Blog #1 (Experiences With Reading)

As I sit here in my local Chick-fil-A thinking retrospectively about my childhood experiences with reading, the first “thing” that popped into my mind was waiting for the midnight launch of one of the Harry Potter books and then proceeding to read the book from cover-to-cover in the span of a single day. But seeing as this was in [2000] and I was born in 1989, I’ve obviously skipped a fair chuck of my childhood so let me see if I can remember something a little further back.

Thinking back to my elementary years, the first book I can remember being fond of was a non-fiction book about the Great Barrier Reef. (I can remember asking my 3rd grade Mrs. Roundtree if I could take the book home to read.) My next memory revolves around the book Where the Red Fern Grows. Although I can’t recall what grade I read the book in, I remember connecting to the main character and his desire for a good hunting dog--even though he didn’t have the money to purchase one. Without Googling the book, all I can remember is that he somehow acquired a dog (maybe even two??) but then ended up losing one. Thinking on it now, it seems funny that I still think very fondly of this book even though I can’t remember much else about it. After that (or before that??) I remember my dad gifting me a book of fairy tales; I can remember us sitting together and reading through the stories of Puss in Boots, The Little Matchstick Girl, Ali Baba, as well as a slew of others whose titles I’ve since lost to time. Around this same time my mother gifted me a box set of The Baby-Sitters Club books. And while I can’t recall whether I liked them or not, I’m quite sure I read several of them--albeit probably not the whole set.

Then fast forwarding to 4th and 5th grade I can remember my elementary hosting a sleepover party for students who read a certain number of books in a certain amount of time, and even though I went to the sleepover in both grade levels, I am pretty sure I didn’t read many of the books I said I had read.

Then when I moved on to middle school I remember our English teacher and/or librarian explaining the AR reading program (which required us to take a test at the end of each book in order to gauge if we had comprehended what we read/where reading at the correct level/ if we were reading the required amount of time) but even though I read the required number of books for each grading period, the only books from that time period that imprinted on me were the Lord of the Rings series and the Harry Potter series. The reason why I remember those specific series is due to the fact that our music teacher was completely obsessed with them and actively encouraged us to read them--letting us read the books during our down time and checking them out over the weekend. (Which brings me back full circle to the Harry Potter midnight release I mentioned earlier.)

Then when I moved on to high school I waited, purchased, and read the three final Harry Potter books but don’t recall reading much else. (I also have this vague memory of reading The Giver but truth be told, the only reason I probably have this memory is because years ago I cleaned out my bookcase and found three copies of the book.)

Then when I entered college I remember making frequent trips to Borders and Barnes and Noble with my younger brother (who was about 12 or 13 at the time) to just browse around and see what we could find. Often he ended up with a magazine or two and I ended up a book whose movie adaptation I had just seen. (See my thinking in college was--and kind of still is--if I like the movie the book is bound to be 10x better.) And by the time I graduated college I had a whole bookcase worth of books I intended to--but never did--read.

After college I read two more series (mainly due to their movie adaptations) The Hunger Games and A Series of Unfortunate Events series but little else.

And there you have it. My more-or-less complete history of experiences related to reading.

Questions or comments?

Book Mentioned in The Post:
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkein
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Giver by Lois Lowry
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Unnamed Fairy Tale Book
Unnamed Great Barrier Reef Book