Reading as a Youth

Last night I was helping my eight year old son with a book report for his third grade class. It reminded me of when I was in school and all those book reports they made me do. Well, you know what? I didn't read any of those books. I laugh at it now. I had no interest in reading any of the books they made us read. And even the times when the books were ones that students could choose...I didn't choose any.

As I think back on it now, I didn't have any interest in the Hardy Boys or any of the Middle Grade books that targeted my age group when I was in elementary school, nor did I have any interest in the Young Adult books that targeted high school students. I confess now that I only completed the assigned book reports from reading the cover flap copy.

I think I only read one book that was assigned in my entire formal education. CHILDHOOD's END. And I really didn't even like that book. I don't know why I read the whole thing. Probably because it seemed interesting while I read it, but the end, to me, was so-so. No big deal. So the human race joined with some eternal god-like force of which the devil-looking aliens couldn't be a part. Big deal.

I guess you might say that about any book. It depends on the reader.

As a youth, I did read some books on my own that weren't required, but I didn't do book reports on them. The ones that I remember are the H. G. Wells books. You know, War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine. Some Edgar Rice Burroughs books. But only a couple Tarzans. I already talked about the Custer book. That's the first book I think I read cover to cover.

It wasn't until I read Howard that I really took off on reading books. It was Robert E. Howard, really, who got me into reading books. HIS books.