Me and My Dad:
3: Reading
My Dad is an avid reader! He always has at least one book on the go but more often than not he will have about ten! He buys books, he borrows books off friends, he borrows them from the library, he downloads them on his Kindle...he will read a book in any format.
Naturally because of that, I too am an avid reader (although these days I don't read as much as I used to). I love to get myself lost in a good story and I don't particularly have a genre that I prefer. I like a good thriller, a scary horror, a mystery, an adventure, fantasy and even the occasional piece of "chick-lit" (I like Sophie Kinsella books...she is pretty funny).
These are five books that I associate with my Dad, all for different reasons.
1: Well Done Noddy by Enid Blyton
My brother was a big fan of the "Noddy" books so we had lots in the house growing up. As I was younger than him, they were passed down to me. My Dad would often read me "Noddy" books at bedtime and one that stuck with me was "Well Done Noddy". It was the 5th in the series, had an orange cover which absolutely terrified me! Looking back I don't think the content was scary but there was something about that cover that used to scare the wits out of me! And I liked that feeling of being scared which is something that I still enjoy in a book...
2: IT by Stephen King
...leading me to by second choice. It's a big leap, going from "Noddy" to "IT" as they are so different. However, I was pretty young, around 12 or 13, when I first read "IT". My Dad had the book in a massive hardback. I had already seen the original movie so I knew what the premise was and I decided that I would read this book. My Dad always says it is one of his favourite books of all time and I can say that it is one of mine too. The first time I read this I was terrified but I loved every second of it. This was definitely my introduction to real horror stories and to Stephen King who is one of my favourite authors.
3: Suffer The Children by John Saul
As I had started to enjoy horror stories my Dad hooked me up with this one. This is one weird book, as are most of John Saul's novels, but this one stuck with me as it has some pretty bizarre moments throughout. Reading this lead to my Dad giving me hundreds of other horror novels throughout the years, all a bit odd, weird and unnerving. I read many books by James Herbert, Graham Masterton, Clive Barker and Shaun Hutson. But this was the one that started it all and the one that sticks with me the most. If you have never read this, I recommend you do...just for the picnic scene alone!
4: Hide and Seek by James Patterson
OK - James Patterson isn't everybody's cup of tea. Most of his stories are co-written and a bit basic. But I like a James Patterson book. I tend to borrow them from the library (use your library!) and read them in between other books when I want something easy to read. The first one I read though was "Hide and Seek" which my Dad had left in the bathroom one day (there was always a book in the bathroom for obvious reasons). I picked it up and started to read it and I was hooked. I was around 15 at the time and once I finished it I dug out other James Patterson novels I knew we had lying around. In recent years, I feel James Patterson books have gone downhill as they are all a bit generic but his early books were great reads. My Dad and I would often fight over who got to read his latest release first. I usually won.
5: The Beach by Alex Garland
I liked this book. I liked it a lot. And so did my Dad. My memory of this book and my Dad is more of a funny one though. I borrowed this from my friend Richard who told me it was a great read. I got straight in to it and was enjoying it, but left it in the kitchen one day. My Dad picked it up and he got straight in to it too. So, we were both reading one book at the same time which, naturally, was going to be an issue! I always remember that one night I was in bed reading it and my Dad literally walked in to my room and just took it off me and went off to his bed. I was furious! Who does that? Who just takes something off somebody that they are in the middle of? I marched in to his room and snatched it back and told him I would bring it through when I was done. I remember I purposely stayed up later than usual reading it just to piss him off. At the time it was annoying but now I find it funny. He probably doesn't even remember it happening.
I can already see the influence from myself, my Dad and from Kate with the twins as they love to read too. Just yesterday Ruby finished a chapter book by Jeremy Strong called "My Brother's Famous Bottom". It was 86 pages long and she read it all by herself over two days. Poppy is currently reading the first "Captain Underpants" story. They are only 6. So I think it is safe to say that our book collection in our house is only going to get bigger and bigger. I can't wait.
And on that note I will sign off.
Until next time...
The Twiglet's Dad
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