"What Books Are You Into?" - Writing Mentorship with @michelle.gent

---

The first time I was aware of books as a thing, and especially of myself liking them, was when I was about 5.

My grandmother worked at a pre-elementary school, and so I was one of the kids there. At 4pm, it was nap time, and I hated it... To this day, I can't stand the thought of sleeping while the sun is up. I gave my grandmother so much trouble that she eventually gave up and let me sit in the book corner while all the others had to lay on their mats.

I felt very special, and soon became known for this... The boy who liked books. And I liked it. Later on in life, I'd be teased for being a nerd, but in the very early days, when kids are still not quite complete monsters, the label was pleasant to bear, and I'm sure it was a major influence in my future love of reading.

The above books were extremely influencial... My Toy Box was my very first book and I'm really proud to still have it! =) ... Enid Blyton took me on so many awesome adventures and opened up my imagination to many a paradigm. And Jennie and The Fox and the Hound are really special in that the main characters are animals, and for a kid of 9-10, these books were really emotional and enriching... Homeward Bound is in the same category. All thanks to my mother, who loved giving me books and watching me devour them.

The next stage of my reading life starts with Isaac Asimov. His Foundation series, and Nemesis, started my love for Science Fiction. Sadly, I don't own any of his books. And once I was into sci-fi it was only a matter of time before I got to The Hitch-hikers Guide and my absolute favourite, Frank Herbert's Dune series (which somehow I still don't own!).

And The Lord of the Rings... Nothing I can say here would do it justice. (I read it before the movies, I must add, and then twice again after them). I read other fantasy before and after LOTR but nothing else comes even close.

You can see Sophie's World there too, which leads me to the next stage of my life... If you haven't read Sophie's World yet, DO. IT. NOW. I'm not exaggerating when I say it will change your life for the better.

Sophie's World lead me to the thing I enjoy the most... Questions about life, the universe and everything. The nature of reality itself, and the origins of everything. You can see Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Carl Sagan and Richard Bach(?... yep) in the image below, not to mention the Origin of Species, but there are tons more.

---

This last image, above, represents more of my current day reading habits... (At the moment, I'm on David Copperfield). The timeless classics, I've discovered, are timeless and classic for a reason ;P ... Nabokov, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are geniuses! The Idiot by Dostoevsky is one of my all time favourites... (Hmm, why don't I own my top favourite books??). Oh and I almost forgot to mention James Joyce. What I would give for an afternoon's conversation with that man!

And mixed in there are Siddhartha and Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse and The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, which I actually read when I was younger and had my mind blown by... I'm looking forward to reading them all again.

Ultimately, I think, there are two reasons for reading: To have my paradigms expanded (and to gain new ones), and then also, for simple, exquisite escape ... The best kinds of books do both of these, so I guess it's these kinds of books I would like to write...

Books that will keep a mind locked into a fantastical trance, and teach it something at the same time. The closest I've gotten to imagining what I could possibly write that could achieve this, is some sort of fantasy, where I weave in a few personal epiphanies about life within the story (nothing too obvious though, like, for example, what Richard Bach does).

Thanks for reading along until the end =) ... Please let me know in the comments:

What do you like to read? Who are the authors that have helped shape your life?