I want to start a somewhat different sort of conversation here: What made you into a book reader?

[Curmudgeoness]

7. I think that my experience is like yours.

My mother read to us all the time when we were little, from the first books with mostly pictures to wonderful stories. She bought us books as well. And my mother was an avid reader. She would be reading every evening.

I did not, however, love reading when I was young. I struggled terribly with reading, and I still read very slowly. But I got into reading when I was in junior high with the books that they sold us at school for teens. Most of the books I read at the time were haunted stories and things like Poe. I really started to love the way stories could make me feel---scared, or sad, or happy. But I still hated to read books that I had to read in English classes, and just got Cliff's Notes to get through those classes. We had to read Shakespeare (the worst to this day to read). It was college before they introduced me to some great books and authors.

So it really came down to early exposure to books and a good example from my mother. There is always a book cracked open for me now, just like my mother.....and most of my favorite books were her favorites, so that is how I know she had a big influence on me.