My thoughts on Reading

Ernest Hemmingway once remarked: 'there is no friend as loyal as a book' and for me that is a nail in the coffin. Books have always been a huge huge part of my life. And in this long marathon that we call life, each time I've finished a lap, whether I come first or last, I've had a good book by my side. Books have acted as milestones in my life so far, so much so that I can't imagine a particular stage in my life without acknowledging the book of the time.

Fairy tales and 'The babysitters club' during my early years, the first 'grown up' book I remember reading is 'Anne of Green Gables'. I think it was the first part, and I remember sitting on my carpet and for some reason - which escapes me now - weeping at the scene when Anne assumes her adopted parents didnot want to keep her because she is a girl. That is all I remember from that book, that scene has stayed with me this many years but I can't remember anything else at all! Then when I discovered boys it was silly popular romance fiction for teenagers, always with a happy ending (of course). I read 'Jane Eyre' around this age too and I loved it, during my first years at secondary school I always felt a bit out of place especially when compared with the other girls and suddenly along came Jane Eyre with her plain books but brain and wit and she got her man in the end! Although now looking back Rochester gives me the creeps with his fixation on the childish aspects of Jane Eyre's looks and character! I read 'Pride and Prejudice' shortly after this and just loved Elizabeth Bennet, like her I've always had a sharp tongue and often misjudge others and jump to conclusions without all the fact, traits that I believe will no doubt accompany me to the grave.

Then, around fifteen I developed an embarrassing crush on a teacher and coincidentally I read a book called 'Love Lessons'. And for the first half of the book I was blissfully happy because this teacher has an affair with one of his students but halfway through everything changed, it revealed the darker side to these kind of relationships-what kind of man would knowingly take an advantage of a young under-age vulnerable girl? Especailly one in the position of trust as he was?

So you see different books marked different times, 'Anne of Green Gables' when I was the only girl amongst four boys in one house, 'Jane Eyre' when I was being bullied, 'Pride and Prejudice' helped me feel comfortable with who and what I was, 'Love Lessons' when...well, never mind that (!) and many other books such as the fairly recent booker prize winner 'The Line of beauty' and shortlisted booker prize nominee 'Cloud Atlas', both marking the end of an era.


It frightens me that more books are being written and yet less read. In this modern techno-obsessed world no one has time to just sit down and read and yet hours are wasted on the internet or watching bad telly. There's no time for parents to read bed time stories and I really believe that love of books, the seed of this should be planted at a young age. I'm only glad mine was - and now I can bore you all with that love for books.