Mrs Reid: Books and Me 

Books have always played a huge role in my life, and one of my earliest memories is of my dad reading Disney stories to me. My parents surrounded me with books of all kinds and secured for me what has turned out to be a lifelong passion for reading. I have much to thank them for!

I fell in love with Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, and Susan Cooper as an elementary student, and developed a passion for Stephen King and Virginia Andrews in my mid-teenage years. I'm convinced that time will never succeed in erasing my memories of the Big Friendly Giant, Mathilda's formidable headmistress, Ms. Trunchbull, a great floating peach, a marvellous chocolate factory, midnight feasts at St. Clare's and Malory Towers, the detective powers of the Famous Five, the magical worlds to be found at the topmost branches of the Faraway Tree, a dark rider with the antlers of a stag, children locked in an attic with only each other for company, or of the frightening clown who gave me nightmares. These stories and characters are with me for life, and I am glad: I'm not sure that I would be the same person without them. 

During my high school years, I moved onto the classics, and I have yet to find an author that can rival Thomas Hardy or Charles Dickens. Jude the Obscure, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and Far From the Madding Crowds taught me about tragedy and the darker corners of life and love, while Great Expectations, Hard Times, and A Tale of Two Cities introduced me to characters and plot moments that I have never forgotten: the image of the spectacularly creepy Miss Havisham and her heavily decaying and ancient wedding cake is not erasable, the sacrifice made by Sidney Carton in the name of love is unforgettable ("It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done..."), and the opening description of Mr. Gradgrind as some kind of factory machine in Hard Times made me understand the industrial revolution in England on a human level that I had not before considered. The works of American authors such as Edith Wharton, Kate Chopin, Harper Lee, Henry James, and Nathaniel Hawthorne also became favorites of mine, and I started to understand the importance of the Greek tragedies and Homer to all literature worldwide.

It may come as no surprise that I decided to study and specialize in English Literature at Cambridge University. Shakespeare began to make his mark, and his villainous (yet charming) hunch-backed Richard III remains a favorite literary character, as did writers from medieval times. I never imagined that Chaucer could be so funny (or so rude!), and I found valor, courage, romance, and tragedy in Malory's Morte D'Arthur. My biggest discovery at University, however, was that all poetry was not boring, and that there were lots of poets and poems that I loved. Who knew? John Milton's Paradise Lost is breathtaking, William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience made me take stock of the world around me, and I found an honest and fascinating, albeit dark, portrayal of reality in the writings of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. John Donne, Philip Sidney, W.B.Yeats, and Coleridge also left their mark. I am definitely grateful to my professors for installing in me a love for a genre I had never really understood or appreciated.

My reading tastes have changed since then and, although I still love a good classic every now and again, I also like to read non-fiction books - especially books by travel writers such as Bill Bryson and Peter Jenkins - and I have fully entered into the world of young adult literature. The range of books available to young adults today is just phenomenal. While I still can't quite believe that the Harry Potter series has reached its conclusion, there are plenty of other books and writers to read. If I had to pick, Scott Westerfield, James Patterson, Stephenie Meyer, and Markus Zusak stand out as my favorite young adult authors. A current student of mine, Elise, has also introduced me to Manga, and I cannot put down the Clamp series I am currently reading. On the poetry front, I love to read the poetry written and collected by Naomi Shihab Nye, who introduces her readers to the themes of loss and love, the culture of the Middle East, and to the humanity that binds us all together.

The one important thing that I have learned about reading is this: tastes and preferences change. There are books and literature to suit the different phases of your life, and somewhere down the path, after reading a great book that you don't think can be surpassed, you will find another that will leave its mark. You will always love the favorites embedded in your past, but there are always new and different favorites to be found. Keep searching and never stop reading!