For as long as I know myself I have been an avid reader. My younger sister and I have spent hours into days pouring over novels, magazines and comics relentlessly. I remember back in the day when going to Long Circular Mall and West Mall was like a field trip, we used to make a bee line straight to R.I.K. which was THE bookstore in Trinidad at that time. Mummy used to give us a limit and we would agonize over which to select, trying to strategically ensure that we got the best out of the purchase.
I used to revel in the escape from the ordinary especially provided by Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mysteries and in my later years, Sweet Valley High and Babysitters Club among others. That need for escape is probably also why I love travelling (or thinking about travelling and spending countless hours on Pinterest macoing, aka minding other peoples’ business). So yesterday when I was at a bookstore and I saw the Enid Blyton’s laid out in a row, I was almost moved to tears as my moments of happy solitude in these books came rushing back. Sadly they did not have my all-time favourites:
Can you imagine visiting a Faraway Tree filled with magical creatures and at the very top in the clouds you can go to a different land and you only know what land it is when you get there, whether good or bad? Supreme for a young, curious mind!!! If this were reality, I would do it in a heartbeat and I think at a young age I was slightly jealous of those fictional intruders with their ability to go on adventure after adventure but oh how I loved it!
When I received a gift of a Kindle Fire a couple of years ago, I exploded with joy and my status as bibliophile and indeed, bookworm was properly cemented. Now I could have hundreds of books waiting on me to be voraciously read! Now I could read at night in the dark! Now I could keep the top notch bestsellers and classics without having to wonder how many more boxes I need for storage! 😀 😀 😀 My husband didn’t get it and the gremlinz, worse yet. They like to read but don’t loooove it. They greatly enjoy the adventures of a certain Wimpy Kid and his diary though. I’m grateful.
I’m currently settling into the third book of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire epic. I’m also reading Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life after Life’ and I’m gearing up for Paulo Coehlo’s ‘Adultery’. Three books at the same time. Don’t judge me. Yes, the only caveat to Kindling my fire is distraction by other titles, pure greediness and the need to go back to original paperbacks and the smell of the ‘new book’. I know there are others among you who get this. So very soon I will be launching a Kickstarter for the acquisition of this baby right here:
Ahhh, simple joys! 😀