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I really have no idea when I properly learned to read. I don't remember when I learned the alphabet whether it was in pre-school or kindergarten or whenever. I am going to tell the story of my literature life through different memories of reading specific books throughout the course of my life.

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I began my reading career as most kids do with a surplus of picture books. Some favorites that I remember are in shown in pictures to the right.

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I am pretty sure that I had every single Elephant and Piggie book ever written. I would sit at the top of my stairs most nights and read through as many as I could before falling asleep. I am not entirely sure why I sat at the top of the stairs, there were plenty of other significantly more comfortable places to read but for some reason I remember reading these books at the top of the stairs.

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In elementary school, I did a massive amount of reading. This is primarily for two reasons. The first being that the most important and consistent homework that I received was to read for 30 minutes a night, log the number of pages that I read, and write a short summary of what had happened in the book. This homework was required every night for first grade through fifth grade and I developed a very disciplined habit of reading on a daily basis. The second reason was because I actually enjoyed reading. The stories that I was reading were very entertaining and I actively enjoyed spending my time reading. Some of my favorite book series from the elementary stage are in the pictures to the right.

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To this day, I believe that the Harry Potter series is my favorite book series of all time. I absolutely fiended for these books because of how much I enjoyed reading them. During long car rides, my dad would purchase the audio version of the books so that I could listen to them for hours on end in the car. I also have a random memory of my dad reading the fourth Harry Potter book to me on a plane ride. I couldn't read it to myself because I used to get motion sickness. I still remember the day that I finished the 7th Harry Potter book. I was sitting on my bed on a random school night, I finished the last page, the book fell out of my hands, and I sat and looked at my ceiling for I can't remember how long. I have never felt so satisfied from reading as I did in that moment.

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In fourth grade, Jorge, Nate, and I had a race to read all of these books. I loved this series.

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Photos to right are my favorite individual books from Elementary School

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Photos to right are my favorite individual books from Elementary School

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I have read these three books more times than any other book I have ever read. The first one, Harriet the Spy, was basically my idol during my spy phase. In elementary school I went through a massive spy phase, I had all sorts of gadgets that I used and practiced with because I wanted to be a spy. The story of Harriet the spy is basically a real life application of being a spy for a kid and at the time I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I read this book on repeat. The second book, The Apothecary, was a story that I just liked. I don't exactly remember why, but I loved it. The third book, My side of the mountain, was a gift given to me by my Uncle Fred. I absolutely loved this book because my whole life I strive for independence. This is a story of a boy who goes out into the wilderness and survives using only the natural resources that the mountain gave him. Still to this day, I think that this is a wonderful story and an inspiration to me.

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In middle school, I maintained similar reading habits as in elementary school. I loved my English teachers in all three of my middle school years and all of them also assigned nightly reading with documentation. In 6th grade and in 7th grade, my teachers required that students counted the number of books that they read over the course of the school year. I remember that in 6th and 7th grade, I read 30+ books each school year.

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In high school the amount of reading that I have done/do has dropped significantly. I wish it hadn't. I really like reading but in high school I just haven't been able to find the same amount time to engage with books. Recently I have been reading more than in my sophomore and freshman year, but I am still not meeting the goal that I would like to. Some of my favorite books that I have read in high school are shown to the right.

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This is probably the most influential book, regarding my perspective on the world, that I have ever read. The idea presented that true happiness is self-sufficient and only comes from an individual doing whatever it is that they love most in this world and all other sources of happiness are secondary feels correct. It makes sense in my mind that as individuals we have no obligation to other people and being truly selfish by fully dedicating oneself to ones creations in an attempt to satisfy ones soul is the only honest way of living. Doing things that we don't want to do and refraining from doing things that we want to do purely to achieve approval from others is inhumane. Attempting to achieve the idea of success that has been defined by other people is simply going to leave each person that follows this path feeling incomplete and unfulfilled. The only way to truly be free in the world is to think for yourself. Living by the beliefs and ideas and thoughts forced on you by society makes you a slave. I also realize that what I am about to say doesn't really reflect the true theme of the philosophy presented in this book, but I just felt like saying it. I feel like living in Cambridge is a very biased experience. There is a very strict set of beliefs that are forced onto the youth in our community because of how radically democratic our city is and I think that we are simply breeding sheep. While I recognize that it is nearly impossible to spread information in a perfectly neutral way, allowing people to use their own understanding and reasoning to make a decision on what they believe makes sense, I feel like our community does an especially poor job of allowing people to think for themselves.

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The Fountainhead is literature because it met the requirements that qualify it to be placed in the category of literature. Those requirements being that this story 'defamiliarized' the content that it was presenting in a way that I have never experienced before and it also told the story of Howard Roark in way that I determine to be a deviation from my interpretation and experience of ordinary speech.