If you only ever read one book in your life…I highly recommend you keep your mouth shut – Simon Munnery
Do you remember the enthusiasm you had for books as a child? I do. Starting my new book as soon as it came out of the bag, reading all night, totally engrossed to the end, and then wishing I’d made it last longer. Right through school, books were my very favourite things.
At uni I studied English Literature and my main ‘responsibility’ was to digest three books a week. Proper books. Books by classic authors and literary geniuses. Joy!
Then real life started. Proper jobs. Then children. Proper responsibilities. Over the next ten years, spare time became a thing of the past. Or rather, decent blocks of spare time became a thing of the past. Now my book reading time barely spans ten minutes on a good day.
And so the internet, seductress of the time-poor has reeled me in, giving me the comparatively quick hit of blog posts, short stories and *hangs head* YouTube. My soft-back novels (several thousand of them) gather dust. My Kindle lies neglected. I need to read more books. I really do.
To give me the kick I need, to reignite my passion for books and to encourage me to just read more, here are my…
#3Books
The premise is simple – share the three books you love most from your time as a child, adult and parent.
Childhood
When I was small, my favourite author was Enid Blyton and my very favourite book was The Enchanted Wood, the first of four books in The Faraway Tree series.
It’s about three siblings – Jo, Bessie and Fanny (no giggling) – who discover a tree inhabited by (among others) a man covered in saucepans called, um, Saucepan Man, and another man with a moon-shaped, glowing face called, err, Moon-face.
At the top of the tree is a purple cloud and beyond that is a portal to limitless other worlds. The worlds above the cloud rotate so that it’s anyone’s guess where’ll you’ll end up when you start scaling the tree, and if you don’t come back in time, the worlds rotate again and you’re stuck in that world forever. HOW COOL IS THAT?!
Sometimes the worlds they end up in are nice but sometimes they’re actually rather terrifying. Seriously exciting for a young child to read, although I’m still a little scared of Dame Slap and her school for naughty pixies.
Adulthood
So, so tough to choose a favourite book, isn’t it? But I’m going to go with Slaughterhouse Five. It’s a strange mix of wartime drama, historical account, comedy, autobiography and sci-fi.
Billy Pilgrim is an American prisoner of war caught at the heart of the fire-bombing of Dresden during WWII (as Vonnegut himself was). He lives his life in a non-linear fashion, experiencing his life, loves and death in entirely the wrong order, punctuated by time on planet Tralfamadore, where he is exhibited in a zoo along with another human – a Hollywood movie star – Montana Wildhack.
The style of narrative and plot throw up fundamental questions about the accepted nature of literature, humanity and free will. I’d like to say more about it, but I don’t want to spoil the story. Just read it. You won’t regret it.
Parenthood
Our favourite book to read once JD is curled up under the covers and ready for story time is The Smartest Giant in Town.
It’s by the same genius lady that brought us The Gruffalo and The Snail and the Whale and is so much fun to read. Unlike some of her other stories, it doesn’t rhyme on every line. Instead you have a page or two of prose, and then a little song.
It’s about generosity over vanity. Kindness over skin deep beauty. Friendship over material possessions. In short, it’s a lovely message to go to sleep with. And being a Julia Donaldson book, it’s also beautifully illustrated by Alex Scheffler.
So there you have it, three books that hold a special place in my heart. What are yours?
If you want to take part in #3Books, just write about your favourite book in childhood, adulthood & parenthood, then use the Linky and badge below.
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Jut found this post via Love all blogs, just in time to join in :) Will get my post done tomorrow once I’ve narrowed my choices down to 3!
Oh yes, please do – I’d love to read them!
Interesting idea this ‘linky’ thing.
First time i’ve particapated, will try and visit all your blogs in due course !
Thanks for joining in :) I remember being played The Hobbit audiobook during art class as a child. Each week we’d listen to a bit more and draw / paint things from it. Loved it.
A great idea. I’m going to have a long hard think about the adulthood and parenthood books as there as so many to choose from. Having recently studied English Literature with the OU I discovered so many great books that I’d never thought of reading beforehand. Mrs Pepperpot stands out as a favourite kids book of mine. I will do a post soon on all of this. Thanks again, great idea.
Thanks for commenting Michelle. Looking forward to reading your #3Books – I studied with the OU too.
Ooh I’m picking up some good ideas of new and second hand books to buy whilst browsing through everyone’s picks. Have got Amazon onscreen and am adding things to my basket as I go. This could be extremely dangerous to my bank balance but it’s fun!
:) I’ll do a round up post at some point to put everyone’s favourites in one place :)
What a lovely idea. I’ve just added my 3 to the linky, even though it was extremely hard to choose only one book from adulthood…
I’m hoping this will be the first of many blogposts about books and reading this year
Ruth @ Minibreak Mummy
Thanks for joining in, Ruth. Off to read your now!
I love this idea – although I might struggle to narrow it down to three, I’m going to have a go! I loved the Enchanted Wood too, and still have my old copy ready for when my children are old enough to share it with – and I remember being scared of it quite often too. Brilliant.
:) Thanks for getting involved Margot. Yes, I agree, choosing just three is really difficult.
Thank-you for this, but it was so hard choosing just three! I’ve posted and now I’m wondering if I should have made other choices. I am with you on the reading, actual *books* barely seem to get a look-in these days but when I was younger I could read several in a week – what happened to all that lovely time? ;-)
Thanks for taking part. I’m loving reading about everyone’s favourites. Definitely going to read more from now on – that time we used to have must be hiding somewhere :)
What a great idea – linking the most-loved books from childhood, adulthood and parenthood – to get the love-thing going again!
I would choose:
The House At Pooh Corner, for the daft conversations and wonderful drawings;
Jane Eyre, dark, thrilling and romantic;
and Dogger – just the best picture book ever! (though I am biased, as SH is my mum)
Thanks Claire – I have to agree those are great choices. Will have to get The House At Pooh Corner for Joel. x
I used to read The Enchanted Wood and the Wishing Chair! Ah Moon Face and the Slippery Slip! Those were the days !
Enid Blyton appreciation society!
You’ve got to love a bit of Enid Blyton! Just wrote my #3 books, will add to the linky thing in a min!
Hurray! Thanks for joining in. x
Love it! I am definitely going to give this some thought and let you know… I too studied English and have since then let my reading slip a lot. Am getting back into via various book clubs, but still miss those stolen hours under the bedclothes with a torch reading “just one more page”. :-)
So true. Now if I try to read in bed these days, I fall asleep on page one!
Yup! Finally written the post and linked up. :-)
Hurrah – thank. Off to read it now.
Great choices! I loved Enid Blyton when I was young, I think the faraway books are amazing! I am also a huge Julia Donaldson fan and we love reading her books!
Thanks for commenting. I think I’ve still got virtually everything Enid Blyton ever wrote in the loft. Will have to dig them out one day soon. So are you going to share you three books?
I’m so jealous that you still have your old Enid Blytons. In my opinion, the modern ones have been so sanitised that they’ve lost a lot of their magic. It was so difficult (and expensive) tracking down old copies of my old books but, as it stands, my children have both read all of the Famous Fives, The Enchanted Wood and Malory Towers. The impact on their reading, compared to their peers, has been astounding. My youngest’s now nine and has already read some (carefully vetted) Michael Connelly and Michael Marshall Smith.
Oh, and for the record, my childhood favourite was The Malory Towers series. Adulthood, it’s The Day After Tomorrow by Allan Folsom (no, nothing to do with the film of the same name) It was the first book I ever read that made me physically jump and cry out at the same time. A rollercoaster thriller that changed what I look for in books forever. It’ll always have a special place on my bookshelf although Michael Marshall Smith’s latest book, Killer Move, is certainly a close contender for that number one spot. And for sharing with the kids – well of course, it has to be the Enchanted Wood!