Claire's latest piece 'A History of Reading' was inspired when completing a survey (more details below) about reading. This led Claire into questioning her own reading habits: 'how I learnt to read, what it means to me, significant books, anything that defines how and what I read now'. Over the coming weeks- Claire will be exploring these questions and bringing to us her discoveries. I hope you'll agree, this sounds like a really interesting piece!
Part one: Introduction
About a year ago I took part in a survey about reading. It was a questionnaire put together by a researcher and university lecturer looking into women’s reading habits. Thinking about those questions took me on a journey and reminded me of a lot of things I hadn’t thought about in a long time and memories that might otherwise have been forgotten.
Going through my bookshelves back at my parents’ house in my old room triggered some of those memories.
So now I am on a journey to remember all those book-related stories and really, my reading-story.
All of us readers have one: It’s about how we were taught to read, if it was a pleasure or a chore, who influenced our reading, how we read throughout different chapters of our lives and lately, how we adapt this old-fashioned activity of reading to our modern, restless and technology-led world.
Like the story of our life is defined by people, the story of our reading is defined by books: Our first one, the first one we enjoyed, the first one that taught us empathy, that made us cry, that we shared, and the ones we never let go.