About moi - in a snapshot

I have wonderful childhood memories of my dad sitting on the edge of my bed every night and reading my sister and me wild and wonderful stories about far away enchanted lands, beautiful princesses, scary dragons and knights in shining armour - which followed me into my dreams and have left me with a love for reading that has stayed strong all my life.


Having dabbled in different genres over the years I currently favour a good murder mystery but will challenge myself by reading just about anything - even the back of a cereal packet or packet of toilet rolls if nothing else is available. I just need to read!

With this blog I am hoping to share recommendations of books I have loved (or not so much) - just as I have received many great recommendations from other readers out there. Reading keeps me sane, and writing about reading ties it all together. I read fast, which in the past has seen me haunt the local library for hours looking for new books to read - but which is much easier now with my new kindle (a present from my children, who are also book addicts). My poor husband, who is only just coming around to the joys of reading, often comes home to a silent household, where we are all sitting in companionable silence, each absorbed in our own virtual world of the book we are reading.

As William Styron so aptly said: "A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading." A good book will do that, its atmosphere lingering long after the last page has been turned.

My other life (apart from reading) as a nurse and paramedic keeps me grounded and in touch with the real world and real people - and sometimes one offers an escape from the other. But what is "real", anyway? In the words of Zhuangzi: 

"Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”