What Books Mean To Me.

A quick fact but according to Wikipedia Google has estimated that 130 000 000 unique book titles have been published since the invention of printing... I was expecting a bit more to be honest.

I wish to use this blog post to go into a journey of the history of books, why I like them, how I got 'into' them and so on. There are people out there who (for whatever ridiculous reason) do not read... unless they are unable to get books, in which case I understand because they obviously can't read anything... or if people can't read... also understandable. What- EVER! *Cough*

I think that it is a shame that there are people who have not been reading from a young age. A complete tragedy that there are people that have not desired or been able to go on that journey in their head, that exploring and development of their inner world that you are given through the reading of books. Here is my journey through my inner world from what I can remember, starting from four and ending at the point in which this post is posted... if you're interested... I have a point to describing all this by the way.

The first memory of a book that I read was a small picture type book that told the story of a dog that was actually a dragon in disguise. I used to sit on the sofa with my other siblings and Mum and read that, point at the pictures and all that jazz. I can't remember the name but I remember that I liked the pictures.

The first book that I remember reading by myself was a book about dinosaurs and fossils, which I really liked and I think I still have. I also read a massive encyclopedia at the time and I remember constantly turning to the page that told information about turtles because of the fascination that I had with turtles at the time... I still have a smallish garden statue of a turtle in my room..

In primary school I got into the Goosebumps books by R.L Stine which I read and even traded them like the trading card craze that was also going on in the playground. Before I sold my Goosebumps collection I think I had about thirty odd books that I had compiled and enjoyed reading them while I was at that age. It was simplistic writing at the time and I have heard that Stine wrote one book every month (so they weren't going to be too detailed or complicated) but at the time they suited my child brain. I also made my first attempt at reading Dracula. My Mum had an old copy and I used to pick it up, turn to a part that I thought was scary at the time, read it, be scared and put it down as a cheap thrill.

I continued to read various other stuff that I can't recall but the latest series of books that really captured me was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, a tale about anthropomorphic woodland animals living in and around an abbey in a medieval fantasy world. These books were my Harry Potter if you like. I loved the artwork on the covers and the interesting language and accents that were portrayed in the stories.

When I was fourteen I had an explosion. I loved gothic literature, mythology, legends, history, fiction, non fiction, facts, everything I could get my hands on. At about this age I bought lots of note books and wrote a lot of story ideas. I have a note book of a completed ''novel'' that I wrote in my early teens that was inspired by Redwall and the Fighting Fantasy Game books that I was also reading/ playing. It is about a group of people who are going on a journey to kill a vampire... and the main character is a midget.

When I was about eighteen I got the idea in my head that I would do things and find things out for myself, which I was kind of doing anyway, but I made a conscious decision to find out about things simply for my curiosity and for it's satisfaction. Reading and finding out things because I want to and not because I am told to learn it.

... and a few more books explored and read, I am pretty much at the point I am now and still going strong.

Books are an obvious benefit to everyone. They present stories (and stories alone have their own benefits also), they also present information, facts, wisdom... they put living thought onto paper.

The inner world is just as important as the outer one... obviously. Books are the food that enrich both realities in more ways than one... or five... or ten.

Over and Out.
ED.