On books

Oh, how I love books! As they are a huge part of my life and my identity, it seems only fitting to write my first blog post about my love for those marvellous objects.

That I love books will not come as a surprise to those who know me. Give me a book for my birthday, and I’m one happy gal. Put me in front of a bookcase, and I’ll be busy looking at every last one of them. I seek out the books when I’m in someone’s house, and yes, my view of a person changes based on the books they own. Surely I’m not the only one who finds bookless houses a little scary?

I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember, every free moment found me curled up in a chair or on my bed reading. I love books as objects, I love how they smell, how they feel, how they look. I also love the worlds that lie within. I love the knowledge they contain. I love how they can completely transform your life and your views about basically everything. To me, books are sacred. I use them to escape from my life, if only temporarily. I use them to travel, to relax, to unwind. I sleep better after reading. I make sense of the world through books.

The best books are those I want to read and reread over and over again. They are the ones that really change me. They are the ones I remember. My absolute favourite book is This is all by Aiden Chambers. I first read it when I was 17, my mum had given it to me. I was struggling with myself at the time, and it helped me immensely: it made me realize who I was and what my worth was. I truly believe that book saved me back then, and it has done so many times since. It is the book that is me, in a way. I would love to write a book like that someday.

I’ve read so many books in my life, privately and for my studies. I didn’t love all of them, but I loved that they were books. Objects of knowledge, wisdom, resources. My love for books is what makes me want to be a writer. To produce one of those miracles, to know that it holds all that I have, all that I am… That must be bliss. And absolutely terrifying.