As many of you know, I absolutely love books! So much so, that this is my current collection (plus quite a few more since this photo was taken...)
I plan on having a room dedicated to my books and DVDs when I move out... my own personal library, if you will.
Books are pure escapism for me. When I read a book, I'm taken to the world where the characters live and I'm thrown in and get to go on their journey or quest and be with them through the highs and lows. Sometimes it's a little fictional village set in Lancashire where the main character falls in love with a random handsome stranger, there to cause trouble while she's trying to figure her life out. Sometimes it's a magical far away land with a brave hero on a quest to save the kingdom with the help of his dragon. Sometimes it's a cruel country and time where people are forced to work for the sake of their capital and have to participate and watch children fight to the death in an arena.
Last year I found a poem on Facebook which was exactly how I felt about books and it was such a perfect and beautiful poem that I shared it and put 'I absolutely love this! Would love it on canvas!' Little did I know, a lovely woman called Debbie noticed that wish of mine and made it reality in a very special way:
One day I was at work and was asked to cover the front desk for a few minutes. A woman walked into the shop and said 'Hello, does Rebekah Stockdale work here?' I replied and said 'Yep, that's me...'. She handed me a big, thin, rectangular package and said that it was for me and that she'd been asked to deliver it but had been asked not to reveal who it was from. I turned the package over to find that the poem that I had posted on Facebook, had been transferred to canvas! As soon as the woman had gone, I burst into tears and literally couldn't stop. It wasn't my birthday, it wasn't Christmas and it wasn't any kind of special occasion... someone had just done this randomly as a gift for me and I couldn't get over it! Why me?? So, I posted it on Facebook and said a big thank you and that whoever it was, was an amazing person to have done it and that it had had me in tears all afternoon because it meant so much.
Debbie had made a comment on it and put 'Aww, what a lovely thing for someone to do ;)' and that seemed like a hint to me so I messaged her and asked her and she admitted that it was her and said that because I'd been quite down lately, she thought she'd give me a little boost. It was more than a little boost! That wonderful gesture made my whole year! And here's a picture of it...
It says:
I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I've left my chair, my house, my road
my town and my world behind me.
I'm wearing the cloak, I've slipped on the ring,
I've swallowed the magic potion.
I've fought with a dragon, dined with a king
and dived in a bottomless ocean.
I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
and followed their road with its bumps and bends
to the happily ever after.
I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
but I have a book inside me.
How wonderful is that?? It's beyond perfect! and written by the talented children's writer, Julia Donaldson.
I've read books since I was a little girl. I remember coming home from school once and I went and sat out in the garden in one of our camping chairs and stayed out there until it was dark, when my mum came out and told me it'll ruin my eyes if I read in the dark.
I'm happiest when I'm reading because I forget about my own worries and troubles and I get lost in someone else's mind and all I'm thinking about is their life and they're adventure. It's like you're getting to know a new friend or gaining a group of friends. You laugh with them, sometimes you cry with them and you're happy when they're happy or you feel their pain when they're hurting. Finishing a book is one of the worst feelings. You go on a journey with the character and you get to know this person quite intimately and then you turn the last page and you feel like they're gone. Like you've moved away from a friend that you're never going to see again or to put it morbidly, it's like they've died. (In some cases they actually do!).
I'm really in the zone when I read. Everything around me gets blocked out and it's the greatest feelings ever. I could happily read forever if my body allowed me to but as it happens, I'm human so I still need to eat and sleep and do stuff... boooo!
You know when you've found a good book and a good author when you get lost in the book and lose track of time. You'll even put things on hold just to get to the end of a chapter as well!
'I just need to finish this chapter and then I'll do it!'
'Can I just get to the end of the page first??'
Leave me alone in a room with a book (and maybe some chocolate??) and I'm not joking, I'll sit there, very content, for several hours and happily not move. Coming back to reality from being stuck in a book, can be tough but we all have our own books that we need to write and mine, as much as I'd like it to be, can't be filled with days and days of endless reading because on paper, that's not a very interesting read now is it? Most of the time our lives are nothing like the books we read but it's a completely different story of it's own which is unique and interesting to each of us. It's unpredictable, wonderful, beautiful, stressful, filled with love, drama, heartache, excitement and happiness. The list goes on.
Reading isn't a waste of time as non-readers may put it, and it's FAR from boring! You learn life skills and books can help you make your own decisions and you learn a heck of a lot of stuff from them in many different ways. Fictional and non-fictional.
I set this challenge about 4 years ago and I'm going to set it again. Those of you who don't read because it's boring or can't seem to get into a book... just give it a go! If you can't get into one, come to me and we'll figure something out together because you're probably just not going for the right books. Everyone's different and find some books easier and better than others. For the rest of you go n borrow or buy that book that you've always thought looks interesting or cool and read it! You only live once, why not? You might end up learning something from it!
Becks xxx
