Reading Growing Up

littlefriend · 18-03-2010 08:17PM

grindelwald wrote: »

I wasnt read to as a child,
I didnt read as a child.
I left school at 11 - 1991Never stepped foot in secondry school
Didnt go into 6th class as i left half way through 5th
I started a full time job at 14 and moved out of home at 16
I then found the love of reading books
At 21 i did fetec level 1 over 6 months
At 22-24 i did the leaving cert applied -score 196 out of 2oo Pass with distinction - top of the class all others had done the junior cert, i was the only one with no formal education.

Jesus, well done.

Ickle Magoo · 18-03-2010 08:18PM

My mum was a primary school head teacher so reading was a frequent event in our house - both my sister & I could read and write before going to school...I read everything and anything, still do. Roald Dahl, Tolkein, Hans Christian Anderson, Aesops Fables, Mr Men, Ladybird Classics, Peter Pan, Treasure Island, Wind in the Willows, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...loved reading them as a kid...then I discovered Maya Angelou, Stephen King, Jane Austin, the Bronté sisters, Daphne Du Maurier, Terry Pratchett...oh, the list is endless.

My spelling and grammar has always been pretty good, I got straight A's in English but as I tutor adults with literacy issues it really has to be half decent!

littlefriend · 18-03-2010 08:30PM

I read a lot when I was a kid and still do. My dad mainly read to me I think and he used to go over spellings with me for school. He was really strict about it which was a pain in the ass but I'm glad he did. I notice now that my niece and her friends aren't great at spelling - think its because of txtspk.
I used to love Enid Blyton, Rohl Dahl, Judy Bloom, Tintin and lots of other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head. My dad used to read Tintin to me all the time. Remember when Tintin got a surprise/shock over something he would get an ! over his head? My dad had me convinced that this happened to children too. Whenever I got a surprise I'd whip my head back to try to catch sight of the !. Cute.
I'm the youngest by 10 years and when I was 8 my two stoner brothers tried to get me into reading 'The Hobbit', LOTR etc - I'd no interest in them at all & still don't.
Someone mentioned earlier that because they could read well when they went to school they picked up maths etc easily - I think that is really true.

Jaysus, I went on a bit there, good memories

cynder · 18-03-2010 08:32PM

littlefriend wrote: »

Jesus, well done.

Thanx. I was going to go to college as a mature student but decided i had to work as me and my partner wanted to buy a house. Which we did a year later, i went on to have 2 more kids (we had a daughter when we were both 18).

My partner got cancer 2 years ago and we married when he finished the chemo. were together for 12 years, it took a long time before i felt equal (he has a honors degree) but since i got the L.C.A. I am more confident.

We moved house when i was 11 and my dad was dependent on alcohol and would not drive us to the school 5 miles away so we never went, not only being denied an education but i was also socially deprived and had a hard time making friends when we moved again when i was 14.

I must say working full time from age 14 was great as i had a good bit of money in my pocket, had to pay 40 pound a week rent to my parents though.

I think i love books because I had no friends and didnt know how to relate to people of my own age ( i worked with people older than me) so i stayed in and read.

RosyLily · 18-03-2010 08:36PM

I read a lot as a child. Love The Babysitters Club books, Goosebumps, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc. etc. Used to read the paper as a child too. I was the child in primary school that finished the work quick (no matter how crappy it was) so I could read a book. Yes, I was a nerd.:o
Still try and read these days, especially Stephen King & James Patterson. In the middle of Lord of the Rings atm.

Joey the lips · 18-03-2010 08:40PM

I was not read to as a child however I do read now and have poor spelling skills.

I guess you have not a line for me so I must be a minority.

Dudess · 18-03-2010 08:45PM

Enid Blyton junkie here - especially the boarding school ones (Naughtiest Girl in the School, Mallory Towers, St Claire's), also loved Roald Dahl... then at about 12 I made the leap to Virginia Andrews... :eek:

Davidius · 18-03-2010 09:01PM

I was read to occasionally but I don't do much in the way of reading myself. I make a lot of mistakes while I'm typing because I hit the wrong keys or type the wrong word and such.

I like to think I have decent spelling skills. Was told that I was able to read at an early enough age. I think all my reading at that age was looking through the phone book and reading the dictionary. I was a bit weird; I used to write out natural numbers on sheets for no good reason.

I don't read books at all now because I simply don't have the attention span.

stovelid · 18-03-2010 09:02PM

Never read to but read voraciously as a child and now. My spelling skills are good.

Started with the usual stuff: Blyton and Dahl. Also starting raiding my mum's pulp stuff like Harold Robbins when I was about 10 or 11. To this day I think I could recite most of A Stone for Danny Fisher although I couldn't understand a lot of it at the time.

Dudess · 18-03-2010 09:13PM

I wonder whether you need to be a regular reader to hone good grammar/spelling/punctuation though. I have a strong grasp of these things but I've gone through phases of not bothering with books and just reading magazines. I mostly put my writing skills down to a particular teacher I had in primary school who was just really excellent at explaining grammar and punctuation rules to seven-year-olds.

RayM · 18-03-2010 09:15PM

My parents often read to me when I was younger. My mother taught me to read before I started primary school, which gave me a bit of a head-start over a lot of others in my class. Unfortunately, finding school so easy in those early days probably contributed to me being excruciatingly lazy and totally averse to studying... which led to some seriously mediocre Leaving Cert results. :pac:

I read pretty much whatever I could get my hands on (including my parents' extensive - and largely unwanted - collection of Reader's Digest Condensed Books), but Roald Dahl was always my favourite. When I was a teenager, it was a nice bonus to discover that he wrote adult short stories too.

I often find it difficult to relate to people who don't like reading. Or even people who lack the basic curiosity to read anything other than one particular genre. I can't think of too many types of book that I wouldn't read (although "Misery Lit" and footballers' autobiographies spring immediately to mind).

entropi · 18-03-2010 09:16PM

ibarelycare wrote: »

I was always good at spelling in school and had a reading age well above my actual age (I don't know how schools measure that, but that's what I was told!)

I was in the same situation as that, i can still remember being told my reading age as a 7 year old was that of a 19 year old college student, and that i was possibly the smartest student in the school (it went up as far as 6th class).

I like to read when i have time nowadays, my most recent buys were the biography of Bill Hicks, a book of Irish fairy tales and a book by Stephen Fry...oh and i've a copy of Abarat i've been meaning to pick up for ages now!

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 18-03-2010 09:24PM

I probably never would have developed such an interest in reading if it wasn't for Roald Dahl.

Thank you sir, for your books and of course your grand-daughter

Mars Bar · 18-03-2010 09:25PM

I was never read to as a child but I read a lot myself. Spelling and grammar was always a strong point for me also. I can't go to sleep without reading over twenty pages of a book first...

stovelid · 18-03-2010 09:29PM

mars bar wrote: »

I can't go to sleep without reading over twenty pages of a book first...

Unless I'm in company, I actually find it very hard to eat without cracking open a book or magazine.

MickShamrock · 18-03-2010 09:30PM

1st option, but with excellent spelling skills! :pac:

Minstrel27 · 18-03-2010 09:32PM

I never read. I was never read to either. My spelling is great.

Dudess · 18-03-2010 09:35PM

The only thing that was read to me was Twinkle comic.

Mars Bar · 18-03-2010 09:35PM

stovelid wrote: »

Unless I'm in company, I actually find it very hard to eat without cracking open a book or magazine.

Really? That's quite strange! :P

dammitjanet · 18-03-2010 09:36PM

I read the whole time as a kid. I loved the secret seven (cause the girl in it had the same name as me) and anything with pictures

but i was dyslexic so i'd make up words when i didn't understand them.
Still read loads, and i still make up words

especially if the character has a wierd name, ah dyslexia rocks...
Oh and i can't spell at all!:D

stovelid · 18-03-2010 09:37PM

mars bar wrote: »

Really? That's quite strange! :P

I know.

Willie Stroker · 18-03-2010 09:37PM

Reading is quite important when your young , in my class idiots have no idea how to spell easy words , reading young was fantastic for me , i read alot of horrid henry and novels in primary school ohh and Lemony snicket " a series of unfortunate events read all the books ! Still read today improves my spelling greatly

tman · 18-03-2010 09:38PM

I remember being scared ****less of Shelob from LotR as a 6 year old, and various other children's books... There was always someone to read to me, and when I picked it up myself I devoured all of the usual suspects (C.S. Lewis, Tolkien...)
I don't read as much as I should these days, but still dip into a book every now and again... Recently enjoyed Trainspotting, Fear and Loathing, Jonathan Livingston Seagull and a couple of the Dexter books

cynder · 18-03-2010 09:42PM

Must say i read aprox 100 pages an hour depending on the book. It took me 4 months to read 'under the dome' by Stephen king but I read the whole twilight saga in 4 days a book a day. Start around 7 pm and finish around 10-11.

I like Kate morton and Kate mosse Scott Martin and Scott Mariani read all books belonging to the 4 also like Catherine Cookson. Didn't like hitch jokers guide to the galaxy. Liked lord of the flies and huck Finn and Tom sawyer. Loved really loved a book by Tom Knox the genisis secret. Was very gorey but fantastic. Also enjoyed Dan browns books. I like books with a bit of history. For anyone wanting a good thriller read the genisis secret by Tom knox.

Sorry my typing is all over the place cause I'm using the iPod

littlefriend · 18-03-2010 09:45PM

Dudess wrote: »

then at about 12 I made the leap to Virginia Andrews... :eek:

:eek: is right - I thought it was porn when I was 14 [well obviously I didn't know what porn was ]

Denerick · 18-03-2010 09:46PM

I read a fair bit as a child (Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Asterix & Obelisk etc. etc.) but only read intermittently until about two years ago, when I rediscovered the reason why I love books (I blame Nick Hornby's 'Fever Pitch')

EraseAndRewind · 18-03-2010 09:48PM

books were and still are a big part of my life

my parents always read to us and we had loads of books

usually have a book or two on the go

we'llallhavetea_old · 18-03-2010 09:55PM

my mam read to me every night as a child.

(thanks mam!)

when i was able to read by myself, i read roald dahl (still love him, i read his books to my daughter now) and i loved the famous five.

i go through phases of reading now, i'm not capable of picking out books for myself for some reason, i always read books that are recommended to me :rolleyes:

my spelling is grand i think. i was always kinda good at english tbh.

Alicat · 18-03-2010 10:42PM

Ohh this thread makes me giddy and excited and very nostalgic!

I was reading before I went to school, used to devour books. Favourites were

The Famous Five
The Five Find-Outers
The Three Investigators
Nancy Drew
Mallory Towers
St. Claire's
The Magic Faraway Tree
The Wishing Chair series
Galliano's Circus series
Run With The Wind Series
Little House on the Prairie
Goosebumps
Point Horror
Roald Dahls'
The Secret Garden
Northern Lights series
Black Beauty

And probably a million more! Stopped reading as much for a few years but am trying to get back into now. Just finished The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry and I really enjoyed it. My favourite book as an adult is probably Pride And Prejudice. I was read to as a child, until I wanted to read them by myself and I would say my spelling is at a good level now.

Dudess · 18-03-2010 10:46PM

littlefriend wrote: »

:eek: is right - I thought it was porn when I was 14 [well obviously I didn't know what porn was ]

Oh it was quite explicit - and she was obsessed with incest. Can't believe my mother allowed me read Flowers in the Attic at 11 - but in fairness, the racy bits went over my head.

Reading Growing Up

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