Being of Asian descent, the pursuit of knowledge has always been heavily pressed upon me. Hilariously enough, my mother hates reading but always brought me to the library when I was young. I didn't start to enjoy reading until I was 10/11 when the Harry Potter series came out. Up until then, reading was a chore to improve my English because my family were immigrants, speaking English at home wasn't enforced. Thus, for most of my childhood, I had assumed that everyone spoke Chinese. So imagine my surprise when the teachers pulled me from class and placed me in ESL. Anyway, after Harry Potter, I couldn't get enough of reading. To my mother's delight, I frequented the library religiously, but to my mother's dismay, I wasn't reading medical journals or case studies but fantasies and adventures. I grew up on Ronald Dahl and Diana Wynne Jones. And in 7th grade, I came upon Pride and Prejudice by accident. Although, my meager 7th grade vocabulary made digesting this classic a feat, I knew I was reading something grand. And the rest is history.

[RavenT]

I could read when I started kindergarten. I recall starting Black Beauty in first grade, although I had to get help with a lot of vocabulary words. I especially liked books about natural history and animals when very young, and I liked reading the encyclopedia set we had.

I've always read--I won the summer reading program at the city library twice before the age of 12.

Reading brings me peace, joy, knowledge, and hours of entertainment.

When I was very little I used to climb on my mom's bed while she was reading, and ask her to read out loud; whatever she was reading, I wanted to listen. Most of the time I didn't fully understand what the book was about, but seeing my mom being so passionate about books made me curious. I couldn't read yet, but I used to grab random books and stare at the words trying to make them make sense to me.
I think it only took me one year of school before my teacher started bugging my parents saying I was more interested in reading whatever I pleased from our textbooks than trying to follow what she was saying, and that I only tried to do my homework as quickly as possible so I could read from our little classroom library. I started getting serious about reading at around 8/9 years old. I do think that the, hm, hostile environment of that school pushed me to look for empathy and escape wherever I could. At least they did one good thing

[Nyx1961]

I was in my early-mid teens when I started reading voraciously, more as a form of escapism than anything else. I'm in my early fifties now and still read about 5 novels/books a week but not as an escape any more. I just really enjoy reading.

I was about 9 years old, and a school friend had the book One Hundred and One Dalmatians. I asked to borrow it, read it in one sitting, and the rest is history

[Victoriana]

I can't remember not being able to read. I know I could read properly at 4. I aways loved it. I know I read "Heidi" when i was about 5 and loved being in another world. I was so little that I thought 'Austria' was a way of writing 'Australia', where I live. But the game changer for me was Robert Heinlein's " Tunnel in the Sky' which I read when I was around 10, in 1966. Even now, my favourite genres are SF and fantasy.

I've been reading books since I was a child. Always been a book fan but I think I really started to be engrossed in them by the age of 15. There's just something about some books that intrigues me and bugs me if I got really interested by the summaries at the back or the reviews from the people I know and see on the internet. So yeah.

[GreenBird]

Ever since I can remember.. My dad always bought lots of books for us and he's a great reader himself. The only reason I was reading Thomas Harris, Jeffrey Archer and Charles Dickens at 14! I couldn't afford my own books so I'd read what I could get my hands on. I have lots of reading awards from school

[Weelee]

I've been reading (thanks to my mother getting me interested in books) since I was about six, almost fifty years now. .

Same (over 50 years now ) ..My very first book; brought as a birthday present was: Little Black, A Pony I was 5 years old

We start school at five over here and I was able to identify words and short sentences by the time i went to school ...any book with a horse in it and I read it lol

Black Beauty was and still is a favorite and little Golden books mum brought one every week

All my life people asked and still do ... "Got your book" ..I always have a book beside me ...whether at home, work, even at the Pub (hotel)
Now of course have my eReader with me, in my handbag, at all times

My kids/boys knew if i looked up from my book, during down time ... they knew they were in deep trouble Bahahah

I've been reading (thanks to my mother getting me interested in books) since I was about six, almost fifty years now. .

Same (over 50 years now ) ..My very first book; brought as a birthday present was: Little Black, A Pony I was 5 years old

We start school at five over here and I was able to identify words and short sentences by the time i went to school ...any book with a horse in it and I read it lol

Black Beauty was and still is a favorite and little Golden books mum brought one every week

All my life people asked and still do ... "Got your book" ..I always have a book beside me ...whether at home, work, even at the Pub (hotel)
Now of course have my eReader with me, in my handbag, at all times

My kids/boys knew if i looked up from my book, during down time ... they knew they were in deep trouble Bahahah

You should do what I did years ago when getting my will sorted out; I stated, and it made the solicitor pause and stare at me over the top of of his glasses, that the family member I put down as executor is to pick out six books to be cremated with me so I won't be bored. I may update the will and make it a dozen books.

I was around 6-7 when I started reading and didn't stop since. My mom used to read me stories and when I learned to read, I started reading on my own. I always loved reading and still do.

started reading when i was 14 for english class,
never finish a book through lol

truly starting to read when LMS v1-20 is translated
finished ARK and on book 7 of Play To Live Series.

i believe i was 10. my parents were more into music, dad loved opera and my mom the rat pack - sinatra, dean martin, liberace etc etc, so music is the other half of my life but my first book was a hard cover (how i loved the feel of that book) black beauty given to me by an old lonely neighbour. my sister and i used to visit him to play with his dogs. he liked chess and my sister was nuts about it but i guess he could not figure out what i liked until i saw his books and he said take one. i read it again and again until it fell apart and 7 years later when i had enough pocket money to splurge i bought david eddings pawn of prophecy. i have stuck to that one genre ever since tho i do love my shakespeare and austen (which i was introduced to in literature class in high school) with some foray into sci-fi. now at 55 am still reading. i am pleased to say that i have a library of about 1000 books and surprise surprise 1 daughter is into music (she teaches it) and books and the other loves music and art. i guess my life and ultimately my kids have been influenced by both my parents and that lonely old neighbour.

I honestly don't remember. I read alot in HS but almost nothing in College. Same with post college, unless you count manga.

But last year (winter specifically) I started taking it back up again. Started with a few books and audiobooks. It felt like a whole new world again. I started snowboarding again last year and I ended up going upto the slopes ALOT. I work nights so my days are free. I would take nearly daily trips to the slopes, 2 or 3 times a week or more when able and being a good one to two hour drive away I ended up going through ALOT of audiobooks on my drives. So here I am now.

Hmmm... I started around 6 years old. I was encouraged to read by my parents and I read anything that I could find around the house. Magazines, the Bible, The Man With The Golden Gun . It just went on from there.