A good book

So I love books. I love reading and I love our book group.

 

I have read some stinkers and I have read some corkers. I am currently writing one at the moment. Hopefully that one will be a corker.

 

At school we read because we had to but even some of those we enjoyed. For my O Level English which  was a long long time ago ( 1984) we could have read 1984 ( obviously ) or Rudyard Kipling's Kim. Our teacher opted for Kim and I can't remember what the hell it was about but I know I must have enjoyed it as I enjoy books set in India ever since.

 

I loved the language in it, I loved the chaos of the place and I particularly loved the insults ; ''your mother is the sister of a camel with bad breath'' etc etc.

 

I also did A level English which is where I may have nodded off a bit on the book front. We had to do TEN books back then, including Shakespeare and poetry.

 

Shakespeare was ok I suppose. I liked Hamlet - the Danish are a nice  sort of people and I adored Philip Larkin. I identified with his complete and utter loathing and misery and the fact that he used the word 'FUCK' a bit and we would have to read it out in front of Mr Whelan.... our very cool and funky teacher.

 

And then I left school and a few years later I was a grown up . The time had flown.

 

The books that got me back into reading were -

 

1. The Da Vinci Code - a bit Scooby Doo but I love a good conspiracy theory.

 

2. Nicci French - recommended to me by my friend Debbie and have read all of them.

 

I started book group because there is nothing worse than reading a good book and having nobody to talk about it with. It is very frustrating.

 

It is all about trying out new stuff. I have my 'genres' - I like crime thrillers and despise chick lit. If a book has a pair of high heels, swirly patterns on the front and some lipsticks I generally avoid it like the plague but if someone from book group chose it then I would read it. Honest, I would.

 

I have just finished The Ship of Brides by JoJo Moyes. It was a proper saga. There was colourful characters, laughter, a good plot, some tense bits and some tears too.

 If I am sad when a book finishes then I know it has been a success. Sometimes I genuinely miss the characters - it's like saying goodbye to a friend and that is a sign it has been well written.

 

Never mind the film - Atonement, Angela's Ashes, We Need to Talk About Kevin, One Day.......all good enough films but not a patch on the book.

 

So in honour of world book day - go on - grab yourselves one - they do them in Tescos , 2 for £7........and many a bargain on Amazon too.