Growing up, I used to love reading books. Every day, I would pick a book and read for hours on end. That is because I am a slow reader. Naturally, my interest in reading declined and I picked up a couple of new hobbies, watching movies and TV shows. Later on, I would begin reading comic books and playing video games as a pastime as well. During my high school years, I had watched many movies & TV shows, read every comic I got my hands on, and played every game I could buy with my pocket money, and as I noticed that there’s a story written in every one of them. I’m always clamoring for a new story. My introduction to Neil Gaiman was through his work as a writer on the comic book series The Sandman. I was amazed by how well-written the comic …show more content…
Instead of viewing writing as an unwanted necessity, I began to see it as a tool for expression. This change of paradigm, inspired me to start writing in a journal every single day. Starting with Gaiman’s work, I started to re-read his books. I would focus on his sentence structure and use of specific words. I would look up any words that I did not understand, and begin using them in both writing and well as talking. Every day, my writing would get a little bit better. Gaiman had so many allusions to many different mythologies in English, Scandinavian and Greek folklore. I started to study each of his references, so that not only will I be able to pick up these references while reading but also use similar allusions to my writing as well. I gave attention to what I was writing, because what I write reflected who I am as a person. I started writing about things I wanted to write. I even alluded to some movies or video games in my writing as well, because that is what I watch and I want to show that in my writing. Having increased my reading input, I had a much better understanding of what made good writing and what
Reading. It’s a well-known hobby, and quite the old one. Nevertheless, the question still remains, could reading all of those stories be the key to becoming a better human being?
Each year as I grow old, I tend to discover and learn new things about myself as a person as well as a reader, writer and a student as a whole. My educational journey so far has been pretty interesting and full of surprises. Back in Bangladesh where I studied until high school, my interest for learning, reading or writing was so very different compared to how it has become over the years. I could relate those learning days to Richard Rodriquez’s essay “The lonely Good Company of Books”. In the essay the author says, “Friends? Reading was, at best, only a chore.”(Rodriguez, page 294). During those days I sure did feel like reading was a chore for me and how I was unable to focus and I could never understand what all those jumbled up words ever meant. It was quite a struggle for me in class when the teachers used to assign us reading homework. I felt like reading a book was more difficult or painful than trying to move a mountain. Just like how moving a mountain is impossible, trying to find an interest in reading was
In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
I began to read not out of entertainment but out of curiosity, for in each new book I discovered an element of real life. It is possible that I will learn more about society through literature than I ever will through personal experience. Having lived a safe, relatively sheltered life for only seventeen years, I don’t have much to offer in regards to worldly wisdom. Reading has opened doors to situations I will never encounter myself, giving me a better understanding of others and their situations. Through books, I’ve escaped from slavery, been tried for murder, and lived through the Cambodian genocide. I’ve been an immigrant, permanently disabled, and faced World War II death camps. Without books, I would be a significantly more close-minded person. My perception of the world has been more significantly impacted by the experiences I've gained through literature than those I've gained
For as long as language in its most rudimentary form was created, people have never stopped writing stories. Before people wrote things down, stories and legends were passed down by the elders of a family or tribe. Over time, things can be forgotten, and that is why it is important to write these things down. Stories were created to teach children good from bad, to inspire people to do great things, and for general enjoyment. These stories have taken many forms ever since the original spoken tale. Movies, comics, television shows, and much more have been introduced in order to tell more intricate stories. One of the best, and original mediums for story keeping is a book. A good book can elicit any emotion from you, just as a film or television show could. A good writer knows how to take hold of an audience, and allow them to explore a whole new world as they are sitting on a couch. Both Shakespeare's Hamlet and George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords are considered to be amazingly written stories. It is interesting to see how two highly pleasing books relate to each other, a...
Over the years, as time passes by I have become to better understand myself and learn what captures and disappoints my attention. As a young boy I would think no books pertaining to school or gaining beneficial knowledge would ever interest me. As I read and learned about different cultures and heard mesmerizing stories of Prophets I became eager to read more along with interesting worldly based novels. Miraculous real life events and interesting action based novels are the only stories that grab my attention. This has been the case for me for some time and I continue to learn and explore to see what else I can find that interests me.
During my special education courses, I gained a love for reading. Admittedly, I developed this adoration for books because of my special education classes. It is my firm belief that without these classes my love of reading would not have happened because I would have grown frustrated that I was behind in my education. I avoid difficult subjects, like math, because I’m not good at it. Getting the help I need, made be excel with reading. I loved reading so much that I participated in a reading competition that I won three years in a row. Because of my love of reading, it led to a desire to
Writing is a way in which a person can express their thoughts and ideas through the use of words. Everybody has their own writing styles. Some may consider theirs as inspirational while others think of it to be bad. Writing requires a lot of patience and time. In my case, writing has never been my favorite thing to do. I am no Shakespeare and I never will be, writing has always made me feel uncomfortable. In the past, I had always considered writing to be one of the most difficult tasks. I often wrote about topics that were not of my interest. I rarely did any writing out of school or for leisure as most people do. I only wrote because the teacher asked us to. Writing has always been forced onto me. Even though my writing isn't that great, I've felt that I've never been given the freedom to express my voice. Academic writing has always made me anxious. And, anxiety had resulted in my procrastination. Even though I consider writing to be one of the toughest tasks, I've felt that giving myself enough time to think allows me to do better. Silence helps me think beyond horizons. However, the fear of impressing someone, the anxiety and frustration is what makes me a developing writer.
My dad taught me that books could be my teachers, my mom taught me that our backyard could be my classroom, and my sister showed me that you could bring books into the swimming pool. I did not know it when I would spend hours in the pool reading a book that my parents weren’t encouraging it in vain, but my family life, for good reason, was centered on books. We were the planets orbiting around one sun that was the bookshelf. Little did I know that books would be the catalyst to academic success in my early life, and I owe it all to my family. Although a life with a book in your nose might seem boring, I was never bored. Living through the characters vicariously, I explored Narnia with Lucy, attended Hogwarts with Harry, and rode dragons with Eragon. Of course
The mere mentions of stories take me back to my childhood days. It was absolutely impossible to sleep at night without my regular dose of story from my mother. It reminds me of those endless summer vacations where it was possible to go on adventurous voyages with my cousins merely by joining two chairs and imagining it to be a ship. How every free period in the school was invariably spent in listening to the stories of new shows and movies from your best friend? Even today, stories continue their captivation. They have the power to pull you in their exciting world. And you don’t mind getting lost once, twice or innumerable times in that fantasy land.
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
Before reading Harry Potter, I very rarely read for pleasure. I found reading boring, almost old fashioned. My frame of mind more readily paralleled Danny Divito in the movie Matlida, who says that “[t]here's nothing you can get from a book that you can't get from a television faster.” While my view of reading as a child could be summed up in that quote, everything changed when I was introduced to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I can remember to this day when my Dad began reading Harry Potter to me, and how I did not understand just how much this book would change me. Harry Potter and his world of wizardry became my own personal Shangri-La, my escape, my own world. Anytime I wanted, I could ascend to a world of fantasy and explore the depths of my own imagination in a way that I had never been capable of doing before. I became obsessed with the book, reading it before, during, and after sc...
Is there more people around the world that don’t enjoy reading as much as I did? Truly I struggled with reading as much as I disliked it. I wasn’t a bad reader in the sense that I didn’t know my alphabet or I couldn’t pick up a sentence. I couldn't get myself to read a real book and understand what was going on at the same. I would be reading the words of the book but my mind would be somewhere else. It took me awhile to understand the solution to my problem or why I even had the problem to begin with. At first I put in my mind that I just wasn’t a good reader. When you're not good at something you typically draw away from it, That became me. My dad would constantly bug me, telling me to read more. I just didn’t want to, I found it
Reading was never something I fussed about growing up. As a child, I loved genres of realistic fiction. I was hooked on The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley, Goosebumps, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, Judy Moody, and especially, Zoobooks and Highlights magazines. My mother was always ready to help build my reading and writing skills. She took me to the library constantly to feed my passion for books and knowledge. I loved exploring the shelfs, organizing the books, and filling up my library cart. I tried keeping a diary in elementary school to keep track of my outings with my parents and grandparents to museums, zoos, movies, and libraries. This flash of writing enthusiasm was spun from books I read in the 4th and 5th grade that were
As a child and for part of my adolescent life I was disenchanted with reading and writing. I preferred the sciences and mathematics; these were the topics that I excelled at. However, a series of events would practically reverse my interests. Without delving into too much detail I found ways to greatly influence and build my creativity, I had gained access to something higher, something more than the literal meaning and form. I also suffered a brain injury that affected my frontal lobe, changes in my personality were apparent. In addition to the behavioral side effects of this injury I had developed a knack for writing and lost my mathematical inclination. Then I was exposed to literature in a way that I never had been before, in a high school