I was born a lucky child. Both of my parents were teachers and my Father had quite an extensive library, himself. Every birthday and Christmas, I got at least 2 books, sometimes more from first grade onward. Lots of children's books helped me cultivate my love for reading.

Once in school, I was lucky to have schools that had good libraries. I read all the great old stand-by's like riddle and joke books, along with many sports related books. I got into Encyclopedia Brown through my school libraries, then graduated to Ellery Queen after that series got a show on TV. I never did get into The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, though.

One place I feel "cheated" is in my literature classes later on in school. I remember I read Pygmalion and Of Mice and Men in 9th grade, but the rest were just "snippets" put together in a large compendium. So many "classics" I have never read, Pride and Prejudice, Animal Farm, 1984, I, Robot, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and so many others I just read maybe a chapter or two, just to wet my whistle, which I never followed up on.

I also have this nasty aversion to authority, so when someone "tells me" to read something, my attitude is truly poor. I'm one of those dumb people that have to think it was my idea in order to enjoy the read

How about you avid readers, or even not so avid? How did you get introduced to books and have you read many of what some call classics?