Reading has been my passion since I was very young. There's almost nothing I'd rather do than curl up on the sofa and read a book.
I have only vague memories of when I started learning to read. I was about three or four. I was definitely reading by the time I started school. One of my earliest memories was when I was five. I was supposed to come home from school on the bus. My mother was waiting for me. The bus arrived, but I didn't! So, she drove down to the school where she and the teachers spent a frantic half-an-hour searching for me. I was finally found in the library. Someone had glanced in earlier, but hadn't seen me as I was sitting comfortably behind a shelf in a large pile of cushions. I had come into the library straight after school and, realising I had the whole place to myself, snuggled down and had begun to read in the blissful quiet. I wasn't disturbed until a teacher came behind the shelf and said, "Nicola! Where have you been?!" I was very confused by this as I'd been in the cushions all that time.
My second strongest memory was when I was six and my family moved to a new city to live. On my first day of school, my new teacher began to test me on my reading level. She discarded book after book until finally she found one that was a little difficult for me and I was sent away to read it. I was very proud and happy. Proud that my level was high and happy because I had something new to read and I was allowed to read it with no interruptions.
Since I read so much and so quickly, I had a reading level twice my age. By the time I left primary school I'd read through the school library and by eleven I'd read most books in the children's section of the public library too. I frequently re-read my favourite books, so I always had something to read, but I was beginning to look for something new and fresh to read. I found new books in the adult department. Because I could read difficult books, I (and some adults around me) often made the mistake that I was ready for adult books. I started reading books by Catherine Cookson who wrote a lot of books about down-trodden women and their attempts to improve their lives. As a child, they were very bad for me and I regretted reading them later in life. In fact, because of that, I am very controlling about what my daughters read.
Both my daughters love reading too. Neither of them started to read as young as I did as they preferred me to read to them, but books and storytelling are a big part of their lives.
I continue to enjoy reading. I prefer books that are uplifting and positive. I have old favourites which I read over and over again. I've learned not to read new or controversial books at night as I won't sleep. So I usually read a couple of books at a time. One old one at bedtime and a new exciting one during the day.
This one below is one of my favourite books of all time.
