Never reads!

Our youngest son only read what he had to for exams, never for pleasure.
His brother and sister couldn’t grasp this as they were voracious readers.
He went to live in India for 6 months aged 18,no TV, internet etc.
His sister gave him a book called Shantaram as a parting gift, he is now a voracious reader too.

my husband and i got called for a meeting with my sons teacher, he was about 11, she was going on about the fact he did not like books, he could read and write, she started on about us as parents not bothering to read and that is why he does not like books, i stopped her in mid sentence and said my house is full of books, including childrens books, we visit the library every week, my son has never liked books, i gave him 4 thrillers to take to iraq, me thinking he would get bored and maybe start reading, the books ended up being passed around to other soldiers, i ended up sending more books. i have always been a book person, i devour 3/4 books a week on my kindle, i was asked years ago as a joke what would you rather loose, music or books, i can still hear music in my head but i would hate to live without my books.

Quite honestly I will read anything. A new neighbour has just recommended Eloisa James. She said they were like Georgette Heyer. I think not….very eye opening .

I’m another book worm , I’ve always read as a child when we would go to the library. When I started work , I traveled on the train and tube and so read during my commute .
I always have a book on the go either paper book or my kindle and read every night for 30-60 minutes.
My Dh only reads on holiday but gets really engrossed in the book .
My AC are both avid readers and have been since very small . The Harry Potter books took over from the school books . Both also read on their commute to work . My DD and I both belong to book clubs and my DDs book club had a literary weekend last year .
I do have friends who don’t read either due to time or aren’t keen. We’re all different.
Interestingly , when a friend suggested a book club 5 years ago , two women weren’t readers . 3 months later both women bought kindles and are now avid readers.

I have always been a reader. Maybe it was because I was an only child. My parents were not big readers. My grandmother looked after me when I was young and my parents both worked. The highlight of the week was going to town and my grandma buying me a paperback book from our local bookshop. It was usually Enid Blyton, especially the Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mystery of... books. They were two shillings and sixpence.

When my children were small I didn't have much time to read. However, we (me and ex DH) always read to our children at night and at other times.

All three of my DS's still read. Two of them prefer physical books (like me) but the other one prefers digital and audio books.

My DH is dyslexic and finds no pleasure in reading. He prefers listening to music. I think it's such a shame. He is missing out on so much.

I read quite a bit now but, hopefully when I retire, I will have more time to read. I must have about 200 books on my TBR shelf and I am still buying more

My parents and older sisters were never great readers but I loved to read. I got no encouragement what so ever. My mother saw it as a waste of time. I still read a lot and encouraged both my daughters to read
They in turn encouraged their children to read too.

I vividly remember my lovely Mum adding 'and, no, you can't just finish the chapter' when she asked me to do some simple chore. My nose was seldom out of a book. Move one generation on and I recollect mentioning to that same Mum that I was concerned that my boys were slipping into only reading comics. 'If they're reading them regularly then leave hem alone' She was right (again!) and they both reverted to books in their own good time.

My youngest grandson (11 now) couldn't get into school books. But during lockdown I introduced him to some of my favourites, black beauty, treasure Island and wind in the willows. When he told his teacher on a zoom call what he was reading the teacher was amazed by how enthusiastic he was. He has developed a real love of reading , books not kindle. Sometimes I think you need to find your way into reading for the love to follow. But if its not for you then that's entirely your choice. I'd never judge.

I am a bookworm and usually read about four books each week - I am a very quick reader. Also read magazines and the Sunday paper. One of my new year's resolutions is to read a few pages of the complete works of Burns each day and a couple of nonfiction books a month (enjoy history so that won't be an onerous task).

Read a lot to my children but neither are keen readers though they do read technical stuff for work and I know the younger one reads on his phone. Little grandchild is 16 months and definitely going to be a bookworm - read her over 30 stories in one day last week and she won't settle at bedtime unless she has her story. She is now choosing to sit in her wee rocking chair with a book, babbling away as she turns the pages.

The only time I can recall when I didn't read every day was after my dh died very suddenly in his early fifties. I couldn't even concentrate on a newspaper article for several weeks. My friend suggested The Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer. Had never read any of his books before and really would not have chosen them but I did enjoy them and they got me reading again.

Everyone is different. One of my friends loves tiktok, another enjoys her kindle (I just don't enjoy using a kindle), etc. I can't imagine not reading but appreciate that others have different interests.

During Covid I started reading a bed time story to my two granddaughters in Italy a couple of times a week. We've carried this on, progressing to reading chapters of longer books, but homework now has to take priority so it's usually down to once a week . They both avidly read Italian books, but also enjoy being read to in English which is a joy for me to do.

The few books I had as a child I absolutely cherished, then when I started having pocket money, I saved up for books, like Pinkcosmos, usually Enid Blyton to start with.
My lovely English teacher recommended books I would never have thought of, I’ve hardly ever been without a book on the go since.
I don’t think everyone should read books, but I think maybe everyone should give it a go.

Shantaram is a big favourite of mine - amazing that it got someone into reading. It’s a huge book, that’s fantastic.

Not a regular reader and have been looked down on for this. Most annoying as I can embroider, make clothes and curtains etc, I am a milliner when the mood takes me. Add to this gardening and painting and decorating and finally computer games. How dare they look down!! They should be looking up!!
I detest intellectual middle class snobbery!!!
Grrrrrr

My 10 year old DGS will happily spend time with books, he has Down Syndrome. He often adds his own words to what he's 'reading', he's very good at entertaining himself.

We never had a lot of books at home, my dad had a bookcase of dull looking books, I think he enjoyed reading, but money was tight, and books were way down the list.
I was never bought any, maybe an annual at Christmas, and my gran had a book which had been my mothers which was full of rather scary cautionary tales.
So for children like me the library was a life saver, loved choosing books on a Saturday morning.
But I agree TerriBull, if I’d had an iPhone, Netflix and so many other distractions, it might have been very different.

Both my DGC (16 and 13) had a lot of books for Christmas - and read them most of the time they were with us - about a week.

They are as adept as the next child at using their phones, but they are not the centre of their lives. That is possibly because their parents do not have their phones at the centre of their lives either. Both have a lot of outside interest that are not phone based and they are growing up in a house full of books, where their parents always have one if not more books around that they are actively reading.

The same applies when they visit any of their relatives (grandparents, aunts/uncles) we all have houses full of books and can regularly be seen reading them.