reading and writing

I must say I am not much a reader or writer when I am not told to do so. I truly despise reading because every book I have ever had to read for school I found to be extremely boring. I was never interested in anything we had to read and I could barely understand most of it. It seemed like my teachers in middle school and high school would purposely pick the worst books ever. So my life in high school and middle school basically consisted of spark notes. I only read one full book through out middle and high school that was required. That book was, The Outsiders. I found it very interesting and intriguing, I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going on. It was one of the stories I could never put down. There was also another book I read, that in a sense was required, we had this thing called outside reading where we were allowed to choose a book to read and write about. I chose, The Virgin Suicides. It was also very interesting and I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next. However, after those two books I never really found the interest to read anything else. I felt like I had better things to do than sit around and read. I think that school has been my reason for hating reading. Before I started school I never read much, except for the simple picture books with a few words. But when middle school came along I found myself reading what seemed to be the most boring books ever. My best friend at the time went to a different school but I remember she loved reading, and would read at any chance she had. She would tell me how amazing it was, and that I should find books that would interest me, but I never did. And I wish I had now because whenever a teacher assigns a book, I’m just like uhhhhh what now….this is going to be awful. And I know reading educates people, and I could use it, if only I could find something I liked! But now I find myself too busy to ever have time to sit and read a nice book. Except over spring break, I almost resorted to reading. My friend and I were pretty bored because it seemed like everyone else was out of town and we had nothing to do, especially on those rainy days. We actually went to the library to check books out, but came to find out we both had over $20 in late fees that we didn’t exactly feel like paying. So that attempt failed.
I can be an active reader when I feel it is necessary. If I am reading a book for some sort of research than I usually highlight things I think are important. Or for classes, I actually did that last semester. Every class period when the teacher would be going over the PowerPoint (that was directly from the book) I would go through and highlight everything she would say. I think in the long run it helped me study and learn the material for the tests. I think in a way it helps me “own” the text, because I have read the information and put my own notes to the side of it. It makes it more personable because it is my own words next to someone else’s writing.
I remember when I was little; maybe between three and six, I loved the book, Make Way for Ducklings. I would seriously have my Mom read the book to me every night for probably a year. I remember she was so sick of reading it, but every night when she said what book do you want to read, I would say MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS! My dear Mother probably still has that book memorized. I honestly don’t know why I liked it so much but something would draw me to that book so much that I would want to read it every night.
On the writing aspect, I never really would write other than what I was told to for school. Except for when I was younger and I had a diary that I would write about my day in or the cute boys. But I don’t really count that as writing, because when I think of writing I think more like intelligent works that takes time to think about, or something that could possibly be used for a book of some sort. I have never really found my creativity for writing and so I do not think I would be very good at it. I also am not extremely interested in sitting down and just writing. It has always been that way with reading and writing, I just don’t feel like I am particularly drawn to either of them.