This was something that was instilled in me at a very young age. My parents would read to my sister and I nearly every night. I remember my mom reading fairly often. However, I think the kicker for me; the real proof of the importance of books, was my grandmother's house. To this day, my grandmother's house is full of books. In fact, I'm fairly certain there is only one room in the entire house that doesn't house at least one book, and that's the bathroom. Books, upon books, upon books... and every kind of book you could think of. Do you remember that room in the Beauty and the Beast? The library that Beast basically gives to Belle? I'm fairly certain that was my grandma's goal. But it wasn't just the books in sheer number; it was the respect for books my grandmother and mother taught me. (I still feel badly when I see a book held open upside down). When I first started writing in (text)books for school, it horrified my mother; which was a calm reaction compared to when I started writing in my Bible.
Unfortunately, somewhere in the middle of my high school career, I stopped reading for the pure enjoyment of it. For the same reason that gym class makes playing outside less enjoyable. Once you're forced to do it, it loses its luster. Then college happened. At this point, it wasn't so much that reading didn't sound appealing, I just had no time to read the things I wanted to read because I was using most of my time to read the things I had to read. In the academic study of religion, it's not uncommon to be assigned 100-200 pages of reading a night.
Well, now that I've graduated, I've finally found myself having the time to read for enjoyment. My new job at a bookstore helps a ton as well. Having finished reading four books last week, and having read a book in it's completion today, I can honestly say that I've missed this so much! Last week I read Misery, The Shining, The Dead Zone, and I am Not a Psychic; and today I finished Carrie. It's a good thing I'm a fast reader, because I have a long list to get to and new books are being published every day.
Do you have any suggestions for my list? I'm always looking for recommendations!
Thanks for reading!
-Em.
PS. If you're looking for recommendations for your next literary adventure, I would recommend visiting this site: http://whatshouldireadnext.com/