For the month of October, I’m joining the Write 31 Days challenge with 31 Days of Vlogging, where I blog and write for 31 days. My goal is to write on the weekends and vlog on the weekdays. Today’s post comes from the Write 31 Days writing prompt: Your favorite subject in school and how that shaped who you are today.
I grew up on Nancy Drew, the Babysitters Club, and Sweet Valley. I grew up writing in diaries and letters to family far away. It wasn’t a surprise that I grew up with English as my favorite subject in school. I was good at it because I’ve always been a reader and a writer.
Something happened in high school and college that threw my reading life for a loop: assigned reading.
Reading became a chore not because I hated to read, but because there was never enough time to do it. I like to savor stories, not rush through it to make a deadline or complete homework. I didn’t finish a lot of my assigned reading books, and I consulted Cliff Notes to catch up. It would shame me to say that, but I know a lot of people did the exact same thing.
I took the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Personality Quiz and, according to Anne Bogel, my reading personality is The English Major. I love the classics and books that stand the test of time like books by Jane Austen. Et voila! One of my favorite books is Pride and Prejudice by Austen.
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see a lot of book posts. I am excited by the mere fact I have a reading life again. I even have old reading assignments on my TBR (to be read) list.
I am grateful that my English classes introduced me to classic books and authors that are long gone, but whose works are still relevant. I think wanting to re-read the books I never finished shaped my reading life today, and reading those books shape my life in general.
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