Today welcome Violet Crush to BBI!
I
started reading when I was around 15. People often ask me how I became
such an avid reader. My mom and dad enjoy reading occasionally but
having 3 daughters didn't give them enough time to indulge in it.
There
was a girl who lived in the apartment above us who was my younger
sister's age. We used to go to her house sometimes to spend time after
school. One day she showed us a tattered copy of 'Round the World in 80 days by Jules Verne'.
I took it home to read and finished it in a few hours. I loved it. As
we didn't have any compulsory classic reads for English class, this was
my first tryst with a full-fledged novel. I wanted to return it but she
forgot and I didn't remind her either. I thought I'd read it one more
time before returning but I never got around to it.
After
my first read, I became very curious and went to the school library to
explore. I read a lot of Nancy Drew books sitting in the library. After a few months my dad gave me a book that someone had gifted him. It was 'The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn'.
A 500 page book published in 1973 on the Soviet forced labour camp system
might have been a little too heavy for a 15-year-old but I read the
whole book nonetheless. I've read a lot of books since then but these 2
books have a special place in my heart.
I
always tell people it's never too late to acquire a love for reading.
Some people are lucky to have it right from their childhood and some are
lucky to discover the world of books later on. It's just a matter of
finding that 'one' book to get you hooked. Either way, all's well that ends well.
What book(s) got you hooked on reading?
I can't remember a time when I didn't love to read. In third grade I obsessed over Nancy Drew. In fourth I read my copy of Black Beauty at least 5 times. In fifth I read many abridged classics, and then my first unabridged, White Fang. I think I was hooked on reading from the time I started to read and now I've been all over my library's children's, YA, and adult sections!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Black Beauty but I love Nancy Drew even though I started reading them much later.
DeleteWhen I turned 7 I was given a collection of Classics for Children, with Oliver Twist and Ivanhoe amongst others in comic version. That is one of the first memories I have of reading on my own and then going to read the original book. Thank you for your post :)
ReplyDeleteOliver twist is a wonderful book, I'm glad you realised you loved reading that young. Thanks for the comment.
DeleteI enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Melody :)
DeleteThanks Becca for hosting February Firsts!
ReplyDeleteWow! The one book looks heavy. I'm impressed you read it at such a young age.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading this! Thanks for stopping by!
I didn't read Jules Been until a few years ago, and I still have read that one. Its a book I've always wanted to, but have never picked up.
ReplyDelete