’s amazing!

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    1. I honestly believe that every parent should strongly consider introducing their kids to books/libraries very young and help them find pleasure in it. So cool that you got to go through LotR so young. I can tell you’re a die-hard fan. 🤣

      I totally agree man. I feel however that some people don’t know HOW to find WHAT they love to read. To find the right books that will launch them on a path towards reading routinely seems really hard. My first and only King novel read so far is actually The Gunslinger and I really enjoyed it. And I actually plan on getting through the Wheel of Time soon! Has it been a 5 star ride since book 1 for you? 😮

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      1. The Wheel of Time is a great adventure. It’s very long and has as extensive character development and story. It is interesting because you will favor certain persons and never hear about them for an entire book. But it’s 14 books so it makes sense that it’s very drawn out.

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  6. I got into reading as a kid (my mother is an author and my father is an editor). I don’t remember the details exactly but they definitely read a lot of books to us and then as we grew up we started getting books out of the library in the holidays.

    I got bit distracted by gaming and sports in my early teen years and then rediscovered my love of books as I approached 20.

    For me reading is the ultimate escapism because it requires you to imagine things and it therefore takes the majority of your attention. You can’t sit there imagining a space ship blowing apart aliens while simultaneously thinking about the day you had at work! Well maybe some can… but I sure can’t 🙂

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    1. Wow, that is honestly really cool. They must have been a very creative couple! And also the perfect combo for you to get into reading.

      I can confirm that gaming and sports are still distractions for me today, also I welcome them (love them too much to abandon them), but sometimes… It makes me wonder about all the books I could’ve finished if I cut on all those other hobbies hahah

      Absolutely!! That’s why we love our SFF books. 😀 Escapism all the way!

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  7. I was definitely a childhood reader. My nana definitely played a huge part in it. She would read to me constantly and always tell me stories. I started out with those early learner letter books and then moved on from there. Even when I was little I used to love getting lost in a story. I remember being obsessed with Goosebumps and The Babysitters Club before of course discovering Harry Potter 😂 I did stop reading for quiet a few years in my early 20s so there was definitely a bit of self-discovery when I decided to to start again!!

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    1. I love hearing about kids being read to. I swear, it’s one thing seeing it in movies, but knowing that it is something that is done in real life and works wonders in a long term perspective is heartwarming. And yoooo I always enjoyed taking a Goosebumps story out of the library. And the show?!?! That thing was addictive and sooo freaky!!! 😛 The last years of high school was also a period where I barely read for pleasure myself. I’m just glad I got back into and don’t see myself ever quitting again!! 😛

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  9. I love this post!! I started reading in my childhood, I read so many books back then, I don’t know how I actually did it since now I struggle to find time to do it (or maybe I struggle to take the time to do it?). I read the first 5 Harry Potter’s books 5 times each and now I still have a book I haven’t finished that I started on January…! 😦

    I got it from my parents that have a massive amount of books but I kind of lost it when I found myself spending too much time on the internet :/
    But I’m really trying to get into it again, my favourite places are still bookshops and I’ve never lost the love of reading even though I don’t take enough time to do it 🙂

    Thank you!!!

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    1. I definitely feel like time will always be an issue as we grow up though. With responsibilities and what not. So much of it comes down to what you’re willing to sacrifice to make time to read too. Wow. Don’t kill me, but I have yet to read the HP series, even if I own the whole series hihih

      I really, really love hearing people inheriting their parent’s book collection. It’s honestly something I hope will be able to do as well. I feel like passing it down to them makes for such a precious gift. I hope you find the time to enjoy your own, Caro! 😉 Thanks for sharing your story!

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  10. Great post! I’m going to steal the basic idea so I can have a non-review post in the coming week or so.

    I really like your point about the passing on of the love of reading as an intangible heirloom.

    For me, it was definitely growing up and my mom reading to me.

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  11. I do agree with you on how this crazy society of constant distractions has made it so difficult for people to even consider reading as a possibility. Luckily, my love for books has been solidified since I was a kid, and the more books I read the greater my urge to read is. It’s too bad more people don’t give reading a shot.

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    1. Right? With facebook, twitter, instagram, snapchat and what not, I feel like a lot of people have lost their ability to enjoy things like books that require focus and peace. So happy to hear your undying love for literature though, and that definitely gives me hope that books will always be relevant!

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  12. Seeing pictures with scribbles I couldnt make sence of, untill I was shown what an alphabet was. I struggled learning each letter. My dad had a hard time beating into me. I will forever be in his dept.

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  14. I started very young like most book lovers, and I remember the library being very important to me. I was about 10 when I discovered that I loved fantasy and horror, but most of the good books were in the adult section, and the librarian would not let me check them out! When I discovered Stephen King, that was it. My mother was appalled that her daughter could read “trash” like that. I guess I’ve always been a rebel!

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    1. Honestly, I would have believed you were born with a book hahahaha I remember how amazing it was to finally step foot in the adult section at my library even if I wasn’t one. It felt like a whole new universe opened to me hahaha I’m dying at your mother’s comments!!!!! I used to think Stephen King was some overrated writer who always published a book every 6 months of something just because he was eveeeerywhere hahaha 😛

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  15. Love this post!

    I also spent a lot of my childhood in libraries. When I was very young we were really broke. My mum had two kids she had to figure out what to do with by herself with very few resources and so a ‘day out’ for us on a weekend would be a trip down to the library. When you’re a broke single parent really the best thing you can do is find something that your kid loves that is free (haha), and fortunately for me, that turned out to be reading. So thanks to my mum I guess 🙂

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  18. This is such a beautiful post, I love it ❤ I started reading… well I can't even remember when it started, early on, as a baby I had books all around me already, so I was meant to be a big reader I guess 😛

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  19. Awe, I love this post! I’ve definitely always loved reading and had a huge collection of audiobooks and picture books and then books with words as I grew older. I think the only time I ever got in trouble was when I stayed up to read past my bedtime. Stories and what they can make you feel, that’s always been something that I loved. That little escape 😀 I’d like to think I was born with that curiosity, but I didn’t really get it from my parents. Lovely people as they are, they always claim to have no time for books. If they read one per year, it’s an accomplishment.

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    1. Thank you, Kat!! ❤ You had audiobooks as a kid!!? That actually sounds like a fun way to enjoy them young! 😮 Hahahaha good ol' Kat back at it again with her books way past her bedtime! 😛 I'm definitely happy if anyone at least TRIES to read, even if it's once a year, but if they end up complaining about how impossible it is to read more, I'll start questioning myself about their abilities hahah So many ways to make time for books! 😛

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      1. I think they were mostly fairy tales and more like audio plays than books maybe, but it was kids content. It had to be as fun as possible haha I mostly listened to them when I went to bed.

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  20. I remember I use to HATE reading just because we had to be required to do so in school. To me, it made reading less fun. The one day a friend of mine was reading Twilight. I asked her what it was about and became so intrigued that I picked up and read it. Ever since then I’ve been in love with reading and have wanted to continue reading. 🙂

    -Amber @ Escape Life in the Pages

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    1. I feel you… I had some really bad required reading through high school that made me question literature. I’m glad that I didn’t let those stop me from discovering reading. It’s funny how Twilight and Hunger Games are actually really popular 1st-book-to-get-me-into-reading for a lot of people! I’m glad it was was for, Amber!! 😀

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  22. I used to read a lot when I was a kid. Then I got to high school then there was a period of several years stretching into my college years where I never picked up a book outside of stuff for class. I think I only got back into reading in around 2010 when I got into fantasy, and then I started my blog. Now I read more than I ever have 😀

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    1. I went through a similar phase too! 😛 Although I completely understand why we don’t read as much because of required reading for class with those books taking most of our reading time anyways. But once I discovered fantasy books myself… I can’t see myself not reading them anymore hahahah 😀 Thanks for sharing you story. 😉

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  23. Yes I agree! I used to read a lot when I was in elementary school, but then stopped once I hit middle and high school (which is where all that required reading is). I slowly got back into it, but I would say that it was all due to my love of stories. And also rediscovering the YA genre!

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    1. Absolutely!!! I totally relate with you. I barely read for my own personal pleasure during high school and college. Too many required reading stopped me from exploring things for my own fun, but now? Can’t see myself not hunting down the next big hit! 😛 Thanks for sharing, Valerie!!

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    1. Oh man, that sounded really sad for a moment. But it’s understandable. Sometimes we just forget what we love for a second until we later realize how much we loved it. Glad to hear The Hunger Games helped get back into the game. 😉 Thanks for sharing, Nikola.

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  26. For me I actually have a couple of reading origin stories. The first was definitely childhood, I grew up with my parents reading to me and then when I could me reading to myself. My parents brought my the Harry Potter books which I loved. The second was luck I think, one day I picked up Twilight and was hooked. That was the book that led to me discovering the YA genre and since then I’ve been in love (you can probably tell based on my blog right?!)
    Great post Lashaan. 🙂 ❤

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    1. I honestly have always wondered what it’s like to be read to and grow up with that experience in your life. It seems like a lot of people who have had that opportunity ended up reading a lot as they grew up, and that’s really cool! 😛 And yep, those books definitely tossed you right in that ocean of love for YA! 😛 Thank you Beth!!

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  27. Ah, I am a Luck reader! It was destined that I should stumbled upon Tolkien and read those words that would forever change my life, “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit”. The rest was history as they say 💗 My mother supplied books but I have no memory of being read to, only of reading to my own siblings. I do think that one of the biggest obstacles we face as a society today is social media. It greatly adds to that time sink or lack of that we seem to encounter as one of the most given reasons for not reading. Fantastic post!

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    1. Ahahaha that is soooo poetic! I wasn’t read to either, but at least I was made sure to have access to them and to get some whenever I wanted them (my manga collection got huge really quick!). 😀 I so agree that social media plays a huge role on people’s time to read or even to discover the awesomeness of reading. Telling yourself you’ll just check what’s up on Twitter ends up eating up a solid couple of hours of your time without even knowing hahah Thank you for sharing your story, Danielle! 😉

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  31. I’m so glad i knew how to read before i went to school and got to read some cool books i chose… otherwise those horrendous books we had to read for school might have put me off for life.
    I always watched my mum and dad read and from a very young age i just wanted to copy them and be like them. We had quite a nice library at home, but from when i was 6-7 years old, my mum used to take me to the actual library too and it was almost like an adventure ❤

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    1. Tell me about it hahahah I do have to say that there were the occasional required read that were truly wonderful though, but man, I’m really grateful for the ones that I got to pick by myself. Those were some of the best books ever!

      Ouuuuhh! Learning to love to read by imitation! It’s nice to hear that. Some would say that parents who are reading while their kids are in front of them would be counter-productive, you know? And argue something like: “Oh, they should be playing with them, blablabla”. Maybe there’s some truth in there, but a healthy dose of moderation in parenting is definitely the key and I’m glad to hear that it was actually really good for you that your parents embraced their love for reading while you were around! 😀

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      1. I keep hearing this thing lately about reading/parenting. In one of my FB groups there was this mum who felt guilty for reading while her kid was around, only to discover that 10 min in her kid grabbed a book and joined her.

        Kids learn by copying, and they mainly copy their parents cuz those are the people they see most often. When i was in uni i wrote my final thesis on reading habits of kids, and a lot of them mentioned that in their house reading was frowned upon and was considered useless time wasting. I found that super sad. Like, you know, not everyone loves reading, but if another person does, why bash them?

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    1. I totally understand hahah And I don’t think there’s a magic key to unlocking it in anyone either. A mix of everything could surely help a person find their reading groove and stick to it for the rest of their life. 😀

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    1. Awwn, thank you so much for sharing your story, Dani. I’m really happy that you had access to those. They must have been the most precious things you could run into (and then came your beautiful kids). Your love for reading continues to glow radiantly and I hope you’ll be able to pass it along to your lil ones, Dani! 😉

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  34. I love this post!

    My parents used to buy me a lot of books when I was a child. I started reading fairy tales then later discovered Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High. I became a Catholic for a while because they had a library at the church lol. Anyway, I hope to pass my love for books to my children someday 🙂

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    1. Yay! Thank you Diana! ❤ Hold oooooon. You converted just to get access to a church's library???? Hahahaha The bookworm in you was stroooong! 😛 And I'm sure you'll find a way to get to them love it as much as you do. 😀

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  35. Great post, Lashaan. I fit firmly in the childhood category. I don’t know when I started, I just know that I’ve always done it, and to this day when I meet old folks who knew me as a child, their exclamations are usually along the lines of “…she was such a quiet child and always have a book everywhere she goes.”

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    1. Thank you, Z! Hahahaha once you got into it, you never let go. 😀 I do hope you won’t ever find yourself in a position where you’d have to take a super long hiatus from reading. From the looks of it, you shouldn’t be in one anytime soon too. 😉

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      1. I hope so too. 😊
        That kinda happened in college, but it was more a hiatus from books I want to read/enjoy reading. I was an English major so I still read but the material was mostly boring.

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  37. My mom read to us since we could recognize what reading is… with 5 of us we’d each get a day to pick books, so even my brother who is one of those forced reading haters, he adores books now as an adult and it’s all due to our mother. She would take the book she was reading as a fantasy fan and retell us the stories in the car too ( we spent a lot of time waiting for our father growing up). So we loved on all sorts of books from very young.

    Love this post Lashaan! Moms are so great how they know when to let us run, because it’s developing such important life skills! ♥️

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    1. 5 books in total! Bet you made them pick up books you also wanted to read just to get more out of that strategy! 😛 And wow, your mom is awesome! Story-telling coming from parents is definitely a beautiful and must-needed educational strategy. Thanks for the love, Dani! ❤

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  38. This is such a great post, I just never really think about it I have been reading since as far back as I can remember. My parents read to me a ton, so I guess that’s how it all started 🙂

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  39. What a great read! I got into reading after I learned how to read. I just wanted to use this new skill so I read all the stories in my English textbook. And when my mother saw me, she brought me books from the library but it was random, even had one about killer whales and how they make babies 😂 But I read it all. But sad to say, I’m the only bookworm in the family.

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    1. Thank you so much Marie! ❤ Awwn yay! It's nice to hear how your mom saw a beautiful opportunity to get you even more into reading. It's the intention that counts, right? 😛 A killer whale expert as a kid hahahah Did you grow up to become a marine biologist by any chance? Hihih 😀 Ahhhh no worries, there. It's most definitely the hardest thing ever to find other bookworm around us, within the family or even in our circle!

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  40. Seriously? I can’t relate to the “vow to never pick up a book again” 😀 I can’t imagine that… Although I know it must be true for a lot of people. But it’s so silly – like seeing a bad movie and saying “I’m never watching TV again” 😀 nobody would imagine that. Yet they do that for books. Ah, people.

    You’re right about the attention bit.

    For me, I don’t even know when I started reading. I was always reading. And I have my mom to thank for that. She put me on books when I was super little – at first fairytales she’d read to me and picture books, and then apparently I’d start reading those fairytales to her, and then moved on on my own. I don’t remember that myself – I just remember always reading. It truly is the best gift a parent can give their child.

    Punishment in the form of books though? I can’t even imagine that. Required reading for us… wasn’t that required. It was more like recommended. There was required reading in class, excerpts and such, but they never made us read entire books. Although I know the class reading was something that made some people hate it as well, but you can’t help that. Those people couldn’t even spell and were proud of that, so I have nothing in their defense 😀

    What an emotional post, Lashaan :,) this was wonderful.

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    1. Hahah I wouldn’t associate that vow to you anyways. 😀 That’s a hilarious comparison that definitely gets the point across. Only difference would probably that it’s waaaaayy easier to watch TV than to read hahah

      Awnn, yes! That is sooo not surprising coming from you to be honest hahah I like how you transitioned into reading to your mom before going on your adventure!

      Whaaat!? You never had required reading during high school or anything? That’s really interesting. I’m sort of convinced that, at least in Canada and USA, it’s inevitable and part of almost any and every school education program. Hahahah those who didn’t care for anything literary or school in general do tend to have a rock head… Hard to get through, nothing we can do about!

      Thanks for reading, Evelina! ❤

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  42. 😆😆Satan possessed creatures😆😆
    👹👹😈😈

    I honestly don’t recall exactly what got me into reading. My grandmother fostered that love the most, so I imagine it was from listening to her read or tell me stories. I like what you called it- an intangible heirloom. I’ve often considered that love, and my love of nature, my greatest inheritance.

    I really don’t understand the ‘excuse’ of not enough time… Any spare second, I can be found reading. A book and/or my Kindle are always with me. Even if I never get the chance during an outing (and since I can no longer drive, there’s always a chance), I still have to have them. Books are my security blanket. When I was growing up, I always wanted a PADD like in Star Trek. Now I have one! Or several if we count tablets. But that’s what you always saw them reading on.

    I think if I couldn’t read, I’d go mad. *That* loss was what I feared most when I lost one eye, and there was the real threat of losing the other. It’s what keeps me alive and sane. This was before audible was much easier to use… but still, audio books aren’t the same. At least, not to me.

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    1. Hahaahha Aww ye, your grandmother doing that is beautiful. The love to read should really be transferred from one generation to another.

      And yep. Not having time is an insane excuse. I just think people don’t understand the value of a couple of minutes, wherever you are. I too always have a book on me at all times. It’s crazy how much reading you can get done by taking advantage of those seconds where you’re doing nothing.

      I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your eye. I honestly fear the degradation of my sight like a lot of mention nowadays. Kindle has solved that issue by offering everyone the possibility of increasing the font size, but as a reader who only read paper (yep… I have yet to get a kindle and enjoy that platform for reading), if the day where I won’t be able to read every occurs, it’ll be a very, very sad one!

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  43. Pingback: Monthly Wrap-Up | May 2018 – BOOKIDOTE

  44. What an absolutely beautiful post!! I’m probably a combo of all of the above in different ways 😉 Unfortunately I’ve seen how easy it is for people to be put off reading- as horrible as that sounds!! I also grew up going to libraries and have my mum to thank for that too 🙂

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  45. Great article! I finally got back into reading for the fun of it again a few years ago. It was actually cause a musical (Fun Home) that I really wanted to see was coming to Broadway. I decided to read the graphic novel the show was based on in the meantime waiting for it to come to Broadway. Ever seen then I’ve been reading again regularly. I usually end up picking books to read that will get adapted into a tv show or movie, lol.

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    1. Wow, I love that a musical got you to read a GRAPHIC NOVEL. People don’t give them enough of a chance and should really try them out before they judge. And I totally understand that need to read the book before the show/movie hahaha I do the same as often as I can! So much fun to see how it ends up getting adapted! 😀 Thank you for sharing your story, Jodi!! 😀

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  46. I love the way you’ve described reading as an intangible heirloom for those of us who have been at it since childhood. It’s such a beautiful description; poetic, even. I suppose that’s what it’s been like for me (I’ve talked about it in a post on my own blog) – we didn’t have a TV in the house until I was about six or seven years old, so regular library visits were what our parents had to do to keep us entertained.

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    1. It was a moment of epiphany when I thought of it as an “intangible heirloom”. There’s honestly no better way for me to say it hahah Love that the library was your means for entertainment at such a young age. I got the privilege to have both as a kid and am truly happy that it turned out to be such an important part of my development! 😀

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      1. It wasn’t so bad, not having a TV straight away. If anything, it meant we’d already learned other ways to stay occupied, and my mum didn’t have to resort to sticking us in front of the telly to keep the peace. I look at my younger cousins today and I think they’d benefit from less screen-time and more reading as well.

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    1. That is pretty amazing, and definitely an ideal situation for so many of us! My parents didn’t read books in English or French, but at least my mom knew the importance of it and had me roam around libraries, and any place that had books! 😀

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  48. I don’t remember life before I could read. My parents tell me that I taught myself when I was 5, before I even went to school. And it’s always been there for me. It’s helped me deal with insomnia and family drama, and it’s allowed me to experience things that I’m petrified of from the safety of my home.

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    1. That desire to pick up a book and dive into it before you even get introduced to them through school is definitely wonderful. And I couldn’t agree more. Books are the ultimate tool of escapism. Discover so much from an outside and distant (yet sometimes very close and personal) point of view. Love live the art of reading! 😀

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