Discovering a Passion

The first book that really grasped my attention was Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson. We were asked to pick a book of our choice in my sophomore English class and something about it intrigued me. It took me by surprise how much I enjoyed reading this novel and when I was finished with it, it almost felt like something was missing. I tried to continue reading other novels through out the year, but I just didn’t seem to click with anything. It wasn’t until my junior year, when my English teacher started reading Harry Potter, that I became even more infatuated with reading. I read every book of the series and again had that feeling of missing something when I completed each book. So I continued to read for my class The Great Gatsby, Black Boy, and a few others. By the end of the year, I realized that reading wasn’t as bad as I thought it had been before. And my passion grew even more once I became aware of Jane Austen and all of her brilliant novels. It is now hard for me to go into a book store and not buy something; especially in the classic literature section.
My parents are very encouraging when it comes to reading; especially my mom. She is the one person in my household that prefers to read instead of watching television. While I was growing up she would constantly urge me to read a book if I was bored. Both of my parents are active readers, yet have very different tastes. My mom reads true crime novels; while my dad reads a lot of history novels. My mom constantly wonders where I got my taste of classic and modern literature from.