What Reading has Taught Me

and all the books I'd love you to read too!

When I was younger my parents were worried I couldn’t read or write very well. Being a summer birthday I was one of the youngest in my class, and my literary level was at the bottom of my class. I don’t actually think I couldn’t read well, just the difference between a 4 and 5 year old is immense.

But, because of this it fuelled my parents into supporting and guiding my reading and writing more.

My mum helped me write in a journal. My first entry I wrote “Hi I’m Emma. Today I played in the playground with Charlotte.” It was a very factual diary and didn’t really deviate from what I ate and who I played with.

We also spent a lot of time reading. A hobby I already enjoyed and all of a sudden kindly encouraged and supported to read more, for fun! We would visit the library and my grannie gifted me lots of my dads old Enid Blyton books. Not only did my reading improve but because of this it imbedded my love for reading.

For as long as I can remember I’ve had a book on the go. I’ve had a list as long as my arm of what I would love to read and love it when someone passes a book into my hands in the hopes I love it as much as they do.

Then I started discovering books that really taught me things and I don’t mean just the factual nonfiction books. But the stories that I found meaning in. This is what I wanted to share with you today.

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We are Completely Besides Ourselves taught me that family comes in all shapes and sizes. The book follows two sisters Rosemary and Fern. A tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences

Sarah Dessens novel Dreamland was my first example of what a toxic relationship looks like. Caitlin finds herself falling for Rogerson Biscoe. Being with him helps her forget about the heartbreak of home. with her sister missing and her mother becoming more and more withdrawn Caitlin finds herself needing Rogerson more and more. He is intoxicating and dangerous but he is also what she thinks she needs.

Enid Blyton’s Magical Far Away Tree taught me what adventure could look like. Sure enid’s storys lack depth but I loved reading books about magic and adventure that weren’t princess driven. A group of children staying with their aunt/mother find themselves climbing a tree that is full of magical lands at the top. Some fun, some dangerous.

I discovered that adventure like quality again as an adult reading A Salt Path a memoir following a couple who have been made homeless and set off to walk 630 miles of the salt path.

The Last House Of Needless Street taught me that sometimes you just have to trust the process. and i mean you really have to trust the process. Part of the book is narrated by a highly religious cat. yes, cat. But if you stick with it. it is worth it! I found that this was a book that the less you know about it the better the experience. So I will leave it there

Gone girl taught me to look at stories from other angles. It also shone a light to me a great way of story telling. Amazing Amy goes missing and all clues point to being murdered by her husband. I feel like every man and their dog knows about gone girl whether this is the book or movie. But in my experience when I was ready to give up on Nick and I turned that page to find Amy alive. To this day I remember my reaction. So far I’ve not experienced anything similar.

Little Women taught me that not everything is for everyone, my battle with finding classics I enjoy continues. A book about 4 sisters united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

Yaa Gyasi novel Transcendent Kingdom taught me heartbreak like no other and how addiction can creep into anyone’s life. Set in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away. Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers.

The same way as Nightcrawling opened my eyes to what desperate measures some women have to take to pay their rent. Nightcrawling is an unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is at once agonising and utterly mesmerising

Stoner taught me that there is beauty in the mundane. That we don’t need a big drama to have a story worth telling. This is the story of a quiet man, destined to be a farmer but who becomes an academic

What books have you read that taught you valuable things?