This weeks question comes from Barb at Sugarbeat's Books:
"Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?"
I'm not totally convinced that I have A genre. I like to read all sorts of books. Literary fiction. Science fiction. Crime fiction. Cookbooks. The I-moved-to-France- met-some-crazy-French-people-with-their-crazy-French-ways,-but-now-it's-all-ok-because-Paris-is-so-amazing books. Non-fiction ( I always want to read so much of it, but am not very good with the follow through). I don't always get to read the variety that I want to read it's true, mainly due to time constraints (why oh why do we have to work for money?). Increasingly though I do read a lot of childrens books. Not just YA either. I like reading books for younger readers, and picture books too.
Why? I find them endlessly fascinating for one. Perhaps they've become a form of escapism? Although I think the authors of books for kids can often display greater imagination and ingenuity than those writing for adults. My interest started growing after my son was born. Initially I was wanting to read great kids books to him, and for him. But then my own interest took over. I wanted to read more of them. Then in late 2009 this book was published, and it changed my life.
I aksed for it as a Christmas gift that year. Before that Christmas week was up I had started a yahoo group dedicated to reading all 1001 books. My tally is up around 150 now. I think that's pretty good. It's such a fun journey, and has been so interesting on so many levels, it's making me so very happy, and I just want to keep going. I've got to meet some great people (online and in person) who are participating in this journey too. And it turns out childrens authors are a rather fascinating subset of humanity- very interesting in their own right. At the moment I'm on holiday in New Zealand, and one of my happy tasks has been to source the more obscure Kiwi books that are part of the list. It's taking over a bit, but that's ok with me.
And we are so glad that you discovered this book and changed our lives, too, Louise! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Debbie, I really value your participation in the group. You never quite know what's going to happen in life do you? If I hadn't fallen in love with the concept of this book, I don't imagine we would have met up in Paris..... One simple act can lead on to so many others.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! I agree, I love children novels. I haven't heard of that novel before, thanks for the heads up!!
ReplyDeleteHere's my post:
http://www.bookmarkyourthoughts.com/2011/01/book-blogger-hop-january-20th.html
Thanks Natasha. It's great how we all find our own niche.
ReplyDelete