For the Love of Reading

Great post on World Magazine blog, along the same theme as my very last post! I love seeing what others have to say this topic, so the comments are interesting. It begins:

USA Today has an article by English teacher Patrick Welsh, who argues that schools are destroying the joy of reading. The culprit? Literature textbooks that avoid controversial content (so as to placate conservatives) and that are so multiculturally-inclusive--valuing group representation rather than quality--(so as to placate liberals) that they contain little worth reading. The textbooks are light-weight even though they are required to include so much that they weigh up to six pounds, a back-breaking format that does not lend itself to enjoyable reading . Another fault: Just including snippets of classic works so as to cover standardize test questions, rather than reading the whole masterpiece.
For those of you who love to read, what sparked your interest? Did your school help or get in the way? Do you have any suggestions for schools and homeschools on how to instill a love of reading?