Booking Through Thursday: School Books

This week’s Booking Through Thursday asks two questions:

“We all had to read things in school that we didn’t like … but what about something you read for a class that you ended up liking (or loving)? An author you discovered that you might not have found? A genre you hadn’t thought about?”

Well, I would really like take a different route about this. I am not going to talk about a book but an essay that I loved. While at school I read an essay called Reading for Pleasure by English author L.A.G.Strong. The essay was basically about why people should read what they like and only what they like. No one should force anyone to read anything. He then goes on to illustrate the point by recounting his own experiences with books while growing up. Strong’s language was so simple yet pleasant. I remember being so surprised to find that a grown up was telling us to read for our own pleasure and that too on a school textbook! I took Strong’s lesson to heart that reading should be a passion, not a chore. Also, I have been tracking down all the authors and books mentioned in the essay as being his favourites. It is through this essay that I came to know of W.W.Jacobs and of Under the Red Robe by Stanley J. Weyman, one of my favourite reads from 2009. Strong’s views helped shape my attitude towards reading. It also introduced me to authors I would have otherwise known nothing about. So, I can say the essay Reading for Pleasure is something I read for school but ended up loving.

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