Thursday, November 17, 2011

The magic of reading

I confess: I'm a total bookworm.
I love to read! Ever since I was able to read, I loved to pick up a book and get lost in the words. At 6 years old I would get lost in Enid Blyton - Noddy books and The Adventourous Four...a little older and I read the Magic Faraway Tree, the Wishing Chair, and discovered the Babysitters Club series. I'm pretty sure I read every one!!
When I hit high school I discovered John Marsden and the 'Tomorrow' series. Other favourites included the good old 'Point Fiction' series - Horror, Thrillers and everything in between.
At some point towards the end of High School, a boyfriend introduced me to Fantasy Fiction and I've never looked back!
While I will read just about anything, it is still good old fantasy that gets me hooked everytime. The worlds conjured up by the authors, the ideas explored and the characters created, while sometimes are a bit 'same same but different', many others have different ideas, different themes and are just plain good fun.
Favourites in the land of fantasy fiction include my first fantasy fiction book Magician (Raymond E Fiest), the Wheel of Time series, a bit of Stephen Donaldson (although I found him difficult at times to read), Sara Douglass, Terry Goodkind, of course Harry Potter........
The reason for this post is twofold: firstly, I'm currently re-reading a series of fantasty fiction books that I began in high school but have had to wait 10 years for the final book. The series is known as the 'Obernewtyn' series and is by Isobelle Carmody. I quickly re-read the first 3 books and I am more than halfway through the 4th (which is bigger than the 1st three put together!) I still have another entire book to read after this which is so exciting!
Secondly - I was struck the other day by how well I can zone out everything else when I'm reading.
I was sitting in our lounge room the other evening, reading. The tv was on and my Englishman was watching tv and net-surfing. A couple of times, my Englishman made a comment about something on tv....well, I barely even caught what he said, never mind what he'd seen on tv! My mind was so focused on my book that everything else was totally 'zoned out'. I even had to get him to repeat what he'd said as I really didn't hear the words......totally lost in the story.
Now, why can't I do this at other times??????

5 comments:

  1. Oh Hols - you had me til you hit Fantasy fiction... we read all the same books up until that point! well, except Harry Potter. LOVE Harry. lol.
    Oh how I wish I could 'zone out' and read. My fried brain can't focus for that long anymore, let alone find time to read. HOWEVER I have discovered that on my long drives to visit family, if I time it right, the kids sleep and I can listen to a book on CD! This may become my new reading. hehe...
    Speaking of the Faraway tree & the Wishing chair - I just bought those to read to my babies for Christmas! Love that I can share books from my childhood with them.
    Love your work miss hols xo

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  2. I know what you mean about getting lost in the story. If I'm reading a good book I can zone out most things and everything else has to wait for the day or two until the book is finished. So these days I have big breaks between books otherwise the kids would have to fend for themselves!

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  3. Stepha, my sister swears by audio books! Her job often involves long drives and she finds this a great way to enjoy a story.
    I know fantasy fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea but I work hard to make sure it's not the only genre I read - currently reading Cloudstreet by Tim Winton and while I'm finding it a little difficult, I'm still enjoying it.
    Fran, I am terrible if I have a good book! My poor Englishman got a little annoyed about a week ago when I got totally engrossed in a book and stopped doing everything.........oops!

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  4. Miss Holly, I use to read all the Enid Blyton books, including the wishing tree stories, and who could forget that naughty doll Amelia Jane!! The first Stephen King book i read was Pet Cemetary. Scaaaaaary!!!
    I also love the Fantasy genre!! My favorite character was Sparhawk, and I had a bit of a crush on him.

    I haven't read books in ages. Shame on me!!! Right!! That's my new years resolution!

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  5. OOooh Lady Daa Doo, I lurve Sparhawk!!!!
    Another favourite was Axis, he was pretty spunky even though he didnt have the wings he was sposed to have ;)

    I had forgotten all about Amelia Jane! I read lots of books about her!

    Oh dear, yes get yourself reading! Let me know if you need a recommendation.... xx

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