Did anyone grow up completely uninterested in books and reading?

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   Drew Lawrenceposted 10 years ago

   What age did you have a change of heart or did that feeling never change and you only enjoy writing?

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      Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I was severely dyslexic as a kid. There was nothing I hated more than being forced to read out loud in class because I couldn't do it without stumbling over the words. Even reading silently was torture. It took 4 years of my mother forcing me to read every single day for my brain to get the hang of it. Once I was able to do it easily, it was such a part of my life that I never stopped.

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      Kylyssaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This is a great question. I'm fascinated by the subject of writers who don't enjoy reading. Writers who don't like reading are like photographers who don't like photographs or painters who don't like paintings.
      
      I can't remember a time when I didn't adore reading.

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         JennyDelToroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I think it might have something to do with what you prefer to write. I don't enjoy writing fiction nearly as much as non-fiction, so I supposed that explains why I don't enjoy novels very much. I do, however, love reading and keeping up with the news. I'm a news junkie rather than a book junkie I guess

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            Kylyssaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Ah, but you still love reading. If you didn't, you'd likely watch videos instead or do whatever else it is that non-readers do to stay aware of the wider world. I'm a science, technology, and social issues news junkie as well as a fiction, non-fiction, and textbook reading junkie.
            
            That's why this topic is fascinating, because it's so unusual that one almost immediately tries to figure out what type of reading writers who dislike reading actually do like. It's rare, but there are writers who read not so much as an article, forum post, or email unless they absolutely have to.

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   Richard-Bivinsposted 10 years ago

   Even though I graduated in the top 10% of my HS class, I hated to read.  I was/am an extremely good listener and visual learner.  At 18 and after HS I joined the Army and part of my duty called for me to be sent to the field for weeks at a time.  I'd only have the company of one or 2 other soldiers during that time and you can only play spades so much so that is when I took an interest in reading... out of share boredom.  Eventually, books and then writing became my passion.

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      Drew Lawrenceposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for your service! I posted it in a response to a comment before but I find it interesting that the word "passion" implies suffering and enduring tough/non-enjoyable times in the latin sense.  I believe a lot of times we find our passion, or it finds us, only after we endure hardships that are sometimes as harmless as boredom.

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   Snakesmumposted 10 years ago

   Can't imagine not reading for at least part of the day, and can't remember not being able to read.   I do recall being read to as a very small child, so perhaps it was this that got me into the habit of reading.   Now I also enjoy writing for pleasure.

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   Amanda108posted 10 years ago

   I've always loved to read and I've always felt the urge to write. (Which isn't to say either skill was learned easily, though.)
   
   I feel lucky to have a love of reading come to me naturally. It doesn't mean that I'm any more intelligent or sophisticated than those who prefer a different medium or struggle through books, however; yet society often seems to believe that is so. I have to confess that as a kid and teen I indulged in that superiority complex occasionally, thinking, "How can you possibly not enjoy books?" in a snobbish mental voice. Now I know that it's just difference in taste or thinking, for the most part. While I still feel a little pang in my heart, a little "Why? How?" at the thought of someone's active dislike of reading, I understand that there are - thankfully - many ways to trigger the imagination and enrich the mind outside of the written word. But like I said, I still feel lucky when I think about it because being a bookworm adds so much enjoyment to my life, personally.

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      Drew Lawrenceposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I feel the same way when the topic is something I'm real interested in.  With students in school not having a choice in what they read for the most part, I think most kids develop a negative attitude towards all books in general.  I remember always picking out the sports books as a kid in school and being told to put them down and read what we had assigned for class.  I think kids would be better off and develop better if they were allowed to follow and do what they naturally enjoy.

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         Amanda108posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I couldn't agree more!
         
         While I understand that there are certain basics a child must learn in order to function well in the world later in life I do wish we could focus that learning process more on giving them freedom and fun rather than just sitting still and memorizing facts. As much as possible, let them learn from the real world around them as they experience it, such as museums and novels and games and volunteering outside the home. I believe having a choice in what is assigned would be a large part in this. Not, "No homework ever!", but rather - for example - once they've learned to read they can then practice and do book reports on any story they choose, for example, as opposed to being forced to read "proper literature" that only 'teaches' them that reading is something stiff, formal, and forced in most cases.

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   Aria16posted 10 years ago

   When I was younger I did not enjoy reading, and my older siblings did, but When I was introduced to a really good book it changed my whole outlook on books, and now I love it.

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   JennyDelToroposted 10 years ago

   I have never had the urge to read quite like I have the urge to write. When I was a kid I enjoyed reading probably a little more than the average kid, but I was never ravenous for books. As an adult I honestly prefer a good tv show, I'm not ashamed to admit it either I always loved Steinbeck, but I love Walking Dead more. Sorry Steinbeck.

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