Growing up I watched hours of television. I fell asleep with the show Martin in the background. I woke up in the middle of the night to turn off the tv. Looking back, it is amazing that my parents let me watch that many hours of television. I remember the brand of the televisions we owned and if I really thought about it, I probably can remember the evening lineup of cartoons and TV shows I watched.
I loved television. It was an addictive escape from reality. As I got older, I played soccer and that took up more of my time. However, television was comforting. I would do homework, eat, clean the apartment we lived in with the TV on. Heck, if I went to get in the shower, I left the TV on.
I graduated high school and off to college I went. I was very busy but I still looked forward to watching TV to doze off at night or as background noise during homework time. It wasn’t until I started dating my now wife that my interest in reading started. She grew up the complete opposite of me, she read more than she watched TV. One day we had a disagreement because we were doing homework together in my dorm room while Flava of Love (don’t judge me, I really wasn’t paying attention…most of the time)was playing in the background. She picked up the control and turned the TV off. GASP! HOW DARE SHE!?
The good thing is we then we had a conversation about why I always had the TV on. I explained to her that even if I wasn’t really watching the TV it was a thing that was always on growing up. She then asked me why I didn’t read books. I told her that I thought reading was not fun and it took forever to get through a book. She mentioned that I could read books of things that I had interest in, for example, sports books.
My wife is very smart. She gifted me a subscription to Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone magazine. I would receive the magazines in the mail and read a few articles that I found interesting. The next thing I know, I am reading them cover-to-cover. I then ‘graduated’ to reading short books. The very first book that I read that I couldn’t put down was Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. It is about a football player playing in NFL Europe. It is obviously not your typical John Grisham book but it catapulted me to discovering more authors and books.
Reading is like a superpower.
The more I read, the better I am at writing, at creating and I believe it has helped me grow as a person. It is a gift that I am passing on to my children. I often joke that one of the ‘problems’ we have at our house is getting our kids to put down their books. We have a mini-library at home and every kid is always reading. We have soccer practice or a soccer game, they have a book for the ride to and from.
I encourage everyone one reading this post to read more. If you can’t afford buying books, take advantage of your local library. The library card is free and you get access to great resources with that magical card.
Here is a short list of recent books I’ve read that I really enjoyed.
- All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Say Nothing: The True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
What are you reading?
Comments
Good article… In the non-fiction area I have enjoyed John Grisham, David Baldacci, of course Steven King and any other popular books.
In non-fiction I enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell, Fareed Zakaria for current events and there’s tons of authors I follow for business readings
I am glad you found the love for reading
I’m currently reading The Color of Law.
I will add that to my reading list. Thanks Bob!
I loved “All the Light We Cannot See” and I am currently reading “The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home”.
Great article!
I hope someday All The Light We Cannot See is made into a movie but with a big budget, great actors and top notch director. I will check out your recommendation as well.