17 year old Leanne Symonds expresses her very extreme love of books and reflects on her book journey.
A world without books for me would be a world without Wi-Fi, I’d survive perfectly fine (and probably socialise more if I’m honest) but my life would be much more dull. That I’m certain of. I’m not truly sure why I love books so much, my parents never read me bedtime stories in fact barely any children’s books littered my household at all! The only exposure I had to them was during class readings in Infant school. My siblings on the other hand, were (and still are) avid readers, and despite having the same upbringing as me their hearts were still guided to the bookshelf. The first spark of love that ignited within my chest was from eyeing the huge bulks of thick, intricate fantasy books which lined my brother’s shelves, and thinking ‘that’s cool’. It was a thought that seemed to stick with me growing up. The first story which I truly fell head into bookshelf for was The Morganville Vampire Series, now I know what you’re thinking, ‘of course it’s a cliché teen-romance-fiction-that’s about vampires’ but I highly recommend it for any 40 year olds out there looking to spice up their life. I picked the first book up (Glass Houses) simply because I wanted to be like my sister, who owned an abundance of supernatural books back at home, another thing I though was cool (it soon became my favourite genre after that). Giddy 12 year old me ended up finishing the book within two days just before my week holiday to the Isle of Wight. The next morning a very tired but excited book lover begged her parents to make a quick pit stop at Waterstones to buy the next in the series (Dead Girls Dance). I shamelessly finished three books within my time abroad and was most definitely hooked. The next heavenly piece of work I stumbled across (pretty much sold my soul to books) was the Hush Hush Series. Now let’s set the scene, picture a classic Year 8 English class all bundled into the school library, and last minute one female aged 13 swiped a book, which she recognised her 17 year old sister owned at home, from the shelf. The best decision of a lifetime, I mean who doesn’t like fallen angels? Despite the high percentage of fangirl being a bookworm has contributed to my love of books, they have also influenced me in an unforgettable and positive way. Reading books from a young age not only helped develop my literacy skills but let me discover new words and cultures, I saw glimpses of the world around me without even leaving my bedroom, and that’s quite a feat. There are so many different books out there from fiction to non-fiction, any genre you can think of thriller, romance, horror and the list goes on. There’re countless incredible but neglected reads out there, one that might even change your life. The stereotypical image of a bookworm is ‘nerdy’ and kids theses days don’t want to be placed under that label, we need to break away from this stigma and embrace books whether it be reading your child a bedtime story once a week (which I’m definitely not hurt about), or strategically placing crime books around your teenage sons room. So I still truly don’t know the origins of why a book fits so perfectly in my hand no matter the weather outside but it’s something I’m very grateful for. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m just going to go… read.