Where did you learn to love reading?

According to a Telegraph article, it's not in the classroom. See, I don't think that's necessarily true. If you have the right teacher, one that actually gives a damn and attempts to step outside the curriculum to integrate some contemporary flavor into the classic dust, it could be a very beneficial environment. When you have the schmoes that are more concerned about their paychecks and social lives than performing their job as they should (meaning superseding the bare minimum absolutely required), you get kids that are being gypped.

I never remember not having books around. In fact, my mom and I just unearthed a whole box of an old but pretty valuable set of books that were saved over the years. I don't remember not having them around, that's how long I've had them. My mom's always been a big reader and I remember flipping through her books when I was really little. I couldn't understand anything but books were always around and I always wanted to touch them. Reading's always been there so when it came to school, it was a breeze. It's like going to art class when you already have a natural talent for art that doesn't involve stick figures.

It didn't matter what was forced on me in school; it never hampered my want to read. And, I think, having a teacher there that's the source for such an introduction to reading for a child that might not have had the same literary influence could be just as beneficial. Classrooms, while cess pools for mass market education, can actually be helpful to a child, especially if that child is eager for something and they just might not know what that something is.

So where did your love of reading come from? Your parents? Your own curiosity? A teacher that was so overly enthusiastic about books that you just had to see what the big deal was? Spill.