Petra X > Status Update

I have always had a tendency to be a workaholic, even as a child. When I was in middle school, I was reading adult novels and could read one in 2 days flat. By hyper-focusing on the written word, I was able to bring a calmness into my life.

I'm an introvert, and disappearing into a book is my best way of recharging. It's been this way ever since I was small. Books and the written word simply made me happy :)

I was surrounded from birth: stacked hight on many walls, my own books in my own room, read to by both parents from earlier than I can remember to well after I was a fluent reader, regular trips to the library, book vouchers for Christmas and birthdays. Money was always a little tight, but there was always a little for books. They were a happy retreat from my parents' messy marriage, and something to do at boarding school, where there were few other options. In the last fifteen years, I've found a community here on GR.

I read a lot, and have continued to do so ever since - nothing has given me a pause in it. My parents were readers too, especially my mother, and we've always had bookshelves. Sometimes I would read them while snacking on meatballs and cheese sandwiches :9

Matal “The Mischling Princess” wrote: "By hyper-focusing on the written word, I was able to bring a calmness into my life..."

Do books still do that to you? If, that is, you need them to.

I spent most of my free time as a child reading. I wasn't (and still am not) interested in sports, pop culture, etc. and I didn't have much in the way of friends. Books have always been a necessary escape.

Just the opposite. My mom wasn't skilled at domestic stuff, including interacting with children, but she loved books and was brilliant at reading aloud,, and reading to me was how she expressed her love.

Alexandra wrote: "I'm an introvert, and disappearing into a book is my best way of recharging. It's been this way ever since I was small. Books and the written word simply made me happy :)"

I'm an introvert too. Mostly - I do have my wild moments though! But I think all of us bookworms have our introverted want-to-be-alone-with-a-book times.

PetraX living the city life wrote: "Matal “The Mischling Princess” wrote: "By hyper-focusing on the written word, I was able to bring a calmness into my life..."

Do books still do that to you? If, that is, you need them to."

Well, it depends on the book I suppose. The well-written ones do!

Cecily wrote: "They were a happy retreat from my parents' messy marriage, and something to do at boarding school, where there were few other options...."

Did the other girls also read a lot? Didn't you have tv etc?

Petra X living the city life wrote: "Did the other girls also read a lot? Didn't you have tv etc?"

At boarding school, there was a TV, but the hours we were allowed to watch it were very limited, and anyway, there were only three channels back then, and we didn't have VHS (it existed, but was rare and expensive). Mills & Boon (like Harlequin romances) and Agatha Christie were popular and shared and swapped, but there were plenty of us who read beyond that. Other permitted evening activities included guitar and singing along, knitting, crochet etc.

Living at a good distance from the nearest hamlet almost exclusively interrupted by bus trips to the nearest secondary school and high school, books offered me something of an boulevard out of the routine of mundane life in the countryside, be it at my mother's place or at my father's - I never have known them together.

Well, actually my father may well have had a greater propensity to organize little trips and outdoor activities - cinema, beach, occasional trips during the holidays. And I occasionally visited amusement parks and zoos with my mother, but books, comics, mangas, magazines, were increasingly important to me as a way out!Thanks for asking Petra; sad to learn that you were not loved...

Cecily wrote: "At boarding school, there was a TV, but the hours we were allowed to watch it were very limited, and anyway, there were only three channels back then, and we didn't have VHS (it existed, but was rare and expensive). Mills & Boon ..."

Not exactly St Trinian's!

7jane wrote: " Sometimes I would read them while snacking on meatballs and cheese sandwiches :9..."

I suppose the stains in your books bring back memories then!

I read Narnia and A Wrinkle in Time over and over.

Fred wrote: "I spent most of my free time as a child reading. I wasn't (and still am not) interested in sports, pop culture, etc. and I didn't have much in the way of friends. Books have always been a necessary..."

Best hobby there is!

Petra X living the city life wrote: "7jane wrote: " Sometimes I would read them while snacking on meatballs and cheese sandwiches :9..."

I suppose the stains in your books bring back memories then!"

No, I was a pretty tidy eater XD

Ooops, sorry!

Beth wrote: "Just the opposite. My mom wasn't skilled at domestic stuff, including interacting with children, but she loved books and was brilliant at reading aloud,, and reading to me was how she expressed her..."

That's so lovely, sharing books together.

P.E. wrote: "Living at a good distance from the nearest hamlet almost exclusively interrupted by bus trips to the nearest secondary school and high school, books offered me something of an boulevard out of the ..."

Even though your parents weren't together, it sounds like you had a lovely childhood. You also have a whizz English vocabulary!

My dad read us books every night for many years, and my mom was always reading either classics or science fiction.

My sister and brother were way older than me - saying that my sister loved reading and reading was an escape. I used to play a reading game with a neighbour plus my parents used to ban me from reading when we went on long trips so I would take in the scenery,

Audrey wrote: "I read Narnia and A Wrinkle in Time over and over."

What did they do for you as a child that you got more from them than other books?

Jennifer wrote: "my parents used to ban me from reading when we went on long trips so I would take in the scenery..."

LOL. You must have been a major bookworm! Are you still?

Petra X living the city life wrote: "Audrey wrote: "I read Narnia and A Wrinkle in Time over and over."

What did they do for you as a child that you got more from them than other books?"

True escapism; I admired the creativity the most.

Audrey wrote: "True escapism; I admired the creativity the most..."

True escapism is right. Escaping into the world of books was wonderful as a child. I read fiction then, and fantasy. Now I want to know about the world and read non-fiction.

I read multiple books at once, and one is almost always a nonfiction.