Obsessive Reading: Even the Soundest Thing Can Go Wild!
It can become an addiction and an escape from reality
When I was seven years old, we moved back to Germany after three years of living in Croatia, then Yugoslavia. We came back for my second year of primary school. My German was not the best. Actually, I had forgotten it completely.
However, we lived in a district with a lovely children’s and youth library. My friend Michi took me there, and from then on, I got hooked!
The children’s library was right on my way to school, and at least once or twice a week, I stopped by to return a stack of books I had read. I never failed to borrow a new one.
Once I understood the concept, I felt like the young Lady of The Books, and the library was my castle!
All the books were mine to read! I took good care of them, and to show that I cared meant to read them all!
With my new self-imposed reading task, the German language came back to me quickly and easily. My improved language skills came along with a lot of benefits. I could get to know the other kids and play with them. I caught up in school, which was very important to me.
Beforehand, in Yugoslavia, I was among the best students in the class, and back in Germany, I did not…
