A Meme about reading

In the spirit of AMADI'S SNOWMAN and the upcoming blog tour, and inspired by my recent school visits, I thought it would be fun to come up with a meme about reading.

So, here are the five questions to be copied and pasted on your blogs, so we can keep the fun going around.

1. Do you remember the first book you ever read on your own?

2. Do you remember how you felt? If not, maybe you remember how you felt seeing a child read for the first time?

3. Do you remember a book that you read again and again as a child?

4. Why that book? Have you read it again as an adult? If so, was it like you remembered?

5. Why do you read?

And here are my answers :

1. Do you remember the first book you ever read on your own?

It was "Les Petites Filles Modèles" in French, by the Comtesse de Segur, and I just found out that they've never been translated into English. It was a present from a lady, but I don't remember who she was. That very evening, my parents allowed me to keep my light on to read, in my bed, and I can still see them looking at me from the door, probably quite moved. 

2. Do you remember how you felt? If not, maybe you remember how you felt seeing a child read for the first time?

I remember that I felt very proud, and all grown up.

3. Do you remember a book that you read again and again as a child?

The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas, and the sequel, Twenty Years After. It was a beautiful book with leather binding and very fine pages and a Christmas present. I think I was 9 years old. I read the two novels hundreds of times, and I actually can't wait for my daughter to be slightly older (another year) so we can read it together.

4. Why that book? Have you read it again as an adult? If so, was it like you remembered?

It has everything : adventure, strong and sensitive heroes, fantastically hateful villains (Oh, that horrid Cardinal de Richelieu !), romance, passion, History, costumes, horses galloping throughout the French countryside, some really funny dialogues and situations, some terribly tragic ones, too, etc, etc. I have not read the two books in a while, but I get awfully upset if I see a movie adaptation that totally distorts the story that I remember very well. I mean, how dare they ??? :) 

5. Why do you read?

Why do I breathe, or eat? Reading is good for everything : to escape, to take me other places, to pass the time while waiting somewhere or riding public transportations (better than staring at walls), to help me understand myself better, to live vicariously, to learn, to discover, to laugh, to travel, to dream, to cry, to feel...

Annette Gulatti, Janet Brown, Lisa Schroeder, Rilla Jaggia, Suzanne Kamata, Kristin Blair O'Keefe,  and, well, anyone who reads this and wants to pass it on, consider yourselves tagged.