World book day: celebrating a life long love affair with books

Some of my most treasured memories are of reading books with my dad as a child.  A favourite was the “Baby animals of the world” collection, which then inspired my dad, a most gifted story teller, to invent tales based on animal characters such as ‘Hoppy’ the kangaroo and ‘Myname’ the amusingly named fish.

Although not as talented a story teller as my dad, who sadly passed away when I was only ten, I now enjoy passing my love of books and stories on to my own children.  Their dad and I take it in turns to read to both of them.  

When not reading to the children, I enjoy few things more than curling up with a book before bed to relax, unwind and enjoy a little ‘me time’.  It’s not always fiction either - my recent reading matter has included Stephen Mithen’s ‘After the Ice’ - an amazing exploration of the post-ice-age world and the fascinating ‘Outliers’, by Malcolm Gladwell, which uncovers some of the reasons behind individual success.

To quote from Julian Barnes’ Flaubert’s Parrot: “Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren’t.”

In celebration of World Book Day, participating book stores are running a buy one GIVE one free offer, and are encouraging customers to give the spare book to charity, in an effort to get more people reading.

While many well known books, such as the Time Travellers’ Wife, have been given the film treatment, making the stories more accessible to all, I have found that in most cases, a film cannot create the same experience as reading the book and too often, as is the case with Chocolat, some of the essence of the book is lost.  

Books can inspire, inform, entertain, amuse, thrill or delight, or transport you to an alternative reality.  Perhaps you’ve been thinking about writing one yourself, but are not sure where to begin…. You could always browse our creative writing courses for a start.  The best advice after that is to simply write for at least half an hour a day.

photo by Betsssssy