All About Books discussion

1. Have you always loved books? Who, if anyone, in your life has most inspired you to read?

I have always loved books. As a small child I would get a pile of books every birthday and Christmas from my grandparents. They probably inspired me to read the most as they would always buy me so many and when we went to stay I would spend the evening drinking fruit tea and reading- I thought I was so grown up! I would also go to the library regularly with my Mum and take out the full allowance of 6 books, most of which would be read that day. My dad used to lovingly call me ‘nose-in-a-book’!

2. What was your favourite childhood book?

This is a really tough question as I loved so many.
As a young child I had all the Mr Men and Little Miss books by Roger Hargreaves and most of Beatrix Potter's books.

Getting a bit older, I was a big fan of the Horrible History series and owned most of them including some of the Horrible Science as well. I also used to love Ballet Shoes, Swallows and Amazons,The Borrowers, most books by Enid Blyton and all books by Roald Dahl(particularly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). I also loved The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and read it repeatedly.

I definitely can’t choose one favourite childhood book and keep coming back to this question as another book pops into my head!

3. Which books do you remember studying at school? Did you enjoy them?

I was lucky enough to always have passionate English teachers. My favourite book we studied was To Kill a Mockingbird, a book I have since read and loved even more. This was my GCSE text. I studied Macbeth and The Merchant of Venice but I have to admit I wasn’t a Shakespeare fan at school.

4. Where do you most enjoy reading? Do you need silence to read, or can you read almost anywhere?

I love to go to a coffee shop and read by book for an hour there whilst drinking a latte. I do most of my reading on trains. I don’t need silence but I’m very easily distracted by my friends being around or my unfortunate addiction to my smartphone!

5.Choose five of your favourite books and tell us why you loved them so much!

1.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- This is my personal favourite of the Harry Potter series. I love these books and grew up eagerly anticipating the next one. They are always worth a re-read and I love the films as well.

2. Anna Karenina- I read this last year and just loved it. The writing is superb, even if there are some slightly lengthy sections on Russia farming! I was expecting to struggle through it but in the end I was actually pretty quick and would like to read it again in the future.

3.The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Live- I first read this when I was still in primary school! I love all 5 of the books but have read the first one over and over again.

4.The Hobbit Another childhood favourite and one that truly stands up to a re-read as an adult. I also loved The Lord of the Rings but the Hobbit has a special place in my heart.

5. Half of a Yellow Sun A truly remarkable book which I was lucky enough to read whilst I was in West Africa (Ghana) so not only do I think it's a great book anyway, it brings back some wonderful memories of my travels.

6. Do you prefer reading fiction or non fiction?

I prefer fiction but I’m starting to read more non-fiction now I’m not at university. I would always feeling guilty about reading non-fiction when I should have been studying!

7. Are you fond of a particular author and what attracts you to their books? (You can pick a few if you can’t choose!)

I love Margaret Atwood as I think her writing style is wonderful and her books are really original. I have recently starting reading a lot of Daphne du Maurier and she appeals for the same reason.

8. Is there an author you haven't yet tried but you'd really like to?

I’ve never read any Anthony Trollope and I’d really like to. Other than that I have lots of books I want to read but I’ve not chosen them specifically because of the author.

9. Do you rely on goodreads to keep track of your reading or do you have your own method?

I just use goodreads although I have a copy of my TBR list on my laptop as there are so many books on it I'll forget if I ever lost my list on goodreads.

10. What's the best book you've read so far this year? What are you reading at the moment? What will you be reading next

I have been lucky enough to read a wonderful selection of books this year. My favourite is probably Rebecca

I’m currently reading 3 books; Nicholas Nickleby, Middlesex and a canto of Inferno a week.

Up next is The Wives of Henry VIII and The Brothers Karamazov

I keep thinking of more books I want to add and authors I love but this is the final version!

We are sort of organizing a read of Trollope's first Berset novel The Warden; should be in September if I'm not wrong. A nice place to start his discovery!!!
And I also think that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is my favourite Harry Potter!!!!

I think I'm involved in that readalong, looking forward to it

;)!

Heather, I enjoyed reading your reading journey! Me too, I love Anna Karenina so much, and I agree with you that the writing is superb. Leo Tolstoy had such keen insight into human emotions and human relationships! Too bad I had to stop mid-way because there's a hold on the book and I had to return it to the library :/ And like you, I also love Lord of the Rings!

What an interesting journey, Heather, and what a lot of fiction! Somehow I expected you would read a lot of Science books... though I'd noticed before that we share the same taste a lot of the time :)

And the ones you mention which I have not read are all ones I want to read too - To Kill a Mockingbird (which I hope to read this month) Half of a Yellow Sun and Anna Karenina. Everything else I was saying "Yes!" to your choices in my mind :)

Like you, I'm looking forward to joining in reading The Warden (even though Anthony Trollope makes fun of Charles Dickens in it! He calls him "Mr Popular Sentiment! LOL)

We do seem to have similar tastes, Jean. I have read lots of science textbooks but I wouldn't count any of them as favourites! I think I use fiction as an escape from work although I am starting to read more non-fiction.

It's a great escape ;)

The Goblet of Fire is my favourite Harry Potter too. I think that's where it starts to get dark and interesting.
Great journey, I loved Enjd Blyton too. And the Mr Men books are always great fun!

Nice journey Heather! And I have a big smile on my face thinking about The Borrowers :) How great that you got to read Half a Yellow Sun while in Africa...

@Gemma I agree, plus I just love reading about the Triwizard tournament. I think it's where JK Rowling really hit her stride and where the actors started to be able to act well!

@Leslie I was very lucky to have that opportunity, thanks to my boyfriends mum who bought me the book before I went away. I love the Borrowers, I have a copy I really need to read it again!

Ah what a wonderful reading journey Heather. I'm amazed by the breadth of your reading and how you manage to find the time to fit everything in with your busy work schedule!

I studied To Kill a Mockingbird at GCSE and loved it too. I also just finished reading Americanah and I'm looking forward to picking up Half of a Yellow Sun in the near future, so I'm glad to hear that you loved it.

Loved reading about your reading journey. I, too had grandparents that gave me books, made me milky tea and cheese sandwiches on toast.

Thanks for sharing this, Heather! You have listed so many books and mentioned authors I have loved, our reading tastes have been quite similar! Even to the point where we both haven't read any Anthony Trollope yet, to be remedied in September! I haven't read Anna Karenina though...

@Pink I really want to read Purple Hibiscus by the same author which I own and I'm glad to see you liked Americanah, will definitely read that as well

Heather wrote: "@Pink I really want to read Purple Hibiscus by the same author which I own and I'm glad to see you liked Americanah, will definitely read that as well"

Purple Hibiscus is a great book, Heather. I actually thought it was even better than Half of a Yellow Sun.