I feel like all book lovers read significantly more as a kid (which makes sense). Lets reminisce at good old times. How many minutes/hours a day did you read books when you were a child on average? Not asking how often if that makes sense.
During the summers if I started a book I liked, I could wake up and read straight until I finished the book or I got too sleepy at bedtime, whichever came first. When I read, it would probably be for a minimum of 4 hours at a time. I remember one time, my friend invited me on a Monday to see Twilight when it first was first released on a Friday night. I had never heard of it until she invited me. This was during the school year but somehow I walked into into the theater having read all 4 books. I wish life could still be like this.
by inquisitiveinquirer1
14 Comments
I also miss those days… When I was a kid, I had a secret reading place: I had a book light, pillow and blanket set up in my closet, so I could sneak in there after I was supposed to be in bed. Would read all night
I used to crawl underneath my bed as a kid and read the books I got from the library lots of classics and snoopy books and I can’t forget the joke books
I remember back in my early teenage years I used to go to the library on Monday, get 4-5 books, and then return them all on Friday and get another 4-5 to have something to read over the weekend… the librarian refused to believe I could read that much, so one time she asked me a bunch of questions about the plot of the books I was returning to confirm I’m actually reading the books I check out lol
Back then I could easily read for 3-4 hours, take a short break for homework/dinner and then read for a few more hours till bedtime. Sure was nice to have that much free time…
Basically all the time. I was known for taking a book to the loo, reading as I walked along the street, at the table, if I didn’t have a book I used to read anything I could find. I read my mum’s how to care for houseplants book over and over, I read all my nan’s Mills & Boon romances, totally insatiable. I’ll be honest it kind of makes me sad that now I’m an adult I spend so much time looking at crap on the internet – in fact I’m going to stop here and go and find my book, assuming the kids haven’t drawn all over it!
Reading has always been my main leisure activity. When I was a kid I used to spend the whole weekend reading from breakfast to bedtime (I was a lonely kid). I could lose myself in a good book for an entire afternoon after school without even realizing it. My summer holidays were mainly looooong days of peaceful reading on the beach.
More than 30 years later I’ve got significantly less time and my reading habits have adjusted, but it’s still what I love doing most in my free time, alongside writing. I got faster, so I still manage to read roughly 80 books per year. Oh, and audiobooks have noticeably expanded the time I can devote to the hobby.
All the time. I’d regularly read until gone 2am when I had to get up at 7 for school. I’d read all evening. I was regularly in the library, and I read all my mum’s books as well as my own. The bus ride to town was an hour and I’d read all the way there and back. I had a part-time job as a receptionist while in school and I used to spend that reading.
I spent half of my degree reading as well, though I did study history so reading was a fact of life.
I haven’t changed much and it’s been nearly 20 years since my degree. I still don’t go anywhere without a book though I’ve noticed I read a bit slower than I used to!
I’d read a book a day for a long time. I don’t remember how many people remember *Reading Rainbow* hosted by LeVar Burton but man did he make me addicted to reading. He was such a feature in my house my mom saw his character in *Star Trek: The Next Generation* that she only thing she knew him as was the *Reading Rainbow* guy.
I didn’t start actively reading books until I was like 12 and that took forever and I’d only read in between classes. By 15, reading was my main hobby and it’s what I’d do for like most of the day.
Several hours a day, for sure. I would read ahead at school, then put my own book between the text book. I think my teachers knew what I was doing, but they also knew I had read ahead in the text book.
As a kid my favorite reading spot was the big comfy chair in the living room, with my legs hanging over one arm of the chair and my head propped up by the other arm of the chair. Sometimes I would lay behind the couch reading so no one would find me. I would also read under the covers at night with a flashlight.
Every week I would fill a box with books at the library. The librarians all got to know me. When I finished with the books for boys I read the books for girls. When I finished with those I started on the books for adults.
I also had a much older sister (12 years older) who read a lot, so I read all of her books as well, even if they weren’t age appropriate. Sometimes I would read the Encyclopedia Britannica, browsing the articles. I would always read at the table if I could, and if I didn’t have a book I might read whole cereal box, including the list of ingredients.
My mother was a third grade school teacher and wasn’t a fan of TV, but she would always let me read. Often our little black and white TV didn’t work, and when it did there were only three and a half channels. I say a half because ABC was on UHF and sometimes we couldn’t get it clearly.
Every available moment.
I spent one summer at my fathers house as a young teen. He lived in a lake in a rural area. I read 30 books that summer, sitting on the dock or in front of the house, inside after dark. It was bliss.
I once finished a harry potter book the night i got it at midnight, aka stayed awake til like 6 am reading. In general i read a lot as a kid especially before we had cable or internet. Though once we got internet id sometimes spend hours upon hours on different wikis and wikipedia.
If there was free time, I was reading. Had several books going at once and read several a week. To the detriment of my grades! I would read between commercials if watching TV. As I got older, I would spend weekends reading. Missed that after getting married and having a child. Now that child is older and more independent, but I find my ability to focus has changed dramatically so I get maybe 30 minutes at night to read.
I rarely read as a child and only in the past 2-3 years have I fallen in love with reading. I wish I gave more time to it but I often get bored easily and find it hard to give books the proper attention they deserve.