Learning to Read Again

It has been some time since I read a book. I absolutely loved to read when I was a child. I have the book collection to prove it. Then it got pointless. I blame The Frontiersman, by Allan W. Eckert. I intend no offense to Mr. Eckert, but it wasn’t for me. It has been over a decade and I still remember the book that I didn’t want to get through. After that, I didn’t read any more assigned books until college. At some point, getting around reading for classes required so much creative energy that I stopped reading for fun too.

That is my cautionary tale for educators. I realize I was in the minority as a child who spent her free time with books rather than watching tv. I suppose teachers had to require reading in order to expose my classmates to it. Still, why are students forced to read books that don’t interest them? It can be discouraging. If I hadn’t been an avid reader, I might think all books are that boring. Seven- hundred plus pages of something I’ve blocked out of my mind caused me to skip out on reading novels and plays that I might have otherwise enjoyed in my own time. I was turned off by Hawthorne because of his excessive description when, in retrospect, I may have actually liked reading The Scarlet Letter.

All of this comes to mind as I try to decide which book I am going to read. Any suggestions of good ones would be appreciated.