As I go through another night of not sleeping, I was about
to pick up a book to read when I took a moment to ponder the action. There was a time where you would have not
found me reading a book that was not required for a class. Shocking, I know.
As a child, I was not a big fan of reading (Unless it was Goose
Goofs Off in the Sweet Pickles series, which I still have
memorized). In fact, according to my
mother, if given the choice, give me math flash cards over a book any day of
the week and twice on Sunday. I actually
remember being in the lower reading class in early elementary school. I also remember (while in second grade, I
believe) my mother trying to help me with reading by having me read aloud to
her. I read what I saw, which I was told
was incorrect and to try again. I
remember at some point my mother becoming a little exasperated with me, because
I continually did not read it correctly.
If I recall, she felt I wasn’t paying close attention to the words. I remember being confused because I was just
reading what I saw.
In the middle of third grade something must have “clicked”
because I was moved from the lower reading class to the upper one (mind you,
this was back in the day when schools actually taught to the student’s ability
level, before we “Left No Child Behind”).
From this point on, with the exception of spelling, I was typically a
straight A student (to this day, I am still a horrible speller).
Fast forward to my early 20’s. At this point I am married to the son of an
English teacher (Aaron has many other qualifications, but not relevant to this
particular blog). As the son of an
English teacher, he reads books for fun (yes, I know, the horror!). Aaron cannot understand why I don’t. I just don’t find it fun or
entertaining. However, I decide to give
it a try, in little snippets. Enter the Chicken
Soup for the Soul series. The
stories in this series were short and I found them entertaining, strangely
enough. From there, I moved on to books
by Janette Oke. If you are unfamiliar,
she is a Christian historical fiction writer.
I enjoyed reading Ms. Oke because her books were short and typically dealt
with the settling of the western frontier.
I continued to branch out from there.
Somewhere along the line I became a rabid reader (I actually
read the entire Twilight series in under a week). I re-read books when I run out of new reading
material. I read every night. Books have become such an integral part of my
life I can’t imagine not reading. I
actually read MORE books than Aaron does now.
I believe reading has helped me become a more well-rounded
person (it has certainly helped with my spelling). It’s definitely made me a more informed
person. So, why am I blogging about
this? For one, it’s the middle of the
night and it gives me something to do.
Secondly, I wish to share my reading joy. If I can transform from a person who shrieks in
horror at the thought of reading for pleasure to book worm, you can too!
Until tomorrow – Melissa
PS – I’d love to hear about your favorite books and what you’re
reading now.
