*-Well l cant remember the earliest books but l know my mum was great for reading to us, and with us, and both my parents would take us to the library on a Saturday morning and we loved picking out our books.
The books that stay with my from when l was very young are Enid Blyton. I adored the Faraway Tree Books and was delighted when l bought them for my daughter that she loved them too. I read them to her for the first few years and now she reads them herself. Full circle.
I loved all of the Enid Blyton books, the Famous Five, Mallory Towers.
The next stage after that I loved the Nancy Drew Mysteries and Judy Bloom. Then you are into the murky pre-teen world for a few years but quickly l moved on. My mum gave me a beautiful copy of Little Women, she had it since she was young and l absolutely loved it. I read it over and over. It was to become a lifelong companion.
In my teens l loved the David Morrell books. He wrote Rambo but don't judge him for this. He also wrote a whole series of thrillers about Opus Dei, priest assassins such as The League of Night and Fog. I was enthralled by these. They were a real departure for me and l was hooked on them.
As l moved through my teens l relied on my parents for books as we wouldn't have had the money to buy books and this was before Amazon and book Depository. My aunt would pass her books to my mum, my
mum would swop books with her, and it went on and on and we all shared them around. I also shared books with my boyfriend, our circle of friends.
I loved having a book that kept me up late and night and made me late for my breakfast in the morning because l just had to keep reading.
When l was doing English for my Leaving Cert our teacher made sure we read absolutely everything on the curriculum. It was a blessing and a curse in that you were reading out of necessity, but then you were reading things you may never have come across.
l did enjoy Othello, The Portrait of a Lady, Juno & THe Paycock, The Glass Menagerie amongst others.
I fell in love with Maeve Binchy and her books as l moved on. My mum always had her books, and l found them wonderful, warm, moving and ultimately a source of comfort. over the years l have gone back to read some of her books over and over again. I found them to be just as beautiful and it was a bit like slipping on a comfort blanket. Of special significance for me were Circle of Friends and Firefly Summer. I never wanted them to end.
A standout book for me in early on is CRY Freedom. The story of Steve Biko killed in prison in South Africa at the height of the Apartheid movement. It affected me hugely. When Nelson Mandela walked free from Robin Island I remember watching the news in awe and thinking my god l will never forget this moment and for years and years to come people will talk about that day. I have witnessed history in the making.
I spent many many years going to college. Eight years in all. I was an adult student/mature student when l went to college(23!!) so l was like a sponge absorbing every bit of information l could, but l always tried to keep reading non college material when l had the chance. l read so many different types of books.
I love Marian Keyes. And again, like with Maeve Binchy her books were ones l really didn't want them to end.
I must admit l love reading travel journals and encyclopaedias. I also really liked reading biographys, l particulary enjoyed Elvis, Muhammed Ali, James Dean and many others.
A book l did not read at school but l also read around this time was To Kill A Mocking Bird. The book moved me. I read it a few times. I bought it on video. I loved watching it on screen also. The scene at the end where Jem is rescued and Scout comes in to see him and realises the man in the room who rescued him is none other than her neighbour "Hey Boo". This makes me cry to this day, whether l read it or watch it. I adore this book.
When l started a relationship with the man who is now my husband, he had a huge book collection . Some of it l considered far far too high brow for me, but l began reading some of his favourites and they opened up a whole new world for me too.
Travels with Charlie
Homage to Catalonia
A Moveable Feast
For sheer pleasure and joy l discovered the series of Books by Alexander McCall Smith..The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I must say that l fell under the spell of Precious Ramotswe and l eagerly awaited each and every book. I passed them all on to others to read and they never came back, but when l have a bit of money to splurge on books l will buy that entire set and read each one again.
In more more recent times I have loved and been moved by books such as The Help, The Kite Runner, A Suitable Boy, The Mudhunter, The Poison Wood Bible, A Thousand Splendid Suns, On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and on and on an on.
I~ really really enjoyed Caitlin Moran's book- How to be a Woman. I brought it to France with me on holidays last year and flew throught it. JI also read The Slap which is an Austrailian book on somebody hitting somebody else's child at a bbq and the reaction to what happened and all the different points of view. It was extremely interesting.
My latest reading pleasure was the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. l have read about ten of these and found them addictive.
I am also reading The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes(again) and l have about six books under my bed which will be read in sequence of which book was given to me first. Although my husband has given me a book by Ken Follett- The Pillars of The Earth, which he swears l will love so maybe that gets first shot.
I could go on all day long. The list is just too extensive to even write it.
We have spent so much money on books over the years it would be hard to calculate. We love browsing in bookstores, buying books online, buying books in charity shops, buying each books as gifts. We share them with friends and family. we have donated books.
But the greatest gift has been passing our love of books onto our children.
my daughter learned to read this year. It has transformed her life. Watching her read is like watching myself grown up. She cannot get enough of it. She loves the books l buy for her. She loves going to the library. She devours a new book as soon as l get one for her. She reads her favourites over and over. She loves cook books, atlases, dictionaries. It is a joy to behold.
I told her that when she gets older she can have my hardback editions of some of my favourite books which l have received as presents. l keep them in my bedside locker. Pride and Prejudice, Little Women and To Kill a Mocking Bird.
I have a feeling she will love them as dearly as l do.
My son who is almost five will start "big school" this year and he cannot wait until he can read for himself. His favourite book is "Charlie Cooks Favourite Book. He cannot read but knows the entire book off by heart and reads it aloud to you and has all the pages right, so another might actually believe he was reading it.
~I think the greatest thing about my love of reading, and my husbands, is passing on the gift of reading to kids. I always tell the kids you will never be lonely or bored when you have a good book. It will keep you company for the rest of your life.
