KC and the Sunshine Chats (5): The Evolution of Two Readers

So...it's been a while. That's totally my bad. I've been busy and sort of dropped the ball. However, as Rafiki says, "IT IS TIME."

In this installment of KC and the Sunshine Chats, Kara of Great Imaginations and I are going to take you on a little journey to the past. We’ll delve into our history as readers and how we came to be the lovely, well-read bloggers you all know and love.

CF: Reading has been a crucial part of my development from day one. My parents are huge readers themselves, and they always shared that with me. They read to me every single day for at least a half hour when I was really young. In fact, when my mom took baby me to Ohio for a month or so for my grandfather’s funeral, Dad even recorded a cassette tape of him reading some of my favorite picture books, so that I wouldn’t forget him! How cute is that?!?! How about you, Kara? Did your parents raise you to love reading?

KM: First of all, me, well-read? Bahahaha. I appreciate that sentiment but it cracked me up because I do not feel that way at all. Yes, my mom did. She used to read to me in a rocking chair from a very young age, and I believe she taught me to read when I was four. I’ve always had a love of words and reading, and I had a pretty large Golden Book collection. I remember sitting in the living room while she quizzed me over and over for spelling bees, which I did rather well in. I still remember getting eliminated over one because I spelled ‘course’ wrong. I spelled it ‘coarse’ and they wanted the other one and I did not ask for it to be used in a sentence. To this day I have not gotten over it. Can’t you tell? Ha. And maybe spelling bees aren’t exactly reading per se, but it did help develop my love of words and the way they sound. Christina, you always amaze me because of your speed of reading. I used to be a very fast reader but as I’ve aged (and began editing), my speed has slowed down A LOT. Have you always read that fast?

CF: Hmmm, I don’t really know how to answer that, because I don’t feel like I do read quickly. I just read at the speed I read, you know? I suspect, yes? Reading always came to me a bit more easily than average, but I got a lot of practice. When I was of reading age, my parents would still read with me, but sometimes I would read aloud to them instead (a practice that continues to this day on road trips). We would also read plays or comic strips aloud with voices. Haha. NERDY FAMILY IS NERDY. All of this reading aloud always came in really handy in English classes. I am so prepped for my dream job of audiobook narrator! I read all of The Age of Miracles aloud to my parents on a car trip from Pittsburgh to Atlanta. Woo! How about you, Kara? Read aloud much?

KM: WOW. Ummmm, no. I’m sure my mom made me do that with her, but I don’t have a memory of it, really. I had a voice recorder and I used to sing nursery rhymes out loud but that’s the only evidence I have of me doing anything out loud. That being said, I do like to read out loud to myself sometimes. I’ll be reading a book and then a certain section of it sticks out to me and I think, “This is something that has to be read out loud.” And I do. I’ve read out loud to Dan a lot too. There’s a lot of books I want him to read but he thinks he will hate them (Harry Potter--GASP), so I read sections so he can complain some more and say he won’t like it. Haha.

One thing I really do remember though is reading a lot in the summertime. Visiting the local library and literally finding it hard to pick out books as I had read most of them already. Staying indoors when everyone else was outside because I would rather be lost in a book than socializing. That part of me still hasn’t changed. And I remember my mom trying to make me go outside and telling me to put the books down, I was reading too much. I guess she thought I was missing out on life or something, but I disagree. I wish I had read more, and for a long time in my teen years and early adulthood, I lost my love for reading. Not saying it was due to her choices but it did influence me a little. I’m just glad I found my way back to books. Do you have any interesting summer memories like these?

CF: Did you ever manage to convince Dan to read them? I totally had to nag my parents like crazy to read Harry Potter, and then they tried to quit saying all the letters were boring and I was like KEEP GOING and then they were like THIS IS SO AWESOME.

Well, for the most part, my parents totally didn’t try to stop me reading. I’m always sad when I’m at a library and the parents are like “No, you can’t have that book,” because you want them to want to read. Anyway, I DO remember an instance that my parents STILL like to tease me about. We were on vacation somewhere out west and driving through the mountains. I was in the backseat all comfy and reading a good book; they told me to look at the scenery, and I was like “CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT I AM READING?” which they did not think justified not looking at the mountains. Le sigh. Reading wasn’t really seasonal for me, though. Pretty much all times were open season on books.

KM: No, he refuses to read them. He read part of the first book and said he thought they were too childish. I tried to explain to him that they get darker and deeper but no dice. Someday I will try again but he is dead set against reading any children’s fiction. *GASP*

LOL that totally sounds like something my parents would say. When I was little, I had a tough time focusing on schoolwork, so as much as I wanted to read, it took a backseat to homework. I think I still read some, I just remember doing the most of my reading and library tripping in the summertime. I was also involved in the Girl Scouts a lot so there went some more time for reading. :D But I have a question for you. Do you remember the first book or books that really made you fall in love with reading? For me, there were a couple--Nancy Drew, most definitely, and also, The Secret Garden. There were so many though. Ramona, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Secrets of the Shopping Mall, The Witch of Blackbird Pond...what are yours?

CF: ...and this is the man who read Fifty Shades. He clearly needs to sort out his priorities.

Hmmm, not really, actually, which I think is a shame. There are some that stand out in my memory as things I read over and over, though: there was this one picture book, which I tracked down on the internet (it was NOT easy) called Enchanted Beasts that I LOVED. It had classic tales, like the lion and the unicorn, pegasus, etc. I was really into The Animorphs and long series like that for a while. Oh, and Johnny Tremain and The Witch of Blackbird Pond were HUGE favorites, even though I generally dislike that period of history. Then, in transitioning to adult books, it was all about Pride and Prejudice.

KM: You win. I am totally telling him this because I love it. Better yet, I’ll just let him read it. ROFL. And yay, we have The Witch of Blackbird Pond in common! Also, I have heard a TON about the Animorphs. So I think we are done? I loved this topic! It only took us forever to finish this post! I hope it gets some love! :D

Dear readers, where did your love of books come from? Do you have any great bookish memories with family or particular places? What books helped make you a reader?