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You might of heard recently of a man who got locked inside the Waterstones store in Trafalgar Square (x). And complained about it on twitter. Now I don't know about you, but being locked in a bookstore overnight would hardly be a hardship for me. In fact it would be a dream come true. I would create a little nest and happily read to my hearts content...
I l o v e books. There is something magical about opening the pages of a book. The thrill, the anticipation, the excitement. The smell! Nothing can compare. I have spent many a day lost in the pages of a book. I have been on adventures in the mountains and by the sea, climbed trees and traipsed through fields of gold. I have travelled the world and experienced unknown cultures. I have made new friends, felt love and longing and pain. My mind has been opened, my imagination runs wild and my creativity has increased, and all through the glorious written word.
Every experience with reading is a pleasure to me. But my all time favourite is the familial comfort {like snuggling up in a cosy blanket with a steaming mug of hot chocolate} you get when you re-read for the thousandths time you all time favourite book. The spine is creased, battered and weary. There are smudged fingerprints on the pages you have thumbed countless times. You read the first sentence and it is like coming home.
"Mr and Mrs Dursley of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Recently I was asked on facebook to share my ten favourite books. Books that have influenced me, that have changed my life. A near impossible task. Only ten?? Every book I have read has impacted on me in someway. It's taken me a while to compose this list, to stop analysing what my choices would say about me. In the end I didn't study my bookcases, I simply chose the first ten books that came to mind as those have obviously been significant enough for me to remember them.
My top ten books: (in no particular order)
1. The Harry Potter Series - J. K. Rowling
2. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
3. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
4. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
5. Before I Die - Jenny Downham
6. The Princess Diaries- Meg Cabot
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
8. Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank
9. 19 Minutes - Jodi Picoult
10. One Day - David Nicholls
I will be forever grateful for my aunt who made a reward chart for me when I was a kiddo, to help encourage me to read. At school, world book day was always my favourite. Any excuse to dress up and read books. When things got rough at home and I wanted to escape, I would reach for my books. Books are my best friends. As Ernest Hemingway said "There is no friend as loyal as a book." They've experienced life with me and hold sentimental meaning correlated to specific times and events. They have always been there, and always will. I encourage everyone to go explore! Bookshops, charity shops, windowsills, libraries, there are countless ways to get your mitts on some quality books!
What are some of your favourites? Leave your recommendations in the comments!
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