What Sparked Your Passion for Literature?
Posted by editors on Sep 25, 2013 in Uncategorized | 0 comments
December 31, 1999: The Matrix still had moviegoers reeling from futuristic special effects, the recently discontinued Beanie Babies were selling for hundreds of dollars eBay, and Y2K had the world bracing themselves for the computer apocalypse.
This day also happened to be my 11th birthday, and I was more worried about a book report I had due by January 2nd than any computocalypse celebrations. I hated reading, and in my aversion, I left my assignment to be completed at the last moment. Unfortunately, I had no books in my house to read, and I was too afraid of my parents finding out about my delinquency to get a book from anywhere else.
Families usually have their own festivities going on on New Years Eve so right before my party at the skate rink, the kids next door dropped off a present and told me they wouldn’t be able to make it. Obviously knowing nothing about me, they gave me a book.
No one who wasn’t related to me showed up to my party, but the gift I did receive—one about a boy just like me celebrating his 11th birthday—left me charmed. Over the course of New Years Day I read Sorcerers Stone cover to cover. Harry Potter showed me that literature is a kind of magic no other medium can reproduce.
I still passed my assignment in late (I think I got a C+), but something more important happened. Harry Potter sparked an interest in literature in me that would dictate the course of my life until today.
So how about you? Is there a moment in your life that sparked like a neon sign, “I love reading!” or “I want to write!” What started your interest in literature?
– Mark-Anthony Lewis
