I could
preach all day about how wonderful books are, and I think I may do just that! I
started reading when I was quite young, beginning my journey with the usual
suspects, the Famous Five, Secret Seven and the Five Find-Outers. I loved those
books and the sense of each chapter adding new pieces to the puzzle, followed
by the final revelation, sometimes accompanied by an excited ‘I knew it!’ from
my end. My path followed quite naturally then to Harry Potter, which had the
same sense of a ‘mystery’ that had to be solved. I followed Harry through the
corridors of Hogwarts, longing for my own four poster bed, my own owl, my own
spell books and the cushy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, or perhaps
the magnificent view of the grounds of Hogwarts from the airiness of
Ravenclaw’s tower common room.
Then the day
came when I did not receive my letter written in green ink, when my invitation
to Harry’s world did not arrive, and I was forced to face the fact that I was a
muggle with not a drop of magical blood in my veins. From this, at the time,
dim realisation, my inventory of imaginary worlds was born. First and foremost
was Hogwarts, but I kept that mostly to myself, because it was a private thing,
and my friends in the muggle world had no place among Harry and the student
body of Hogwarts school. I would be caught with my nose in Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire twenty minutes after break time, and receive a half-hearted
rebuke from whatever teacher was present.
I love
books, there never seemed to be a time when I didn’t, or at least I’ve blocked
those unpleasant times from my mind, though I was not completely without my
little stories written into the games I played with my teddies and various
other inanimate objects. Now my feet are firmly rooted in Fantasy and Science
Fiction. Although Fantasy takes the cake among those two genres, although I do
occasionally whet my palate with a crime or detective novel. My reserve of
worlds to escape into, characters whose skin I can don when I need to be faster,
stronger, braver, smarter, has expanded.
Books are my
past, present and future. I want to write them, I am writing them, I want to
give others a gateway to another world just as a gateway was given to me. Being
the way I was when I was younger, always somewhere else, I had my share of encounters
with bullies. They didn’t understand the way I thought, so they decided to walk
all over me in the hope that I would conform. I didn’t, but they tried. I’m not
saying that what I had was as bad as what some people get, but it hurt, and
books were my way to ignore them. Books never told me that I was weird, or
anything but perfect. Books love you for who you are, and for the fact that you
chose to open them, to give life to what, without you, would be just a collection
of meaningless words.
My parents
helped too, of course, getting the bullies off my back before they could beat
me down, but they couldn’t do much about the teachers, who saw a child who was
always far away, daydreaming, and saw someone stupid. Now, teachers understand
better, but I don’t remember ever feeling completely appreciated until I got
into sixth class, and met a teacher who saw talent where others saw stupidity.
The next set
of books I fell in love with were the Artemis Fowl books; they were cool and
full of crazy, yet solid science. I didn’t get all the jokes the first time
around, and every time I read it I get another one, and the sudden click of
comprehension is enough to make me laugh every time. The character was an evil
genius, a twelve year old with a crazy IQ and the resources to wreak havoc on
human and fairy alike. In the first book, Eoin Colfer made you get all of the
characters; let you slip effortlessly into their skin and feel the pain when
they were mauled by an angry Troll.
There were
many books after that, and they each touched me in a different way, leaving a
unique imprint on my heart. My books are a part of me, and I a part of them,
their stories immortalised in my mind, the memory of a sunny day in their
pages. They made me what I am, and I owe everything to them.
©EmmaTobin
2012
This is brilliant Emma!!! Well done! from roisin :)
ReplyDeleteLoved it Emma - can't wait for more
ReplyDelete