Why I Read
I don’t know why some people like reading and others don’t, except somewhere along the line I think those who find reading boring haven’t been pointed in the right direction. When I say ‘the right direction’ I don’t mean towards what is considered ‘good’ or high-brow literature, but what is enjoyable, what makes you sit immersed in another world for hour upon hour, hesitant to re-join reality. As a child, I devoured books. I remember reading so much, my mother worried about it. I loved adventure and mystery; far-off lands where magical things happened. My first forays into literature were with school set texts: Animal Farm and The Mayor of Casterbridge, stories that have stayed with me for years, perhaps because I had to learn huge chunks of quotes! Mrs Dalloway was one of the first literary books I chose to read myself. I read it in the holidays before I left school. It was August and I was working at a plant nursery. The c...