Format doesn’t matter to me (but I love stroking the covers)

In my first post I (briefly) mentioned a thing I have about format. It doesn’t matter to me. I like physical books and e-books and I don’t care how things come to me as long as I can read them, as long as I can sink myself into that world with luxurious abandon.

There are places I prefer one over the other – physical copy is better for reading in the bath, e-books for long journeys – but in general I don’t give a shit how I read.

However. There’s always a however.

I have an almost sexual lust for the smell of paper and the feel of book covers under my fingers.

Practicing grief.

“Daddy, no. He’s not dead. Gandalf isn’t allowed to be dead.”

I was seven, or so. This is the readthrough of LoTR that I remember, cuddled up with my dad as he read it to me. He even did the voices.

“I’m sorry sweetie, but it looks like he is.”

“No. He’s gonna come back, right? Him and Boromir? This isn’t fair.”

Dad knew, of course, how this book panned out, but he wasn’t going to spoil me.

“Little one, life’s not fair. And neither is death. It’s not something you can come back from.”

Age Appropriate

Otherwise known as Something My Parents Did Not Believe In.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, they had some caution over what I read, but from a certain age they trusted me enough to think that if I was disturbed or concerned by something I read, that I would talk to them. A lot of the time they were right.

Shakespeare in the garden.

My father taught me to read using Tolkien.

As a start to this blog, that is, I think, the most powerful statement I can make. About the sort of person I am, the sort of parent my father was, and about the sort of expectations that were put on me from a young age.

I fucking LOVE books.

I love books in physical form, and books in digital copy. I love books that make me think, and books that are throw away brain candy. I love books that make me cry and books that make me laugh.

This is where I talk about that book love. Part memoir, part love story to fiction, this is where I talk about the ways that books have kept me going, and in some cases have kept me alive.

Sometimes, I’ll do reviews.