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dimanche 5 décembre 2010

Thirty Seconds To Mars...Noooo, I'm kidding...(though I know I owe you the continuation of the musical journey)




Apart from the 30stm's music (and quite a few others'...I love Mozart. Surprised ?), there is something I am very, very, very fond of. I love books.


I love reading. As far as my memory can go in my past, I have always read and have always loved it.


I started to read very early in age. When I was 4, I was already devouring all the books I could find at home (I have 2 elder brothers and an elder sister to whom Santa Klaus and many birthdays celebrations had brought a lot of material to "feed" my hunger).


So...er...what was I saying ? Ah, yes. At 4, I would read and that is why, that year, when my Mom took me for the first time to the kindergarden, the teacher told her after 2 or 3 days that I had nothing to do with the "youngs" and that I should step up with the 1st years.


It was magic ! Being with the 6 years-olds and not with "babies" who could not yet read the basic b+a = ba. Still, I was a little bit bored in class as we would only read too short stories.


I was left wanting more.


Fortunately, I would eat my fill at home. Enid Blyton's and Carolyn Keene's stories had no secrets for me. I am forever indebted to these two authors who have turned my childhood into one of the most beautiful adventure ever.

Noddy

3 books in one. Yum.

Dana girls


As the years passed, ma passion did not decline. On the contrary. I would always need more and more. I literally swallowed up such different things as the complete works of the Comtesse de Ségur, my father sci-fi books, the Arthurian legend, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Rabelais, Zola, Sand, J.London's "White fang", the history of ancient Egypt, the short (but intense) life of Alexander the Great, the story of Isabelle Eberhardt but also comics, and soooo many other books, novels, thrillers, biographies, love stories (when I was a teen...I have learnt since then that Charming is only a fancy of the mind :-))...


Never been to Far Far Away. So...
Don't like 'em blond anyway ;-)


My grand mother who had been a brilliant pupil had won many prizes at school. Books...naturally. When I was 8 or 9 years-old, I remember myself at home looking for something (anything pleaaaaaase) to read. My Grandma had told me that I could rummage in her bookcase and take whatever would please me.


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...


The books were thick, full of so many promises. And the smell ?!? The smell of books (old ones in this case). Is there something more beautiful ? Don't you remember yourself smelling a book with delight ? I do remember MYself with my nose literally embedded in the book, breathing in deeply. Even today, I can stay hours in the reading area of specialized stores. The smell makes me go into a trance (hum. Is this correct english ?).


There is also something weird about books : it is the way we associate them to an event, a smell, a taste, a color (or is it the reverse ?)...When I was 15 (I clearly remember the date and the place - a summer holiday house by the sea), I read Zola's Nana. My aunt had sent us algerian traditionnal cookies (called "grioueche"). I remember myself outside the house, reading and eating those (delicious) cookies at the same time. Since then, each time I read Nana or simply hear about it (not any other book. This one only), I have the taste of these cookies in my mouth, the smell of the iodine in my nose, the color of the sky on my retina and the warmth of the sun on my skin. No kidding.




Today, the 4 years-old little girl has grown up a bit (just a tiny little bit) and the woman I have become is still greedy. The pleasure of reading is always here.


I have recently re-read the entire work of Jane Austen. When you grow older, you perceive the books differently. You read them with "new eyes". As if you were reading a new story (should I try again "Noddy" and the "Secret Seven" ? ;-)). I have also read the Twilight series (I know, I know), The Host (same author) and I know nearly by heart the whole story of Harry Potter.


I have discovered Pat Conroy and his "The Prince of Tides" (fasten your seatbelt if you want to read this book. It'll upside you down) and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". I have also read Harlan Coben, Stephen King, Bret Easton Ellis, Tolkien's "Bilbo The Hobbit" (after...er...3 readings of the "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy), Maupassant's "Bel Ami" (this guy, Bel Ami, is a perfect junk !!), Marc Levy (french author), Gerald Messadié's "L'Homme qui Devint Dieu" (The Man Who Became God...a very interesting book which could be summed up as "the other story of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion". This book, of course, is not favorably seen by the Vatican. Read it and you'll understand why) and I will probably soon re-start the (his)story of the Pharaoh Ramsès II (my favorite king so far...an inch ahead King Arthur).


So ? What if you picked up any of the books of my list (or anyone of yours), sat comfortably and enjoyed a good reading ?






Oh, by the way. If you live in the deep jungle of Amazonia or in the middle of the Arctic ocean, you'll still have no excuse for not reading because you have THIS and THAT

Have fun.



Féfé-who'd-love-to-write-books

1 commentaire:

Norgus73 a dit…

Aaaah books, my first and everlasting love!! Sooo many already read but too many still to read :(

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