A Year's Journey

My greatest pleasure in life is reading. I have been a prolific reader for 24 years since my older sister taught me to read when I was 5. I owe my love of books and reading to her. She introduced me to Black Beauty, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (no Disney versions for us!), Lucy Maud Montgomery and others at such an early age. She showed me how a book could transport me anywhere... experience people, lives, point of views, worlds that I may never otherwise be apart of. Over the years reading has been a comfort, a joy, an escape and a major part of growing up.

In Grade 1 we kept track of all the books we read that year and prizes were given out for the top readers. If memory serves me right my mother and I managed to get me to just under a thousand books! Unfortunately I wasn't the winner, but was out read by Pat & Ryan the twins in my class. However 3rd place was nothing to sneeze at and my teacher gave me a copy of "Green Apple Street Blues" by Ted Staunton.

When I was around 10 I would wake up early before the rest of the house and steal to a corner with a blanket and a book to sit over a heat register and read. In those days it was C.S. Lewis and my favourite of the Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader that I read.

While going through the tumultuous teenage years, reading often was the only comfort that truly eased my angst filled soul!

I have read countless of books, some very memorable that lingers in my conscious (The Road by Cormac McCarthy), some are dear friends that I return to read again and again (Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling ... I love you!), others have been lost in memory. This past year I started a book club with 2 of my sisters and have explored some fabulous stories (East of Eden by John Steinbeck) and after reading my sister's 2010 Reading Roundup I realized I wished I had kept track of all the fabulous books I read this year which were so enjoyable and include some of my now top favourite reads of all time:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series by Stieg Larsson

The Hunger Game Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

So going forward in 2011, I am going to keep track of all that I read and my thoughts about the books. I often read multiple books at the same time as well as listen to favourites on audio as I go about my days. I also am curious to know how many books I will read in a year.