My Ponderings

Devin Sheehan
ENG 101-Meehan
Feb. 2009

My First Reading Experience

The experience that most affected how I read and even view reading would have to be a book I read in third grade. To begin I should state that my parents are also avid readers so as an adolescent stories were read to me nightly. But it was during one of my trips with my mother that I found my first real book. I went with her to a bookstore and while following her I came across a book with a cover that intrigued me. That book was The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. I picked it up and my mother bought it for me. Now, I had read books on my own before, but this was different, my previous readings hadn’t been novels, or even chapter books. This was completely different then anything I had read before.  At first I had difficulty making my way through the book, I couldn’t understand several of the words I came across so I would have to go ask the meaning of my parents. But as I learned the meanings of the words the reading became easier. When a book is really enjoyable it’s an escape from the mundane, the everyday. “This notion of hiding, secreting myself in a text was important to me-it underlines to this day my sense of a book as a refuge.”(Birkerts 35) I can agree with Birkerts that when you read certain books it can become a refuge, and so it was with “The Hobbit.”

I traveled right beside Bilbo as he outsmarted Sméagol and overcame the dragon Smaug. In the process of following this tale I fell in love with reading. I don’t remember how many days it took me to finish, most likely quite a few but when I was finish I was in love with reading and couldn’t wait for to start another book. I would then continue through the novels that were in my house and it was through that process that I learned which books were easier to get into; I discovered genres and which were my favorite. The ones that were easiest to “escape” into were the fiction, science fiction and fantasy. But it was this initial experience with reading that made me enjoy reading. If I had instead had a terrible experience then quite possibly I could have formed a reluctant view of reading, because I never would have discovered that reading could be an escape.

Another experience that enhanced the way I viewed reading was in 5th grade. My teacher was Mrs. LePage, and on our first day in class she read us a short story. She had everyone sit down and then she began to read about Genghis Khan. I had already heard about him before this, but since several people didn’t know him she started with a little history lesson. Then she proceeded to tell the story of Genghis Khan and his hawk. Genghis Khan had raised this hawk from birth so it was an incredibly loyal pet.

The story begins with Khan leading a group of his people on a animal hunt. They track the animal for several hours before finally bringing it down. Then Khan tells his men to take the animal back, he’ll take a longer route to get home. On his way back he comes across a rocky overhang that has a tiny dribble of clear water falling from it. The dribble of water was so tiny that it would take several minutes to gather enough for a mouthful. He reached into his pack and took out a small clay cup. Khan spends the next several minutes patiently waiting for the cup to be full. Then as he brings it to his lips, his hawk, which had been free to fly while they made there way back home, flew down and struck the cup so that it fell to the ground. Khan was shocked and confused but picked up the cup and started to refill. Yet again as he brought the full cup to his lips the hawk speared down and knocked it from his hands.

Khan warned his hawk that if it did this again he would kill it. So with determination he placed the cup under the trickle and waited again for it to be full. Then watching for his hawk he brought the cup to his mouth. The hawk flew down to knock the cup away and Genghis Khan drew his sword and slew his hawk. In the action of drawing his sword the cup had fallen and broken. The hawk lay dead on the ground as Genghis Khan prepared to climb the overhang of rock to get a drink, since he was parched. Khan climbed to the top and there’s the pool of water that the trickle is coming from, but inside of the pool is a dead venomous snake. The hawk had seen the snake and knew the water was poisonous, and so it had knocked the cup away to save its master.

What this has to do with my reading experience is how I reacted to this story. In the telling of the story I had gotten caught up in the characters. I had truly felt sorrow when Genghis Khan realized his hawk had saved him. At the end of the story my eyes were tearing up. Thinking back I can’t imagine how the story could effect how I felt so much. But it was at that point that I realized that besides an escape, books and the act of reading, could invoke emotion and thoughts in the reader, if their presented correctly. This was a brand new idea to me; books could effect how I felt and make me think a different way then I was used to.

I believe that experiences like this would effect how you view the act of reading. When I’m told that I have to read a book for class, I’m interested, because clearly this is a book that the professors feel we should be reading to understand something. There have been countless times when I’ve finished a book and recommended it to my friends, so in my mind when the teacher picks a book it’s a recommendation. The book could pose an idea or have a way of looking at something that the professor wants the students to learn. If a book has a rich plot and interesting ideas, then the class can have helpful and meaningful conversation.  Even if the students disagree with the book’s message, often times this can create just as intense a discussion as if the book was enjoyed. Before I’ve even begun reading the book there’s a chance that I’ll enjoy it so I have an enthusiastic outlook on the idea of reading. But for someone who hates to read, their first thought is going to be apathetic or angry that they have to read. This is because they never learned that reading could be enjoyable.

I feel like these people who haven’t learned how to read enjoyably are missing out. Books can do so much if you let them. For example if you find out you have cancer, a story written from someone who also has cancer can help you find solace in your remaining years. A book can educate you on just about anything. Also as previously stated a book can be an escape for someone who just wants to get away for a while. For these reasons and more books are important, and have the ability to get into a book and the mindset that it can be enjoyable are what help when reading.