When Did You Fall in Love with Reading?

A little birdie told us that, when our collective quarantine happened, many avid readers just couldn't focus on books anymore. We're sure it's quite scary to suddenly find the thing that felt like home, now feels as if it's 'too much'. If this sounds like you, fear no more! In an effort to help you jumpstart a new love affair with the written word, Off the Shelf editors asked our book-obsessed colleagues: What books made you fall in love with reading? Below are some selections for anyone looking to revisit some childhood classics, or if you're in need, possible inspiration.

Happy reading!

As a little girl I'd devour my mom's Barbara Cartland romance novels (The Punishment of a Vixen still haunts me) and reread her tattered copy of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice more times than I can count. Once I got a BPL Library Card, I met and became obsessed with Lois Duncan, Judy Blume, and the grand master of page turners, Stephen King. It was nothing to have 26 books borrowed at one time. –Raquel

In my first few months as a new parent, I hadn’t really read ANYTHING except message boards full of anxious fellow new parents freaking out about naps. Then in my first week back at work, a friend pressed Meaghan O’Connell’s And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready into my hands. I inhaled it in 24 hours and I realized it was okay to start seeking out fiction that spoke directly to this new thing I was experiencing (motherhood!).  –Krissa

I started out reading The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High books. I was pretty obsessed. –Stephanie

When I was in the fourth grade our teacher read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. It was the first fantasy book I had ever read/listened too. I was hooked. As a adult two book that have stuck with me are the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and Ruth Rendell's A Sight for Sore Eyes. I love to read books that delve into the human psyche. –Ann

Mine is kind of embarrassing (editorial note: no it's not!) but it was Sweet Valley Twins (not even High). I loved that it was a series I could keep reading, I loved waiting for the next book to come out, I knew I was Probably an Elizabeth when I Wished I was a Jessica. As an adult, it was probably Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, which I read while studying abroad in college. –Robin

Judy Blume was perfect for all of those awkward phases as a tween, teen and then later as a parent. In particular, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing captures all of the catastrophic birthday party moments. Deenie, Forever and Are You There God? It's Me Margaret (not necessarily in that order) helped me through all those awkward teen moments that were either too embarrassing to ask my friends about or weren't covered during "the talk." –Laurie

For me it was The Magic Tree House and 39 Clues series when I was younger  Then as a teenager it was Pretty Littles Liars and The Hunger Games series. I always loved reading but these had me hooked! –Angelika

I devoured Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and The Bobbsey Twins. When I got my own "tastes" it was poetry, specifically the Romantic Poets. In high school took a short story course and fell in love with Edgar Allan Poe, and then I discovered Shakespeare. –Marcia

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, the EarthSeed series by Octavia Butler and The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. Oh yes, and any mythology I could get my hands on! –Driker

When I was eight, my much older brother took a children's lit class where he had to read Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston. I borrowed the book and ended up reading the whole series. A few years later, my sister took out a copy of Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising, and I got drawn into that series. Between the two authors,  I was influenced enough that I ended up reading lots of fantasy and Arthurian fiction, world folkore and mythology,  ballads, and history. –Tracey

The Swiss Family Robinson; we’d take family trips each Christmas to Miami Beach and I got lost in the descriptive narrative and well, never came back! –Josh

The book that kicked me off on reading NEW books was Love, Stars, And All That by Kirin Narayan. It caught my eye at a bookstore, and the main character was a young Indian woman, recently graduated from college and about to start graduate school as an English major, like me! Ask any South Asian American woman in her forties, and she will likely tell you that this book was eye-opening for us, that WOW, we can see ourselves in print! –Yesha

I loved D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and Tomie DePaola's Book of Bible Stories, I went back to those over and over –Abby