I have always loved books, I read Famous Five in middle school, Flowers in the attic in secondary school and War and Peace at the age of 17. One of the first pieces of up to date technology I had was a kindle and I have not been without one since.
Now that we are home schooling our main objective is to teach both girls how to read as I am of a firm believer that being able to read and enjoy reading can open up the world to you. In just five short weeks the difference in both girls reading ability and enjoyment of books is astronomical and as a family we are enjoying visiting the library and reading together.
Now that they have started to read more it got me thinking about my favourite books and it is really hard for me to narrow it down. I love the Lord of the rings set, Harry Potter and the Twilight series. I love Kathy Reich and Dan Brown and at one point pre children I had every single Stephen King book written. I enjoy Iain M Banks and Dean Koontz. Fantasize with David Eddings and Robin Hobb.
The one thing I really enjoy about reading is when you find a new author, either through recommendation or chance and within a few paragraphs you are hooked, everything else gets forgotten. I have missed my stop on the bus countless times as I have been so engrossed in a book, I have also nearly missed picking the kids up from school! I particularly enjoy the peace and quiet a book can give you, I find that when the pages are open everything else melts into the background, the kids screaming, the hubby moaning, no matter what it is it doesnt exist in the world of my book. This is especially true when on holiday, a beach, a book and a cold drink can keep me happy for hours. This is when my kindle comes in very handy because I go through books so quickly when away and I would have to pack quite a few even if I was going for a week. Thomas Cook have just brought out a fabulous app that can recommend a book to you for when you go on holiday which should hopefully make choosing the next books to read a bit easier. Check out the Holiday book selector.
There are a lot of things I love about reading but to me the best thing is that a book can take you anywhere, teach you anything and show you things that are not possible anywhere but your imagination. A love of books and a love of reading is such a huge part of my life that I can not imagine not passing this on to the younger generation and that is what I love about world book day.
I have recently started to expand our book collection to include some of the classics from the Dr Seuss stories to Aesops fables. I have also added the Roald Dahl books and I am hoping to pick up the Beatrix Potter books soon. I have read so many books over the years that I want to share with the girls but I can never remember what they are. So if you have any ideas of classic childrens authors that I should introduce them to do let me know.
