3 Steps to Becoming an Avid Reader

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I was never what you would call a reader. My first “F” was in the 2nd grade. I failed reading, and now I read about 80 books a year.

We homeschool with a literature based curriculum, yet into adulthood I was never a reader. In fact I lived in a house with no books when I was a little girl. We now have about 1,800 books in our personal library, but my love for books started with the seed of one classic. One green, aged, beauty that has followed me through every move and arrived safely at my seventeenth and final house. My most prized possession is my personal 1945 copy of Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales. It is worth exactly $4.95 on eBay but the stories I love are priceless.

One great book is all it takes to become a reader.

Reading is something I have grown into over the years, because I was not a good reader in school. The letters did not always behave for me and reading for school or a class caused me extreme anxiety. I never passed a spelling test in all of my years as a student, and I believed that meant I was stupid. After all grades don’t lie! (I hope you do not believe that) Letters and reading became much hated failures. Reading for pleasure was something I had not dreamed of until I was an adult. Up to that point I had only been assigned books, I had no idea that there were books you would read for the pure joy of reading.

Two things changed my view on books; I read the fantasy series by Piers Anthony and later, an ardent English Major brought sacks of books to church for me to read, every few weeks.

The day I read Ogre, Ogre I discovered the world of fantasy fiction. I was transformed from nonreader to series consumer overnight. I discovered the joy of reading for my own pleasure for the first time.

A few years passed and my former Sunday School student became my best book-lending dealer. He brought sacks of book in every genre. Historical novels, crime and espionage, current fiction; with each new book I discovered a place I had never been and often times in a book I never would have thought I would have enjoyed.

With seven children under eight (yes, you read that right!) books became my retreat and vacation destination.

Reading became an extended free college and social network for a homebound Mom like me. My mind was alive and hungry for more, but I was not able to be as mobil as I had once been. Reading a book fit my station in life perfectly. Over the years I read to learn new things. Crochet, knitting, painting and later blog and design have all been learned by reading. There is no lack of information on every subject. What do you want to learn about? What makes you happy? There is a book for you there.

 

I remember the first book that made me think of popular books differently.

It was not because it was a great book, but because it was a horrible movie. I had just read Congo by Michael Crichton when I found out the movie was in the theater. The movie was in fact, terrible, but with the book so fresh in my mind I realized something powerful. People are always saying that the book is so much better than the movie, and that had me wondering if it could be true.

What movies had I liked? What if it was true?

This was a theory I decided needed further investigating. I began with Gone with the Wind, and was amazed to find so much more story and background than the movie implied. When I saw The Lord of the Rings and loved the movie I knew I had to read the whole series and I never have really stopped reading since.

 

Three Things I Have Learned About Becoming a Reader

1. Never discount the possibility of developing a love affair with books. No one hates reading, but many people are reading the wrong books. Reading for your own education and pleasure is a world apart from the assigned reading of high school and college.
2. There is no set stage or age where you can’t enjoy a book. A book can help me wind down when I am extremely busy. Books were my comfort, I read when I was lonely as young mom, nursing a baby for the eighth time of the day. When I an energetic, I enjoy times where I read 4 books at a one time, keeping a pace of 80 books a year, and when I am insanely busy, I enjoy the times that it takes me all summer to get through one.
3. There are so many authors who are amazing writers. Good writing breaches all subject matter. Never turn a good author away based solely on the subject matter. I am not a civil war buff but I loved all of the books by Jeff Shaara and went on to read several other series by him because of his great writing style and use of historical documentation.

 

[Tweet “It’s not that you don’t like reading: you’re reading the wrong books”]

Want more book recommendations? Check out my good reads profile. I usually update it in chunks when I have built a good return pile for the library. HERE.

What are you reading right now? Leave me a comment and I will tell you what I am reading as well.