World Book Day is coming up!
I’m a book worm and have books piled up beside my bed all of the time ready to go. Currently I’m getting my teeth into a series of 15 books by Robert Jordan, his Wheel of Time series. Sadly, Robert Jordan died in 2007, and another fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson was brought in by the publishers to complete the final book. However, as the writing process progressed, it was realised that the story was too big for just one book, so it was published in three volumes, making up the last of the series.
Also, I have yet to read Graham Norton’s new novel, ‘Home Stretch’ and for my birthday I’ll be receiving a book I really want to read, by Mary Ann Sieghart, ‘The Authority Gap.’ Her book looks at the unseen bias at work and in our everyday lives, revealing the scale of gap that even today, persists between men and women. She interviews many pioneering women too, which I’m looking forward to read.
They include among others, British judge, Baroness Hale, Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge, author and Booker Prize winner, Bernardine Evaristo, former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard and Director of Tate Modern art gallery, Frances Morris – all women who are pioneers in their field.
At the age of six, I was told by my school, that I was ‘retarded’ when it came to reading. There were no books at home as my parents weren’t great readers. My mum tended to read The Bible and scripture books and that was it. Then an uncle, who worked at a local book printing factory, started to visit, bringing with him, book ‘cast offs’. And so, began my addiction. I became a book addict.
Funnily enough I don’t read a lot of factual books which always puzzles my sister, who is a scientist and always reads this type of book. My problem with them is, I always think of them as ‘text books’ and not entertaining, although I do like autobiographies.
Here are my top ten books which I will read over and over:
- Anything by Lee Child which involves his character Jack Reacher, my kind of hero.
- Sons & Lovers by D H Lawrence – reminds me of my childhood.
- Lord of the Rings by Tolkien – takes you into a world of fantasy.
- The Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula Le Guin – as above.
- Enid Blyton books – easy to read as a kid
- Agatha Christie – love her imagination.
- The Wasteland – TS Eliot – a wonderful poet
- His Dark Materials, and The Book of Dust –fantasy novels, trilogies by Philip Pullman,
- William Carlos Williams – my favourite poet. I love anything by him.
- Human Croquet – Kate Atkinson
The reason I’m focusing on my love of reading is, on March 3rd it is World Book Day. The theme this year is ‘You are a reader’, with a focus on reaching children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The World Book Day organisation will be working with schools and nurseries to distribute gift vouchers to ensure that all children can have a book of their own.
Although, I would certainly not say I was from a disadvantaged background, in terms of books and reading, if it hadn’t been for my uncle bringing more books into our house, I wouldn’t have ended up with the access to a world of imagination, reading about fantastic adventures or learning new ideas – or a career where writing and reading has been at the heart of my profession.