World Book Day Campaign: What Books Mean to Me

I am a big fan of World Book Day. It’s great. I almost wish I was back at primary school on this day each year, just so I could go to school dressed as a character from a book. So I was really excited when MyVoucherCodes asked me to tell my story of how literature has changed my life and what inspired me to become a book blogger in the first place.
The truth is I have always been a bookaholic. When I started nursery I wasn’t interested in the sand pit, the dressing up box or the doll’s house. It was always all about the book corner.
I’m lucky that my love of reading has stayed with me and more than twenty years later I find myself at a point in life where books are my everything. Working in a library I spend the day surrounded by books – recommending them, promoting them, shelving them and, of course, borrowing them (my library card is maxed out…)
My book-filled day doesn’t end when I finish work, though. As soon as I get home I’m either reading books, reviewing books, ordering books off Amazon (shh!), visiting all of the fantastic book blogs out there or chatting books with all my book-addict friends on Twitter. My life is packed full to the brim with books at the moment and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Before I started blogging about books my life was still pretty bookish, if I’m honest. I’d always be scouring other blogs for reviews and recommendations as my ‘To-Be-Read’ list grew to dramatic proportions. I was discovering more and more fabulous blogs by the day and suddenly, one day last June, I decided that I wanted to give this blogging lark a go.
Starting my own blog was definitely a learning curve but I can honestly say that now I love books more than ever. The best thing about being a book blogger is the opportunity to discover new authors and genres. Before I started blogging I was (and still am!) a chick-lit fanatic through and through. However, over the past twelve months I have read and enjoyed crime, horror, thrillers, Young Adult and fantasy. I’ve read books that I never thought I would and I’ve loved every minute.
However it’s not only the type of books that I read that’s changing – but the way in which I read them too. I love how technology has made books so accessible. With a click of the mouse you can find yourself reading a brand new book in minutes and I still find that incredible. The fact that you can just whip your ipad/e-reader/phone out and get stuck into a story wherever you are is beyond amazing (and also signals the end of my feeble attempts at the half-completed crosswords in Doctors waiting rooms…) Plus my posture is in much better shape since the invention of e-readers as carrying a 400 plus page book around in my bag was a killer (although completely necessary. You never know when you might be able to fit in a page or two…)
I’ve often asked myself just WHY I love books so much. I’ve never been able to pinpoint one answer, but I think that books are a big form of escapism for me. If you’re lonely, bored, worried, upset – whatever your feelings, if you open up the pages of a book then you can escape to another world for an hour or two and forget about your own problems. Those are my favourite kind of books – the ones that make you feel warm, safe, cosy and a million miles away from everyday life.
I also love how books can take you anywhere in the world. From under your duvet or sat in the back garden you can be transported to any country, at any period of time and anything can happen. You can go on adventures, meet new characters, fall in love, cry, laugh, cringe, gasp, despair and sympathise. With books anything is possible and I think when all is said and done, that’s what makes me love literature so much.

Being a book lover and blogger has changed my life. Nothing beats the thrill of being sent a book to review (sometimes before it’s even released! Imagine!), devouring it and then sharing the review with all the other hundreds of book-worms out there. I love reading about other readers experiences of books – if they liked the same things I did or if they perceived things differently. Getting to quiz some of my favourite authors for my blog is also definitely one of the perks. It’s amazing to be able to read a book and then talk to the author about it and ask them what inspired the story or how they came up with the characters. It’s one part of blogging that I find fascinating and I feel so lucky to be able to interact with these wonderful authors.

The other advantage of being a book blogger is all of the amazing friends that I’ve made from all over the world. Not all of my ‘real-life’ friends are into books so to be able to have people who I can gas away with about my favourite books and authors is heavenly. I hope that my love of books has led me to make some life-long friendships with both other readers and authors, too.
Anyway, enough of me rambling on about my book obsession. I won’t keep you any longer…after all, there’s reading to be done!

Happy World Book Day for the 5^th! Enjoy this day of celebrating books by treating yourself to that one you’ve been after for ages. Go on, I won’t tell. Meanwhile I’ll do my very best to resist dressing up as a book character…

A huge thank you to MyVoucherCodes for inviting me to take part in their World Book Day campaign. If you have a little (or not so little) book worm at home don’t forget to check out the fantastic selection of £1 books they can purchase with their token.

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