Books, Books and More Books.

Ever since I was a child I can always remember being addicted to books. From the Fuzzbuzz books I was taught to read by in primary school, followed by the Johnny Redhat and Billy Bluehat series, through the pirate books into a world where I could pick my own stories I have always been fascinated by the way a book can just take you away from everything and draw you into someone else's world and breathe life into your imagination.

When I was a kid we had this substitute teacher called Mrs Hawkins the things I remember her about was she had black hair, she could play the piano, the fact that we always made green cabbages out of play-doh and fact that whenever she taught us she read us a book called Burglar Bill. Now Bill stole by night and one night stole a big brown box with lots of holes in, inside there turned was a baby who it turned out belonged to Burglar Betty they end up living happily ever after. Then there was Dinah Price in Ten in A Bed where fairy tale character such as three bears come to visit and won't get out of her bed until she tells them a bedtime story which shows them in a good light. Both of these books I own and can take me back to those childhood memories.

Then there was Winnie the Witch which my friend Emma gave me for my tenth birthday and the Big Blue Balloon (which is one of my sister's childhood favourites).

I remember being read The Machine Gunners and Goodnight Mr Tom which led me to images of war to Shakespeare and his classic elegance. To Jane Austen and wonderful characters such as Elizabeth Bennett, Mr Darcy, Emma, Fanny Price and the rest. Pride and Prejudice is still one of my favourite books.

Somewhere in there was an addiction to the Babysitter's Club series, Enid Blyton books and a whole host of classics.

In secondary school there was poetry the works of Ted Hughes and the like, more Shakespeare. The ever hated Enduring Love which was such and endurance that the whole class wanted to burn the book after the second week of reading. The classic works of William Blake, the play The Country Wife, war poetry of Sigfried Sasson, Rupert Brook and Wilfred Owen.

I got sucked into the crazes for books like the Da Vinci Code which took us through how clues could be left by the past which lead us through mysteries in the present, which lead to reading a whole host of other books in similar vein which took me through the mysteries of Alexander the Great, the Egyptians, Motzart and others to name but a few.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I read Mills and Boon novels, the romantic in me likes the happy ending no matter how much gets in the way. But I also like solving the mystery which is the Bone Collector is my favourite book. The whole Lincoln Rhyme series allows you to follow along as they put the clues together.

Then there was Harry Potter. I remember the first time I heard of Harry Potter, we were on holiday at Butlins, my Mum had brought the book to read to my little brother, this was just after the first book came out before Pottermania swept the world, my sister and I would sneak in to hear the adventures of the boy wizard, in the end we just stole the book so we could see how it ended and the addiction began.

I recently read the first book in the Twlight series, and by recently I mean this morning, and before I was half way through I had already ordered the rest of the series. Some books catch you like that and before you know it you're at the last page wishing the story never ends.

There are books that make you think, that make you questions, that change your world and or that simply let your mind wander for however long you allow it. Some of my best memories can be counted by the books I was reading at the time. I hope my love of the written word never leaves me and always leaves me asking which world can I escape to next.

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James Bryce

Shanna xx