My parents did something like this when I was young, and I wanted to try it with my kids (I have four, ages 2-9). I really believe that this helped to develop my love of reading, and hopefully it will work with my kids as well (and hopefully get them onto a better bedtime schedule).

When I was very young, my parents would sit in the hallway outside our bedrooms at bedtime and read aloud from a book until we all fell asleep. They started with kids books and the like, and gradually got to more complicated stories. This is how I was first introduced to The Illiad and The Princess Bride, among others.

I had originally intended this to be the same, but our new tradition is slightly different. The first night we started, Kaldricling II (my 7-year old) insisted on reading a story to us to start out, and selected "Me Hungry", a cute picture book of about 20 pages and maybe 50 words. After that, I read a chapter from a short book that my mother had given us then sent them to bed. The next evening, Kaldricling I (my 9-year old) declared that it was her turn to read a story, and she read to us "Stone Soup". Then I read another chapter from our book. The following evening, Kaldricling III (my 4-year old) decided it was his turn to read a story, but since he can't read yet he just made up a story. It was cute and fun. So now we rotate through the kids (minus Kaldricling IV, the 2-year old, though sometimes he helps pick which story the other kids read), with each telling or reading a story before I read another chapter from our book.

We are currently half-way through "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (my daughter's request), and we'll probably read all of that series, though perhaps not all right away. We have "Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians" next. We'll probably read the Percy Jackson books and "Fablehaven" series, too. We have plenty of options to choose from, and hopefully this tradition will take hold and we'll gradually introduce more styles and genres.

The only problem I have this far is whenever I read out loud for more than a minute or so, my throat hurts. It doesn't happen when I talk normally, only when I'm reading. I'd probably read longer at a time if this didn't happen.

As for my personal reading, I just picked up the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels, and am about half-way through #3. I'll also be reading Gulliver's Travels for the current challenge. I haven't decided what to read after that, but I have plenty of books on my shelf that have been waiting patiently for me to open them. I'm sure I'll find something.