Literary Blog Hop: Reading Roots

The Literary Blog Hop is hosted by The Blue Bookcase and is open to anyone who primarily reads classic literature and literary fiction.  If you would like to participate or see if your blog qualifies, head over to The Blue Bookcase for more information.  The girls over there are so sweet and always have great reviews posted.

This week's question comes from Deb Nance over at Readerbuzz:
How did you find your way to reading literary fiction and nonfiction?

I think this is a very interesting topic and am looking forward to seeing how the other "hoppers" found their way to reading literary books.  I personally have no one answer to give.  My parents were both huge book worms when I was growing up.  My dad preferred nonfiction, especially historical nonfiction.  He would occasionally pick up a classic fiction book to read.  My mom reads tons of fiction, but a huge plethora of genres.  She loves her literary fiction, but will also read mystery, crime, and detective novels.  I think she'll read whatever she can to get her mind off of work..  So I was influenced to read both fiction and nonfiction from an early age, though I didn't always read literary books.  I read a lot of YA books when I was younger and quickly got tired of the same old story lines and (sometimes very bad) writing.  That's when I first started reading "grown-up" books.  I eventually found that there were certain types of books that I was more drawn to, that I loved so much because of beautiful writing and stories.  I still read a variety of different types of books, but I love literary fiction the most and read it as much as possible. 

As for reading classics, I'd have to say a lot of that is thanks to both my grandparents and my teachers growing up.  My grandparents always had some of the classics on their shelves, and although I never read them as a child, I remember always seeing them and pretending to teach an invisible class about them (hehe).  My grandparents also loved old classic movies and always reminded me and my sisters about how awesome older things really can be.  My teachers growing up made it fun to learn about the authors of "classic" books.  When I was older, I started reading Jane Austen and the like-people I had learned about in elementary and middle school-and discovered I really loved it.

So that is my long answer to this week's question :)  It could have been a lot longer though.  I had so much fun thinking back on how I "found" literary fiction and nonfiction.  I'm off to read what all you other hoppers have to say!