A recent conversation with three children ages seven, eight, and 16 made me wonder what makes some people like reading when others don’t. I used to think it was parental influence, but that doesn’t hold true because kids from the same family can have different preferences.
I considered whether children who struggled in school with the language arts became non-readers and those who grasped those subjects easily became avid readers. That also isn’t true. I know people who were strong language arts students but are non-readers and people who struggled in school but enjoy reading.
With no scientific studies to support or deny my theory, I decided it must be related to a person’s desire to escape reality—readers of fiction and fantasy or a thirst for knowledge—non-fiction and historical readers. Some memorial readers have compassion for learning about the struggles and accomplishments of others.
In coming to this theory, I looked mainly at my reading habits and then considered those of others. I realized that what a person absorbs from reading impacts how they think, sometimes for a lifetime.
The Pew Research Center interviewed people who had read a book in the prior 12-month period. Their interviews revealed that 26% enjoy learning, gaining knowledge, and discovering information. The pleasure of escaping reality and becoming immersed in another world was the reason 15% gave.
Other reasons, in lesser amounts, include relaxation, the variety of topics they can find, spiritual enrichment, the mental challenge of reading, and the physical properties of a book—the feel and smell. I can relate to the last one because I like the look and feel of a book in my hands rather than reading on a device.
The Pew Research findings are comparable to my theory. An article on ReadingWise, What Impact Can Reading Have on Personality? comports with my view that reading books can impact personality. People, especially children, gather life experiences through the books they select. They learn about other cultures, personalities, social classes, gender, etc. This learning can make them more empathetic toward people who are different from them.
Not only does reading impact the child, teen, or young adult’s personality and social skills, but it can also influence what they select as their career, activities they participate in as an adult, and how they view home life. Some books I read as a child, teen, and young adult influenced the genres I read now, what is important to me as an adult, some career choices, and how I view some controversial topics.
Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene were written for female readers between the third and sixth grades. As a child, I read this series, borrowing from the local library and devouring several a week. As an 18-year-old teen detective in the 1930s, Nancy’s ability to sleuth out the answer to different occurrences at a time when women didn’t hold careers in such “dangerous” situations was intriguing. Her independence and bravery probably inspired many females to surpass the gender-expected roles.
I enjoyed reading these books, trying to figure out the mystery along with Nancy, and it created in me a lifetime love of mysteries and crime stories. It also inspired my love of conducting research.
Making a tremendous impact on my viewpoint regarding abortion is My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel. Published in 1969, the young adult novel covers four teenage friends, romance, the decision to engage in sex, contraception, loneliness, and communication. When Liz becomes pregnant, her boyfriend speaks to his father and then gives her $300 to get what at that time was called a back-door abortion. Abortions were illegal, so the medical care was less than pristine, with procedures done on the sly. This often led to complications or death.
In the book, Liz starts bleeding profusely during the car ride home from her abortion. The entire scenario impacts not only the girl who endured this horrific illegal abortion but also destroyed the friendship group.
Reading this book as a young teen impacted my viewpoint on abortion for life. As an adult, I have always been pro-life but also pro-choice. I believe that a person, especially under circumstances such as sexual abuse of a child or an adult rape, deserves the right to decide whether to abort during the first trimester of the pregnancy.
The only thing that has changed in my mind over time is due to advancements in medical technology. I do not condone aborting a pregnancy when the child can sustain life outside the womb.
True Crime and/or True Detective magazines were in our home, belonging to my parents. As a child, I loved devouring these magazines full of true crime stories. While they were probably not the best reading material for someone so young, they influenced my preference for true crime and legal books.
Agatha Christie is a well-known mystery writer, and as I outgrew the Nancy Drew books, books by this author became a favorite selection. During this same time, I also enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock’s writings. I primarily read fiction during my early-mid teen years, and these were my primary focus.
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad is a title I remember ordering from Scholastic and reading in elementary school. This non-fiction book influenced my future love of non-fiction and interest in reading about the oppression of enslaved people and blacks.
Black Like Me is a non-fiction/memoir written in 1961 by journalist John Howard Griffin. Griffin, a white man, had his skin temporarily darkened and traveled to the Deep South to learn what it was like to live under the terms of segregation. It was amazing how he was treated very differently when living as a black man vs. how he was treated after allowing his skin to lighten and was again regarded as white. It is a real eye-opener on how badly people judge others based on the color of their skin.
Sybil was published in 1973, and I read it around age 13 following its release. This is the true story of a female being treated for dissociative identity disorder. Sybil had 16 separate personalities, likely developed as a coping mechanism due to severe physical and sexual abuse by her parents. This book influenced my opposition to child abuse, and in high school, I did a term paper on abuse.
F. Lee Bailey wrote The Defense Never Rests in 1971, and I read it as a young teen shortly after publication. F. Lee Bailey was a well-known criminal defense attorney, representing clients such as Albert DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler) and Patty Hearst. In the book, he discusses many of the cases he defended. This book impacted my interest in the law and helping criminal defendants.
There are many others, but these immediately came to mind when I thought about books from my youth. Those I remember after over fifty years most likely influenced my outlook on life. What is their impact on my life?
I was a community opinion columnist for The Times Herald in Port Huron for several years, expressing my opinion on controversial issues. I am currently working on a book about CPS taking my granddaughters and adopting them out to strangers rather than my husband and me. I have given testimony before legislative committees regarding the problems with the Michigan sex offender registry, and I went back to school in my 50s and became a paralegal. I am now considering becoming a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate), which means advocating for children who are in foster care.
My reading is almost 100% memoir and non-fiction. I live and travel full-time in an RV and buy books from the areas I visit. Learning about the history of places I visit is enjoyable.
What do you read? Did what you read as a child and teen influence your life choices? Share your thoughts below.
We would sit on the porch playing jacks. At one time I was able to handle pick-ups of 20 jacks at a time. We played a lot. Do kids play jacks anymore? Are they even available to purchase? Ours were tiny metal jacks with a small red ball. What about hula hoops and pogo sticks? With a swing of the hips your hula hoop could be forced up to the neck or down to the knees and back to the waste. Regular jump rope, Chinese jump rope, and hop scotch kept us busy.
Back then most people did not have air conditioning. Windows were open, fans were used. One strong childhood summer memory does not involve me but my father. He would mow the lawn and then afterward watch the ball game on TV. One of my favorite scents and sounds of summer is the combination of fresh mowed grass and a baseball ball game on the TV or radio.
When you are born a lover of the written word it never goes away, it just transitions over time. Writing and literature go hand-in-hand. My high school classes were filled with literature…classes in modern short stories, mysteries, American literature, Advanced Grammar and Composition, and more. When I went back to college in 2010 one of my favorite classes was public speaking because I was writing whatever I chose to talk about. It was fun!
I write in many formats. I titled this blog Life is a Melting Pot because my life is a jumble of various activities and I like to write about whatever strikes me at the moment. This blog is not the only regular writing I do. For the past eight years I have held the position of newsletter editor of Bluewater Family Backgrounds, a publication of the St. Clair County Family History Group. As the editor I gather content and put together the entire newsletter, writing some articles that go into it. I have been writing a column called “Who AM I?” for the past five and one-half years for The Lakeshore Guardian, and local free publication. The column is on genealogy. I am in my fourth year as an opinion columnist for our local newspaper, The Times Herald. I select my topics and how often I write a column, frequently selecting topics that can be a bit controversial. Finally, my daytime job is that of Paralegal in which I spend my days doing legal writing. All of the areas in which I write are slightly different and I enjoy each one.
I belong to a Freelance Writer’s Group and at the meetings I see a variety of people with a wide range of interests. The group includes people who write children’s stories, adult novels, travel columns, science fiction, non-fiction, memoir, and more. We all have one thing in common…we love to write! Writers are like any other type of artist, they are imaginative, creative, passionate about their art, well-read, self-promoters and self-starters. Writing is something you do solo; you have to be motivated to write or you will never succeed. Writers love words, language, and people watching. Everything is a potential story or scene. If you spend much time with a writer you may find yourself popping up in their stories, blogs, or columns. You may not be there in name, but you will likely recognize a scene in which you have lived.
--- LIFE IS A MELTING POT --- Grace Grogan...Writer, Photographer 