Reading History Essay

Patrick Enley
English III Honors



Ever since the start of my kinder garden years, I never was someone who liked to read. Ever since I was little, reading was not my thing, because I didn’t really like it because it did not interest me at the time. But knowing how the school system works, I had to read for what’s known as “Summer Reading.” Basically summer reading is when they give you a list of books and you choose one to three books, and read them, then test about them when you get back to school. But the types of books varied, and maybe the reason I never enjoyed reading was probably because the books they had chosen on the list was not to my taste. I only have found a few genres of books that I like, and the list is Fantasy, Science Fiction, Poetry, and lore/fables.
My first grade year was when summer reading started, and I read my first actual book. It wasn’t a complex book, it was a Dr. Seuss book. But nevertheless, I still could not find books I enjoyed. The years of school pass and I read things like the Among the Hidden series, Boxcar Children and many other lower-level books. But my seventh grade year got me started into actually reading books, and the first book I read that I enjoyed was titled Eragon. Eragon is a story about a farm boy who has the bloodline of dragon riders, and ancient race that was chosen by dragons in order to keep balance in the land, until a greedy rider named Galbatorix killed them all, or so he thought. It’s about trials of trust, and a brotherhood between two unlikely people, and about first love.
This start of a new “lifestyle” sparked a new life in me. Everyday I would pick up a book, and read at least 100 pages of the book, and really take in what I was reading, and not just reading through it because I had to. My freshman year of high school is when I really started reading books, this started with my favorite book of all time, Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind. This book series was twelve books long, and captured my attention every part I read. I remember my mom wanting me to eat dinner, and I’d have to take the book with me cause I could never put it down. This book interested me so much that I started writing my own novel, which hopefully will soon be published.
Now today, I read a few books, like the Marked series, Brisinger (Eragon book three) and Accursed Bloodline. In the near future I hope to expand my book tastes in order to get a feel for every book out there, because books hold knowledge, and knowledge is power.