With A Great Deal Of Publicity Surrounding The Intention To Close Many Libraries, It’s Worth Having A Think About How Much You Read And Why You Do So

With the news recently surrounding the government’s proposals to close a lot of libraries, I began to wonder how many books I have read throughout my life so far. As a youngster and teenager, I was regularly in the library round the corner from my house finding exciting books to read and new authors to become interested in. My childhood was such that the TV was hardly ever switched on, and so I’m quite sure that I read considerably more than the majority of my school friends.

For much of that phase I was obsessed with Enid Blyton’s works, especially the Famous Five, Secret Seven and Malory Towers series of paperbacks and I read them all repeatedly. I’m sure that a large part of why I loved them was because they were so utterly the opposite of my own life and consequently it was an imaginary world that I could engross myself in. I would often finish several books each week, finishing some of them by torchlight late at night under the bedclothes. Considering the amount of time I spent reading like this, I’m very surprised that I’m not yet a candidate for Laser eye surgery!

Having tired of such books by the time I reached grammar school, I moved on to more mature books and soon became a big fan of writers like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers. I had no interest in the slushy love stories that a lot my class mates said were so riveting – all I wanted was a good murder which had to be solved and I was more than happy!

Strangely, taking into account my love of reading and the fact that I was doing English Literature at school, I read remarkably few ‘classics’ in my younger years, but with the exception of the set books for my studies, I wasn’t encouraged to explore any particular authors, so I had to seek out my own favoured authors for my literary experiences.

In recent years, my preferences for books have changed a lot, and whilst research may suggest something else, I believe that intellectually I am still becoming more capable (though sadly that potential Laser eye treatment I said about could soon become necessary!). But classics that I struggled to read when I was a lot younger have been a pleasure to read in the last few years. Writers like James Joyce seemed to be beyond my understanding until recently, when I read two of his volumes in quick succession and really enjoyed them. So I’ve already begun to work my way through a selection of the literary masterpieces by other authors who are thought of as ‘must read’ candidates.

But moving completely away from the classics, I also like Terry Pratchett. His Discworld series of books are witty, clever and very good indeed at making you stop and think as he frequently illustrates the strange ways of humans via the non-human characters on Discworld. Other fantasy writers such as Tom Holt and Robert Rankin also get my seal of approval, because they too produce funny and clever stories (but you maybe do need a slightly odd kind of mind to buy into the idea of a portable door or a sprout residing in someone’s head or a straightforward writing implement which is manipulated by a Laser eye beam!) I’m also keen on thrillers penned by authors like Lee Child and Jonathan Kellerman – stories with well planned plot-lines where you can always sympathise with the lead character.

I do also read a lot of factual history books. I can happily sit and read about almost any time in history and historical events. Though this can be quite distracting when I’m carrying out research as I will end up looking through a load of irrelevant facts just because I want to know more. I think that the most distracted I’ve been recently was researching Laser eye surgery – nearly a day later I’d not written anything, but was an expert on medical science all the way back to ancient times!

I am just a bit ashamed to say that I have never read any book by Charles Dickens. But the main reason that this is a bit embarrassing is that my house is in the village where he spent the last few years of his life, and for this reason, he is something of a local celebrity. I think that I should probably attempt at some of his books one day, especially when so many local landmarks are described in them, but sorry Charles, you’re not on my list for the time being.