I read a lot as a kid. I hated the books I was assigned to read—often because I’d wait until the last minute and have to read a full book in one night—but I was still reading my own choice of books on my own. One of the ones I read in a night and despised was War of the Worlds, which turned out to be a good read later when I read it because I wanted to. I don’t read much any more, though I did reread Dracula and Frankenstein last year. I can’t even remember the last time I read a book I hadn’t already read. I just can’t even come up with an idea of what to read. Modern fiction looks to be as bad as modern film.
***I hated the books I was assigned to read***
Same here! The one I really hated was Silas Mariner. Like so many of these classics it was D-U-L-L!
When I read on my own the first was CAPTAIN BLOOD trilogy. Coronado’s Children and Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver.
I managed to get an adult card at the library and from then on it was adventures! None of these teen books for boys for me!
Beau Geste trilogy. Beat to Quarters trilogy, and others of that series.
Manila Galleon, THE SARACEN BLADE. the Odyessy.
Lots of science fiction! Jules Verne and H.P.Lovecraft, Dracula.
It was all adventure books and ancient history for me!
War novels.
Strange, I really wasn’t into Westerns at all except for some old war time printings for our soldiers.
It kept me sane in my teen years.