B is for Books.

Part of my library.

B was a no-brainer for me. Books, of course. What else?

I learnt to read - more or less by accident - at age 4. My brother, who's a few years older than me, was learning at school, and I had the habit of eavesdropping when he practised his letters and words at home. Afterwards, I would sneak in, steal his textbook and try to match the pictures with the sounds.


My favourite reading chair.

Since then, I've read nearly everything I could get my hands on - and forgotten most of it. My taste in books is eclectic, to say the least.

I tend to read in bursts, fast, focusing more on characters than events. Often, all I'll remember about a novel after a few weeks, months or years are snippets of personality, intense emotions and sensory impressions.

Now, in honour of 'Books', I wanted to share a list of the books that have had the biggest impact on my life, and a few pictures of the favourite corners of my bookshelves.



Books that have affected me most:

• Patrick Süskind - Perfume - it opened up my senses to a whole new level of awareness and made me pay much more attention to scents, flavours, colours, beauty and ugliness in the world outside.
• Ursula K. Le Guin - Changing Planes - it made me realize that having a wild imagination isn't necessarily a bad thing.
• Willa Cather - My Antonia - it made me consider that any setting or person - however plain or uninteresting they might seem at first - can be turned into a captivating story, providing you dig deep enough.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley - Mists of Avalon - I read it as a teenager and it was the first time I encountered such a tragic and complex character (Morgaine) that I could at the same time like and dislike, understand and fault for what she did.
• A.S. Byatt - Possession - because of the particular flavour of the interwoven worlds and characters, which gave me so much to think about.
• Umberto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum - for bringing back mystery and magic at a time when I really needed it.
• William Faulkner - Absalom Absalom! - because it was so wonderfully complicated and showed me how enjoyable it is to stretch your mind.

Favourite corners of my bookshelves:

Which books have had the biggest impact on your life?

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