BEDM: Book Love

I LOVE to read but mostly I love books. I have a Kindle account for those cheap useful rescource books that are handy to have on my computer but I don't have a Kindle (or e-reader of any type.) Part of this is due to finances - there are just too many beautiful things and tech that I want more so if the money crops up, it'll be going towards crossing something off my rather long wish list! The main reason for my lack of e-reader, however, is my love of books. I love them, I really really do. We all have enough tech in our lives and we have come to rely on it and I am fine with that but I cannot get lost in a book when I am reading it on a screen - it's just not the same and I am way too easily distracted! Give me good old fashioned paperback though and it's a different matter. I live the story, I get right in there and cannot get myself out again until it's over. Then I get that sad feeling that you get when you wake from a really awesome dream and know it's time to head back to reality. This love affair with fiction started a LONG time ago for me. I was that girl that doesn't just have one imaginary friend but dreams up entire worlds and scenarios - I was the quintessential day dreamer (which, in honour of my mother, I must point out this is a parenting nightmare - I once spent 40 mins in the bathroom and forgot to shower cos I was so engrossed in my dream world!) 
I loved many books as a child. Classics like The Tiger Who Came to Tea and most books by Shirley Hughes

This moved me on to novels as I got older - I loved Enid Blyton, Judy Blume, What Katie Did books and I collected the Penguin Classics that were only about a pound - I don't think I ever read them all but something about a full bookshelf was rather appealing. I still have the 1939 copy of Eleanor H. Porter's Pollyanna that my Grandpa bought me at a jumble sale for 30p and I fell in love with the history of the book immediately. Inside the cover, just under the pencilled on price was this:
 









 How wonderful is that?! This holds a beautiful memory for me and I doubt I'll ever get rid of it, not least because my Grandpa and I were very close and he passed away just over 3 years ago. He is a big factor in my love of words and I spent many an after-school afternoon watching Countdown and doing the Telegraph crossword with him. I still watch countdown and now my son loves to watch it too and repeat the letters as they go up on the screen. I hope these early memories (and all the reading we do together) leads to a passion for reading for him too. 

Happy Reading! x