Comments on: Indoctrination (BTT)

By: heather

heather — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:11:58 +0000

Aaron: Forced to read?! Oh heavens, good thing mom probably knew better than to try that with me. I was such a stubborn kid that if she’d done that it would have backfired. Good of your cousin to drag you two into his/her fantasy phase!

Bridget: Heh, yeah, and yet… I’m always amazed by the number of people who see reading as a chore.

By: Bridget

Bridget — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 21:43:04 +0000

What a great post! I remember being surprised when I got older, and knew other kids in my class whose parents had college degrees, and they and their parents only read when they had to! I guess I had always figured that if my parents, who never went to college, read all the time, surely people who had gone to college liked to read …

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:11:59 +0000

In my family, we were all forced to read a little everyday when we were young. After a certain age, we were only encouraged. My dad talks to kids like they're adults, so it wasn't long before I was reading classics like Moby Dick and The Count of Monte Cristo. When I really got into reading was when a cousin discovered fantasy novels, like those of David Eddings and Terry Brooks. My older brother and I followed along, and fantasy's been the backbone of our reading ever since. Interestingly enough, that happened right around the time we were going through our stealing phase (I was about 12, I think). We must have stolen dozens of books that summer. =)

By: heather

heather — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:14:30 +0000

Diane: Some of my best reading memories of childhood still involve the Little House and Black Stallion books. I’m glad the book had the same appeal for your daughter that it did for you!

Cynthia: It’s so rare to find someone else who loved the Silmarillion! Whoo! And it’s so sad to hear that so many of those going into college don’t like to read. If you enjoy reading you can learn so much about almost anything just by picking up a book!

ScottM: Haha, it took me ages to convince mom to stop telling embarrassing stories to new friends of mine. Those reading afternoons at your grandparents sound lovely!

Merri: It certainly seems like most of the people who responded to this meme either had parents who loved to read or at least had parents who greatly encouraged their love of reading. Parents have such an influence over these things.

Cereal Girl: I certainly know of the Doc Savage books, but haven’t seen them around, although when I was at MIT I’m sure we had them in the SF library there. I expect they’re out of print.

Literary Feline: lol, yeah, it’s a lot less risky with a book than with a pool!

kat: Definitely tons of fond memories! This meme seems to be bringing everyone out of the woodwork. It’s really nifty.

By: kat

kat — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:01:32 +0000

I’d love to see that library. It seems that we all have fond memories with books.

By: Literary Feline

Literary Feline — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:09:54 +0000

I too found my love for reading through my family. Both of my parents are avid readers and encouraged me to read throughout my childhood. Your mother’s trick to get you to read reminds me of the time my dad threw me into the middle of the pool to remind me that I knew how to swim. Except your mother’s experiment had a better outcome.

By: Cereal Girl

Cereal Girl — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:13:00 +0000

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, yes. But did you ever read the Doc Savage books? For some reason I liked these very ‘pulp’ adventures almost as much as the Famous Five etc.

I’ve never seen Doc Savage in the bookstores. Racist? Sexist? Or just out of print? It’s a mystery.

By: Merri

Merri — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:06:09 +0000

It is so great to see so many whose mothers imparted their own love of reading…
My Mom would let us read and read..we would almost be drugged by the books, it was great!

By: ScottM

ScottM — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:04:18 +0000

Yeah, my parents were also big readers and big on sharing their love. My brother and I both got the bug young; my early reading days are some of the embarrassing stories that Dad brings out when he’s meeting someone new to me.

My grandparents were also big readers; we’d all curl up on couches (and grandpa’s big chair) and read in the afternoon when we visited. It worked out very well…

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:17:10 +0000

My mom encouraged me to read and then as I became a teenager, she’d beg me to take my head out of the book for a few moments to listen to what she was saying or to go do an errand. Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Secret Seven and yes, even Mills & Boon back in the day (lol). I don’t like romance novels though, give me a good mystery and I’m in heaven. I enjoy Tolkein’s works as well. I particularly like the Silmarillion. Am a lover of CS Lewis’ work as well. There is not enough space here for my rants of loving to read… I’ve not been doing as much of it as I would I like of late but I plan to change that very soon.

As a side issue, I was conducting interviews all day today with prospective Mass Communication students hoping to get into the programme at the college where I teach and sadly, a lot of them were rather frank in saying that they don’t read and do not like to read