How did you get into literature, user?

Ive always enjoyed literature, its nothing new. In 7th grade, I would finish all of my English assignments long before class was over. My teacher recognized I read at a college level, and permitted me to openly read after I had finished my work; I took various selections from a bookshelf, where I was introduced to works of literature like Animal Farm. I was still in 7th grade, so I understood it at a surface level, but the story and implications captivated me. That was 11 years ago.

I came to this board and in real life was bored with school and had no friends. I also sat in the library a lot of the time already anyways, so I figured I would read.

I've been in this cesspool for 7-8 years now, but it is a comfy cesspool.

When I was a board highschooler and realized how vapid most videogames were, so I turned to other pastimes. The same reason why I got into film.

kindergarten teacher gave everyone a giant plastic bag filled with fun books. I had trouble reading but when I got the hang of it i couldn't stop. i would spend my summer vacations watching nova and history shows on wttw prime cause i fucking loved history. when i was in second grade the teacher read to us the first magic tree house book, it blew my fucking mind and i got obsessed with the series. then the author started following up the books with fact checking companions. boi let me tell you now since my cheap ass dad felt like buying books were a waste of money my mom started taking me to the library. i would take my school bag and fill that shit up! i developed back pain because of how fucking heavy it was. i would check out 25+ books at once! the best memories of my childhood are the ones where i remember just laying in bed with the fan on and just reading nonstop. reading was a source of comfort and coping mechanism to get away from my alcoholic dad and sometimes physically abusive mother and brother. not to mention i was the middle child so no one really cared about me. when i read i could be someone new everytime or better yet, i could be my favorite characters. so yeah.

The Roman's what? Also, which Roman?

Dam the feels are real

met a Veeky Forums girl when i was 18/19 and started to put on airs to impress her. i always had a fascination with 'intellectual' stuff but never really tried getting into it until i met her.

eventually she left, but the books and wisdom stayed. so for that i am thankful to her.

I've always been very interested in language and the aesthetic aspects of it. The starting point to that for me, as a young kid, was song lyrics. I've been reading books here and there during my adolescence, but after I had grown bored with watching films and basically anything else, and after I had finished Lolita, I really got hooked, which collided with

...

absolutely wanted to appear as an intellectual in high school, and intellectuals were known to read lots of books

I've been reading casualy from when I was 12 years old but I've started doing it on a daily basis in my last highschool year. It boils down to dissatisfaction with electronic media, depression, and a need for escapism. It really was a gateway to another world and gave me a purpose. Honestly, my life has gotten worse since then but the reading habbit never went away and I'm glad for that.

I've been reading and writing since I was a child. I enjoyed stories in general but I didn't seriously engage literature as a critical and life-affirming process until some kid on my cross country team said he was a nihilist, which prompted me to subsequently go home and discover Nietzsche and existentialism in general. I misinterpreted him for some time, but I was drawn in by his aphoristic style all the same.

I became really insular and lost most of my friends.

Star Trek

I ended up watching Generations as a kid, and realized two things: First, I loved it. Not just the movie itself, but the genre. I could instantly see that the possibilities contained within were immense. I was instantly a science fiction fan. Second, that it had been foolish to go by this pop culture image of "Star Trek is for nerds", which back then was still actually an insult, and not a way to announce that you're a well-read intellectual without having to prove it.

So I started reading science fiction, and naturally ended up with the universally acknowledged greats. Loved some of it, didn't love others as much. But it instilled me with a love for the (well) written word that hasn't faded, and that I've found effortlessly crosses genres.

I've posted this a couple of times already but here it goes
>mom literally paints me a bigass book with all the letters of the alphabet and pictures of items that start with the letter (often those were my toys or other things or people I was familiar with) so I learned how to read a few years before the other kids
>dad starts buying Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck and Garfield comics that I devour
>I regularly read Donald Duck to the other kids in the kindergarten
>sometime after I start going to school, mom buys me Harry Potter and gives me her copy of The Hobbit
>I get deep into fantasy (and occasionally other lit) for like 7 years, until the music obsession pushes it out
>go to high school, get a great professor
>the curriculum in this country is fucking shit, expects 15-year-olds to read Homer and Greek tragedies and what not, but the prof is really good, I'm interested in the books (after all, I'm into music already, I should explore the other art forms too) and through a year I really developed a taste for the "literary fiction"
>the philosophy professor is really good as well
>18 now, going to study literature and philosophy (probably)

You sound unbearable. Don't come back to this board.

Accelerated Reader Program at my school rewarded you with arbitrary points for reading books. Never stopped reading past that point and didn't give up even after I stopped getting "points" for reading

God, you sound insufferable.

Alexander Scrourby's audio narration of the Bible
Pilgrims Progress
Ben Hur
Last Days of Pompeii.

Someone mentioned a PC game. Civ II comes to mind.

Cool mate, you're a cunt.

My father is a painter and musician with a passion for art in general. He's amassed a small library of books ranging on a number of subjects, mostly philosophical, religious, and occult in nature. He never directly instructed me to read anything, he left me to my own devices and I happened to eventually take an interest in reading and the arts as well.

I had a similar experience. I always read and would even get in trouble for reading my book behind a textbook or under the desk. I remember reading Moby Dick in 6th grade (struggling), but being captivated moreso by the language. I retained most of the surface level comprehension, but again like you, I didn't pick up on any subtext.

Jesus, you sound unbearable

Based on...?

I've read books for as long as I can remember. At some point I just started reading more critically and became more aware of what I was reading.

Catholicism. In high school as i began to read older works i was unwittingly reading parts of the western canon.

I was half way through it when I realised I hated my degree (business). I decided I didn't want to abandon my degree, I just wanted to graduate as soon as possible in anything. Looked at my options and discovered I could graduate in half the time by transferring my major to literature and doing nothing but literature subjects. I figured it would be easy as pie but it was actually quite challenging, especially since I wasn't well read at the time and had to teach myself a lot of literary history and theory, which meant reading more books in my free time. So I went from reading one novel a year to several a week and I liked it. I still read roughly a book a week and live with my parents.

Take a (((you)))

I've been reading since I figured out how to. Literally anything I could get my hands on when I was little. My dad used to read to me, and used to read a lot himself, maybe I just learned to want to read through osmosis. Later, I didn't have any friends, so I read. Then when I was bored, I read. Now I read whenever I have free time, and sometimes when I don't. I just love reading.

This desu

Escapism derived from pic related.

I bumped into a copy of Metro 2033 in a charity shop, read it and had fun. So then I bought a copy of brave new world and read that too. Then I came to Veeky Forums and got recommended a bunch of stuff, been hooked ever since.

I took an interest in movies and started watching art house films until I realized I hated them. I decided to read instead.

My father kinda forced me. Also, Crime and Punishment, and finally The Master And Margarita.

Being undergrad in philosophy. Read somewhere online about Borges' short, philosophical fictions. Got hooked on Ficciones, then his literary non-fiction which is just full of references and allusions to literature. Most things I've read since have inspired or been inspired by Borges.

i had a roommate and i coulnd't stand the fact that i had to share my space with somebody else i also don't like going out so i had to do something to avoid her and to keep her away from bothering me

my parents encouraged me to read. after reading me to sleep at night I just kept going on my own.

You're like a hetero foucault

Your example of literature is Animal Farm? Dear God..

I guess you missed the part where I said I was in 7th grade.

Heartychuckle.jpg

I'm introverted and want to live on my own, but I'm spiteful enough to refuse to do society a service with it, so I decided to become as amiable and attractworthy as possible while continuing on my autistic road of introvertism. Smart yet down to earth, intellectual yet plebly agreeable, accomplished yet relatable. Elitism is my drive, knowledge is my means.
My hate for society makes me a superior person, and my smug satisfaction from that solidifies me in my efforts.

Are you trying to create a caricature of me?

Almost.

>y-yeah, same!
I'm no follower, don't compare us mate

I was reading Finnigans Wake in 7th grade.

In 2012 I was 15 and went here out of curiosity, felt insecure about not getting the memes, and started reading DFW Stirner and Pynchon

Dead serious, I became a pseud to fit in

You sound like a pleasant person

We can be two different juggernauts. Lets coexist.

I was writing Finnegan's Weak in 7th grade.

God, you sound insufferable.

You were supposed to smugly brush off my call-out, rise above me, don't just take it, damnit, fucking duds.

Today you disappointed an user.

Trust me man, I don't just take it. There are people, powerful, wealthy people who will me to do something, and I defy them. I defy them to their faces and call them out for the crooks they are. We can be two different giants. Fuck the world, lets take back our destinies.

I just want to be an elitist.

My mother got me to read Harry Potter. Before that I had been reading short horror stories and every single tome of Lilli the Witch, one book every night.
Then when I turned 10 I stopped dead in my reading tracks and didn't grab another book till I was 14 and realized I was getting dumber and had trouble communicating complex ideas.
After that I devoured more than a few books, but I've halted once more. It really bothers me because I've been struggling with the same book for months now and I just don't feel the passion for reading anymore. Is there such a thing as "reader's block"?

Yeah reader's block is a thing. Drop the book your on and start focusing on short stories. Force yourself through them. Once you're comfortable with that then work your way up to novellas, etc.

The sad thing is that the book I'm stuck in is an analogy of every single written work of Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe I just crave an actual novel rather than a collection of short stories. But I'd feel bad if I just abandoned a book without finishing it.

do you actually speak like this in real life

I remember a time when I talked like that because I was afraid I was becoming dumber and wouldn't be able to write a book if I didn't constantly spoke in that manner.
Looking back now it's kind of funny, but back then it actually tormented me.

I spend a lot of time by myself and reading is something you can do by yourself. It's also the least intrusive thing you can do on the train to and from work. My commute is an hour and a half each way.

My dad tried to force me to read when I was young, around the ages of I think 8 to 12 he tried, but it never stuck. Likely because I had videogames, which attract children like light attracts mosquitos.
I started reading passively around 14, but that was purely non-fiction. I kept reading passively, and very slowly. Around the age of 16 I developed this deep need to understand, so I started buying and reading various books written by philosophers, and even stated buying university books to read recreationally.

he doesnt sound half as bad as you nigga

t. /pol/ pseud

No you retard. What the fuck?

well why would you write like a moron unless you had no other way to communicate

nice opinion, faggot
you write like a moron, how about that?

making an assertion without citing examples of what you mean, just go fuck yourself

If not the bible - the first book in the Narnia series, "The Magician's Nephew".

I was molested by a librarian with a strap on from ages 3-14.

picked up a book once

I just snorted it once, next thing you know I was shooting pynchon right into my taint and beneath my tongue, and blowing hipsters at coffee shops for a few pages.

You want to know where you all really fuck up? I'll tell you, its simple, and something I've figured out long ago. When you're out and about, you're completely self absorbed, in your clique, with your friends. But when you withdraw, and have some time to think... Well, you get to thinking. The world doesn't want me to be happy? So what do I do? Do I exert vengeful actions on those I deem responsible? No. I arrange my life so that others can be happy in the future. If I am dealt this hand by fate, where I am not permitted to be happy, then I will ensure there is a future in which someone I care about can. That's where you fuck up. Its not about revenge. Its about paying it forward.

Watching Harold Bloom interviews

To impress a girl, like some kind of fucking idiot.
Stupid, stupid, stupid me.
She wasn't into literature, she had read one book and insisted it was the best one, and it's writer, also the best.

I was given a free scholarship thing to a teen creative writing camp when I was in high school and I realized that I knew jack shit about literature

tl;dr I didn't want to seem like a pleb in front of cute Veeky Forums girls

You have no friends and you don’t know the reason why, right?

I heard Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy on radio, but couldn't be there for all of the reading's, so i bought the book and read it myself. it just went downhill from there.

Through politics: libertarian so i read 1984 and Animal Farm.

...

I have a few and I know exactly why you're a little bitch, yeah. Someone pays you to be lol. Hey man I understand. My favorite line will always be:

Fuck you, pay me.

That was almost poetic

I know right? Might make a little rhyme outta that.

There are many phrases that we speak
But fuck you, just pay me

tyty

lovely

My parents always pushed me to read all kinds of stuff. It wasn't until 9th grade that I went into a Barnes & Noble and found the classics section. I thought "I wonder why these books deserve so much praise," and I bought Gulliver's Travels. One of the great decisions of my life.

it's all i have left

When I graduated HS and fixed my life I wrote down what my bad and good habits are.
I put "reading" on the bad habit side and wanted to stop because I spent about 4-5 hours reading .I quickly realized how much impact it has on my life.

i started reading because i wanted to be smart, or at least stop being so dumb. it didn't help at all but i continue to read because i enjoy it.

Did you notice reading helping with your depression at all? Was there any effects you noticed?

Yeah that's where I got started too. When I was in fifth grade I overheard some girl saying "no one can beat me at accelerated reader". I took this as some sort of challenge and proceeded to autistically read every thick ass book I could my hands on and racked up a point total that dwarfed anyone else in the school and entire classrooms. Later I got into videogames for middle and most of high school but I stumbled upon House of Leaves my senior year of highschool and that got me going again.

I listened to history podcasts and understood how little I knew about the world and how horribly sad that is

Same! I won 1st place every quarter for all three years.

I've always loved stories and would read these little abridged versions of the classics (there was an illustration about every 5 pages as well) in second and third grade.

After that I sort of dropped reading, I do believe know why. I didn't start again until senior year lf high school (3 years ago now) when my mythology teacher had us select from a bunch of different books to do a report on, one of which was Dune. It blew my mind and from then onI haven't been able to stop reading. Also got heavily into non-fiction (mainly philosophy and politics) once I got to college mainly because I smoked too much weed back then and had way too many questions.