Book hoarders unite

Book hoarders unite

I love being a book hoarder. I love knowing I have a pile of books in most rooms waiting to be opened, ventured into and enjoyed. I get that sometimes, it is just as good to buy the books and have them waiting to be explored. 

The thing is, like teacups, I cannot stop buying them! I justify it by thinking, I will give some of my others to charity or friends. Yet, here they are, still piling up on my coffee table. My daughter moved a pile the other night, so she could see the TV! This quote is so fab. I totally agree! 

I have always collected books, from being little with my Enid Blytons. I would go into WH Smith in town and spend my birthday or Christmas £1.50 book voucher excitedly. I would line up all my books on my bookshelf until I needed a bigger bookshelf!

I also loved Milly Molly Mandy and My Naughty Little Sister books. How lovely to go play with Little Friend Susan and Billy Blunt, past the forge and by the brook! Climbing the trees in the orchard and having a picnic in the garden. Such simple times!

A love of reading comes from a love of listening to stories being told, in my opinion. A sharing of books and words. An adventure into language and its magic, from a young age. I still remember being read to at night by parents and grandparents, snuggling down under the covers and asking for one more page, one more chapter. I am doing this now, as an adult! 

Books are magical to the young reader and the magic continues on into adulthood.

This next quote is so true. We do have to learn the mechanics of reading but we need to also celebrate the love and passion for stories.

I have such fond memories of Story time at primary school. I looked forward to this last, special part of the day so much. My beloved teacher reading from Enid Blyton's The Adventures of the Wishing Chair, then Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World. Her lyrical voice soothing our ears, the words feeding our young imaginations and the summer sun shining through the windows. All these things helped me fall in love with reading at a young age. 

I loved browsing the bookshelves of our class and school library and finding interesting book covers and titles. I remember this one vividly. 

I devoured books, swallowed them up whole, imaging I was the main character enjoying the adventures. My main one was Darryl in Malory Towers. I so wanted to go to a boarding school, staying in a dormitory and having midnight feasts! 

Then came the very addictive reading of Sweet Valley High with the twins, Jessica and Elizabeth. My friends and I could not get enough of these books, checking the school library, daily for the ones we had not read yet. 

Reading is escapism. For those few hours, we were attending Sweet Valley High, going out with Todd and cheerleading games. We were hanging out with friends at the mall and going to the beach at weekends. We were hooked. We would read further with Couples, Sweet Dreams, Paula Danziger and Judy Blume. I loved her books so much. This one especially.

I suppose, I grew up in an age just as technology was just starting to take over. In an age before books were competing with machines. My friends and I were lost in paperbacks instead of screens and computer games. I loved being lost in books. 

I love when I get hooked into a book now. It has recently happened with the Lisa Jewell, The Family Upstairs book I have just read. It's like you are inhabiting two different worlds. Your life and the life of all these people behind the front cover. They do delve into your mind. You can't wait to pick back up where you left them. Or they left you. This quote made me laugh. It's like, stay where you are until I can pick you up again!

As I went into my late teens and twenties, I was reading for my A levels and degree and this opened up so many more reading worlds for me. So many different genres. It brought to life poetry for me, especially Modern Poetry with Carol Ann Duffy and our local poet, Ian McMillan. Such an interesting person as well as poet! It is good to read a variety of genres and even better to be surprised by genres you did not think would interest you. I do try to keep my reading mind open!

I was also reading Joanna Trollope, Erica James, Katie Fforde, Imogen Parker, Maeve Binchy and Lisa Jewell. There are so many from Katie Fforde so chose this one but they were all fab.

I loved Lisa Jewell's books so much. Ralph's Party was my fave. And Vince and Joy and 31 Dream Street! I have been told that After the party is the sequel to Ralph's party so I must read it! 

I cannot get enough of Lisa Jewell's books as she has moved more into the suspense genre. I dive in straight away and live the stories. I cannot wait to get back to them and find out what happens to them. I do like to sit in the lovely cafes where live and read and sip my tea or coffee. This was taken in Locke Park.

So too with Lianne Moriarty. This author's book The Husband's Secret and The girl on a train got me back into reading. Thanks to two lovely friends through one's book club and the other, loaning me the book. I was over the moon to be back into reading after a short while away from it, mainly struggling with my concentration to get back into books. I am back in, at the deep end again!

I am a lover of closure so I personally need to know these characters are going to be ok. This does not always happen so I may make up extra scenarios in my mind! I do love a sequel or a series of books.

I loved reading Miss Read, about a village school. I loved reading each book, based on a character in the village. I started to feel that I lived there! Such a nostalgic time they were set in. I would have loved to have taught back then, in a little village school. 

Another series was the Village series by Rebecca Shaw. Loved all the books in this set, concentrating on a vicar and his family.  Really enjoyable series. You get to know all the residents and the going ons  in these kind of books.

I also loved reading about Agatha Raisin, the sleuth in a little village. I loved her first book, The Quiche of Death. We have watched the TV series with Ashley Jensen and she is fab as Agatha! I love the illustration on this book cover.

When I did my English degree, we studied post modernism but I must admit, I struggled with the, make up your own ending thing. One, I am so indecisive, I need someone to just say yay or nay to stuff ending. And two, I'm not very good with ambiguity. I need things spelling out for me! 

So, I am one of those readers who, nearing the end of a book, will slow down so they can keep the end at bay. These characters have come into your home and you have become friends with them. I totally get this quote from pinterest. I have suffered many book hangovers over the years. 

What is lovely though, is re reading your favourites, every ten years or so. I suppose you do have a different perspective on the world, and maybe the book and its characters. I first watched Pretty in Pink as a teenager and loved the fun loving Duckie. Years later, I totally changed my mind and saw why she chose Andrew McCarthy over Duckie. Brilliant 80s film! 

Keep re reading your faves and revisiting them like old friends!

I love this pinterest quote. It is so lovely to great a book you know, like an old friend. So comforting.