Reading Rainbow

I love to read. From my earliest childhood memories, I was surrounded by books and loved reading them. My first 'big' book I ever read cover to cover ALL ON MY OWN was Tikki Tikki Tembo. I used to read The Babysitters Club books like there was no tomorrow. I had to get every new book that came out and had the entire series from Kristy's Big Idea to book number 60 or so. I'd often be in the middle of reading four or more BSC books at a time, and all of them had been read a dozen times over.

In high school, I started to learn to love classic literature, thanks to the Divine Mrs Davis, our incredible English teacher. There I discovered books like Tess of the d'Urbervilles and A Scarlet Letter. It was Mrs Davis that inspired me to go on to do English at University, and there my love of books flourished - as did my lit snobbery, ahem.

I am still trying to get all my books to Scotland. You'd think I'd love libraries, but I don't. I love to own books, to have them on my bookshelves ready to be read whenever I want, whenever a title comes back to me that I haven't read in a while. I love buying new books and breaking the binding. A book that looks perfect and clean is pleasant to look at but doesn't look loved.

Since having children, I don't get nearly the amount of time to read as I'd like, but now I relish it more. When I actually get a chance to start and finish a book, whether a new read or an old favourite, I feel fulfilled and satisfied. I love a book full of wisdom, humanity, honesty, and complication. I hate chick lit, I rarely enjoy Bestsellers, but give me an old book that has stood the test of time, and 9 times out of 10, I will be captivated.

I am thankful for books and thankful for my love of reading. I hope I can pass this love onto my children. So far they seem to be as enraptured by books and stories as I was, and with Fifi in particular, there is a real hunger to learn to read, in both Gaelic and English. I hope this stays with her.

(I tried to be honest with these two photos, no shuffling about to look pretentious. I did, however, remove an absolutely awful book I was once given that I could never bring myself to waste time reading. I had to move it from the photo... I just had to.)