In elementary school, I actually enjoyed reading and I could often be found on the living room couch with a book. But then in Jr. High, I was forced to read so-called literature and that ruined it for me. Reading sucked. I didn't want to read anymore when it had suddenly became this task that involved analyzing the phallic nature of Captain Ahab's peg leg in Herman Melville's Moby Dick and finding symbolism in everything from poems, to novels, to Chinese takeout menus.

One night while particularly bored in Taiwan, I was wandering the streets surrounding National Taiwan University and found myself in a book store. Because I had nothing better to do I purchased a copy of Michael Crichton's Sphere, took it back to my dorm room, and at about 9:00 pm started reading it. Proving itself more addicting that Girl Scout cookies, I couldn't stop until I finished and ended up reading straight until 6:30 am the next morning.

Enlightened that not all books were the crap called literature, I've been reading fairly actively since then. IMHO a decent book beats a good movie any day of the week. Its hard for me to take movies seriously now which is why now I generally only watch comedies and movies w/ cool special effects or action sequences.