Confessions of a bookworm
I don’t have a favourite book. There I have said it.
I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have a book on the go and freely confess that my ‘I’d rather be reading’ t-shirt is a statement of fact in most situations. So is it strange that I don't have a favourite? Some of my earliest memories are of being read to by my Mum and Dad and some of my most precious ones are of sharing those same stories with my children. Some books are old friends and I have read them countless times whilst others are linked to key moment in my life and have in some way changed me.
It all began dear readers (as it so often does where I am concerned) with a dragon. His name was Smaug, he was terrifying and he ruled supreme under the Lonely Mountain. My Dad who served in the Royal Navy began reading The Hobbit to my siblings and I whilst on leave when I was about 9. As Thorin Oakenshield and company left Bag End to reclaim the kingdom under the mountain I was captivated. Inconveniently Dad had to go back to sea and so I had to wait months for the end of the story which fuelled vivid nightmares about trolls and creatures named Gollum.
Unsurprisingly Tolkien led me to a love of the fantasy genre and on to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld where I met Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes and yet another dragon. During the pandemic I decided to read the entire Discworld series in order and got so much joy from seeing the layers of the characters and the details of the world build book by book. Pratchett’s books hold a mirror up to humanity and the observations of his characters are often searing, honest and harsh truths about the modern world.
The epic adventures and magical worlds of fantasy novels are a place of escape for me but sometimes I need to read something that challenges me so I step into other genres. In my early teens the Point Horror books were a firm favourite and then later Stephen King. At university I chose a unit on Gothic literature full of uncanny, eerie and atmospheric tales. Mary Shelley’s novel with a morally grey Dr Frankenstein and his misunderstood creation have stayed with me. My favourite stories to write are uncanny and ghostly tales and are heavily influenced by the things I learned during that unit.
My love of reading has also gifted me a broad general knowledge which always comes in handy. At a particularly highbrow and fiercely contested pub quiz in Dollar I came into my own in a round titled ‘Swords and Dragons’ to the delight of my team mates who, I am sure, only invited me in case there was a spelling round. Books have also given me a way to connect with others and find common ground to build a rapport, I love it when other people recommend a book - it is such a gift. I’m also really easy to buy for with a whole world full of book and literary paraphernalia to choose from. Bookworms are in the ascendant at the moment along with my beloved dark academia so I am finally ‘cool’.
My relationship between reading and writing is rich. Everything I have read whether I enjoyed it or not has taught me something, I have structures, character arcs, tropes and a well of inspiration to draw on in my own writing. Some people say there are no new stories and I think that is true but I believe that we will always need stories so there is certainly room for them to be told again in new and exciting ways.
