Since I’ve always read newspapers, the first genre I connected with was non-fiction, specifically true crime. I did branch out to other genres (historical fiction and fantasy are my two faves) as I got older, but never really got into straight fiction until about two or three years ago.

Now my reading consumption has dropped off a bit, but I still try to read a book a week in a few new genres (at least for me): mysteries and romance.

One other thing, in my opinion, readers are born, not made. My parents never really read much of anything beyond the newspaper, the tabloids, sports magazines and pulp fiction. And my brother was the same way, only reads when necessary.

My parents were avid readers and we had a house full of books. Unlike most children in West Africa I was lucky enough to go to a good school and have college educated parents, but I was not interested in reading. My mother would buy books for me, and read to me, and even beg me to read, but I was simply not interested.

Oddly enough though, one day my mother brought home one of the Redwall books and there was this cute mouse in the cover holding a sword in his paw and I was intrigued. So I read the book. In three days. And I went to the library and got every book in the Redwall series they had and I never stopped reading after that. Especially fantasy books. My mother and I love to read and we exchange books all the time, but my sister doesn’t read as much as we do, so I think it has more to do with nurture than nature in our family.

Second: I always thought I was a reader b/c of my family, and I still sort of think I am, BUT I realize now that it ISN’T because my parents read a lot. Because they don’t. Probably 50% of the books in our house growing up were mine (and keep in mind that I was 18 or under, whereas they’d had their whole lifetimes to amass a library). They didn’t read THAT much themselves (I’d say an average amount, although my dad reads TONS of newspapers and magazines) BUT they fostered reading in me. Books were the one thing I was allowed to buy without limit or guilt or “earning” (unlike candy or toys). So I “blame” my parents for my voracious reading habit, but I don’t think it’s exactly something I “inherited” from them.

(How do you like all my parentheses and quotation marks, eh? It’s been one of those days…)

I, on the other hand, loved my Little House books, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Beverly Cleary. I also still prefer fiction over non-fiction. So there are levels to this thing.

Therese, that’s odd that you didn’t discover the joy of books until you were an adult. And now look at you!

Maybe it’s not just a matter of being raised with books, but finding the books that capture a child’s attention.

My daughter on the other hand who is seven doesn’t seem to be into books near as much. She does read, but seems to do it among a long list of other things she enjoys. I am in charge of putting her to bed, and confession time. I don’t read to her near as long as my wife read to our son. By that time of the night I’m shot, and can’t keep my eyes open long enough to read for an hour, that and my daughter usually has a whole spectrum of things that seem to keep her from getting in bed on time each night. I however am a book-a-holic.

So is it environment, in the genes, or because of a conscious part on the parents behalf to read to their children. Probably a combination of the three.

I was never a book gobbler; I read what the English teachers told me to read and generally liked those books, but I didn’t read much for pleasure as a child or teen. Alternately, my sisters were both huge readers. Weird?

My sister and I both had the same parents, similar opportunities, and actually we still have very similar interests…but she is just not entertained by the written word. IT DRIVES ME BATTY!!!!

I don’t have children, but am very close to my 3 nephews, who are being raised in a home filled to overflowing with books and by two parents who read to them and for their own pleasure all the time.

Nephews 1 and 3 have been readers since they learned to hold books. The older one, who is now 14, will read anything that falls within his eyesight. The younger one is a little pickier, but I figure he’ll branch out as he gets a older. He is 9.

The middle one, however, would rather play football, basketball, ride his skateboard, play the bass, do almost anything but read. Books sit in front of him and he barely notices. When he does read, he enjoys it and talks about what he’s read. But reading is almost never at the top of his list.

It’s an interesting question, and certainly one that ought to be important to writers! Thanks for making me think on a Monday morning!