As a young child, my dad is the one that read to me. Mostly they were Golden books or comics on Sundays. When I was old enough to read on my own, I was in school. I went to Catholic school, and we always had so much homework there was no time for recreational reading. We never had assignments to read anything except school textbooks. I remember in about 7th grade, and our teacher gave us assignments to write stories. I was quite good at it and got A's.
After I graduated from high school, I finally had time to read. The first book I remember reading was Hawaii. The beginning of the book was very boring and I almost didn't continue. A friend of mine read the book and told me to skip the first chapter. I did, and the rest of the book was very enjoyable. After that, I read a lot until I had children. Then I did not have the time.
After we became empty nesters, I found time to read again. My favorite author became Maeve Binchey. She wrote stories about ordinary people and the events that happened in their lives. Many were set in Ireland. I've read all her books, and now that she is deceased, her husband is putting together collections of some of her short stories that did not get published.
Some other authors I enjoy are Sara Peretsky, Mary Higgins Clark, and Anne Perry. Sara Peretsky stages her books in Chicago, and seeing I grew up in Chicago, I can visualize the places she writes about.
I find reading enjoyable and relaxing.