My Reading Journey

I would like to say that I have always loved reading a good book, but that would feel a little dishonest! There have been several times in my life where I have loved reading, but then there were times that reading was not really a ‘thing’ for me. During my younger years, I liked to read Mr. Men books, and other books based on TV shows that I watched at the time; like Thomas The Tank Engine.

During my teenage years I read quite a bit at school, but due to a lack of stuff that interested me, I would often read the same book over and over again. For instance, during my High School days I would read a selection of classic Doctor Who novels I discovered in the school library. I read other stuff too, like a few of the Pokémon and Digimon books (based on episodes of the cartoons), I tried Terry Pratchett (and only completed The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents), I tried other more forgetful things, I read the first three books of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, and I also got into Fighting Fantasy books too.

Then in my college years, I kind of stopped. I had no drive to really read anything, nor did I fancy going into a bookshop to purchase anything. At most, all I read was either Official Nintendo Magazine, and a few bits of Top Gear magazine from the college library. Come to think of it, the only fiction I read during that time was editions of Essential X-Men from Panini Comics. So far this may read quite a depressing post, but now things start to go up.

When I started University in 2010, at first I tried to read Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw, but only very casually. It wouldn’t be until 2012 that things really took off. What happened? I saw The Hunger Games, and loved it. The very next day, I bought the book, and from then on, reading became less a casual affair, and more something I wanted to do much more often. It was hard at first, but then about a year after I saw The Hunger Games, I started reading on the train everyday during my commute to University and back. And from then on, I have read a real cavalcade of books.

I have still had the occassional time here and there when I have lost track of my reading habits, where I have sturggled to read at times, but I have kept purchasing books, and found ways to claw it back into my life. The last time this occured in 2020, it was thanks to a bad experience at work that got me back into reading, as a way to distract myself from that.

I am now though back in that spot sadly, but I am hopeful of getting back there, as I am pretty sure it’s currently down to bad sleep habits, so once that is more or less back under control. my reading should easily return. But if all else fails, I do know of one way to get some solid reading time in…I just go on a long train journey!