This is the last of My Great Loves Trilogy
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. Eliot
Do I have a favourite book? From childhood I remember Enid Blyton, Hans Christen Andersen, Sweet Valley High teenage years I remember loving Jane Eyre, Pacesseters, Merchant of Venice(that’s why I loved 7 pounds I guess), Canterbury Tales, Romeo & Juliet, Danielle Steele (yes I read her books as a teenager!)Wole Soyinka, Things Fall Apart and now gosh I’ve read many… autobiographies from Confessions of a Video Vixen to Audacity of Hope, Long Walk to Freedom, Spiritual reads, The Secret, The Lady,Her Lover and Her Lord, Not Easily Broken, ; Romantic reads that have made me cry, I still say ‘Friends and Lovers’ by Eric Jerome Dickey had a part that got me wailing like a little kid, I felt the intensity of emotion! I’ve read erotica – Zane, Eric Jerome Dickey(this man knows how to get a woman all hot and bovvered!! I have ALL his books and most of which have been personally signed by the man himself..yup have met this man more than twice!), Terri McMillan’s works I adore and wish one day I can write like her! I so detest Stephen King…really!, I love me some African Literature! I love Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘Their Eyes were watching God’..one of my favourite books to date! So once more I ask myself do I have a favourite book??Sadly, or luckily for my books I don’t have a favourite, each has a memory, an emotion, a person I attach it to..as I lay me to bed each night reading some-one’s work, and I escape with the characters, I find myself at my happiest! Reading and books have been a constant friend to me, from the age of 6 when I entered the world of literature and after annoying both my mum and the patients at her surgery trying to read the magazines in the waiting room, hilarious when I tried to read 'Miscellaneous'..lol she got me Fairy Tales by Hans Christen Andersen ..that kept me quiet for about a week! My world became greater and interesting at 7 when I got my first library card(other than the school's library), I lived in that library, I would run away from home to escape to the library..sigh..I was the spelling Bee at my school because of reading! I have learnt a lot from books..heey where it not for Half of Yellow Sun I wouldn’t know that ‘Kedu’ means how are you in Igbo..and now I have fooled many an Igbo person..lol!! I have driven in LA, stayed in Venice, seen the Lagos markets, been to India, dodged a bullet in Iraqi, felt the betrayal of a cheated wife, became a nun, travelled to Egypt, lived in the Victorian era, as I became one with the characters in the many books I’ve read! The Alchemist was my best read for 2008! So far for 2009, I’ve loved Love Letters of Great Men, my first Sophie Kinsella book ‘ Remember Me’ and He’s Just Not That Into You
Woe be to him that reads but one book. George Herbert
If a man wants to put me off him all he has to say is ‘I don’t remember the last time I read a book!’…gosh that’s just as bad as telling me you don’t think I should get more shoes…you get my drift..a non-starter..I DELETE that person with no warning!!I’ve even told my friends that’s not cute to say because some folks say that ish as if its cute…errr so not!! I have a personal vendetta out to folks that don’t read..lol! Actually Roc dearest its one of my major pet peeves, folks who show-off about not reading! Yup, I am a book-worm and get turned on by a man who reads, you never run out of things to talk about! And if I'm to choose besides shoe-shopping and books that will be a tough one..seriously!!
I salute scribes everywhere! Writing is therapy for the writer and also for the reader! Anyway guys, what book(s) do you hold dear and close? Hope you’re all well and yeah my love for shoes is because of the shoe-box incident in my previous post..I blame the parents!! Nway tell Shona about your fav books and as always Happy Sexing xoxo
UPDATE: The Apprentice starts next week, and there's a Tanzanian sista, Mona Lewis...'Twende dada(let's go sis in Swahili), do us proud'!!!
62 comments:
firsT!!!!off to read
oh damn approvals...was i first?
Darn...scribble na wettin now? haba
Enid Blyton, sweet valley high...those were the days!
now i hardly read for fun :(
Gosh I like the way you put it...captured my feelings about books exactly...We have driven in the streets of LA and dodged bullets...Books make you see through someone's eyes...
Lots and lots but I think the one that I have read and re-read the most since my younger days is JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit".
WTH!!! where did Scribble come from?
I never used to read books till about 2 years ago. Bible says my people perish cos of lack of knowledge. Reading is knowledge. and it makes you aware of what is going on around you. It amazes me how for example singles looking to get married don't bother reading books to prepare them or make them a better person. We should be able to learn from other people's mistake and not always from our own mistakes.
Books that i've read and really likes are:
How to Kill a mocking Bird
God dont like ugly
Little black girl lost
Choosing God's Best
5 love languages
Other Boelyn Girl
books by Jane Green
and i could go on.
As for primary school it has to be Famous 5, Nancy Brown, Charlie Brown, Sweet Valley, and those adventure books that u cld choose how the story ended.
Tigress, scribble's been here...
Shona you listed a lot of my old skool faves. These days, I tend to read a lot of auto-biography style books, Cityboy and Anonymous Lawyer are my most recent reads.
I'm building a library, mostly consisting of other peoples books :) but my fave author in terms of consistency would have to be Robert Ludlum. And shame on anyone who doesnt know who that is. Cause I know you all saw the movies.
p.s. if you have more than 20 (and i'm being generous) pairs of shoes, you dont need any more!
ha, my fellow book lover..... i started my initiation with enid blytons and sweet valley high.... gosh i used to daydream and wish i was like them........ Now anytime i want to get lost in abother world, i read books. It takes me places i tell u..... Its bad for me again cuz thats one thing i collect. I remember the very first time i discovered sidney sheldon. I felt like my parents told me i had won $1b........ now i read anything. My fave author of all times tho is Mario Puzo and James Patterson. speaking of James patterson, im currently reading his latest book and its great......
Oh and I almost became a lawyer cuz of John Grisham...hehehehe
I agree with you to tha fullest babygurl.
Me thinks I read almost every single Pacesetter under the Sun. My Mum was an English major under the legendary Soyinka (true o) -- so her books were all over -- Read the complete works of Shakespeare, did some David Diop, loved a Passage to India, read a bit of Ngugi Wa Thiongo (spelling) alongside the usual suspects that boys growing up in the 90s in Nigeria read - Cyprian Ekwensi, Elechi Amadi, Chukwuemeka Ike (loved Sunset at Biafra to death) plus some Nick Carter.......under cover of a blanket tho!
The 48 laws of seduction... Classic book!
Who moved my cheese! Another classic..
The Parable of Dollars..
Damn I remember Enid Blyton like yesterday
Give me a book and you give me LIFE! I cannot imagine not reading. I read everything. I even read food labels for fun and test the words in my mouth. I LOVE words, ergo I LOVE books.
THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ is
THE ARROW OF GOD! I love that book. Chinua Achebe is one of the bestest writers ever.
Oh yes, oh yes. I do believe books are the spice and sugar of life.
I positively adore them. I remember growing up my father didn't believe in dolls and dining sets and all that stuff. He didn't want to condition us into thinking that's all we could do (now he's surprised I'm still single at 30!! :)) so every b-day, christmas and what have you, we got books and more books.
I enjoy reading. It's my escape from the world. I'm trying to get back into African authors lately and approach it from a different angle.
Loved the write up!
*sigh.....Gone are my reading day....Famous Five, Malory towers- Enid Blyton period, Ronald Dahl, Sweet Valley high and University. Nancy Drew, Hardy boys....
I stopped reading when life caught with me, I spend between 3 to 6 hours driving everyday. BUT give me an EJD I will put down what ever I'm doing until I've reached the last page. That guy sure knows how to work my cerebral Juices.
OMG i remember sweet valley high and Mills and boons lololol!
I have so many books i can't say I have one book I hold dear but I heart EJD, Long Walk to freedom, Chinua Achebe Books
Shona..ur a woman after my own heart.
I read everything, except danielle steel because she has scarred me for life from all her very sad novels ...lol.
I read mainly for escapism into the authors realm
My favourite books/authors to name a few are:
terry mccmillan- i love a "day late and a dollar too late", you have to read that book
Marian keys..all her books, always haves me laughing. Very funny.
Memoirs of the geisha..this book made me cry all thought it
Paulo Coelho: he does deep stuff, i read him a lot these days.
And of course all the harry potter and stephen king novels because i am a child at heart.
Girl i can go on all day, let me stop here before i turn this into a post.
Very nice post missy xxx
ooh you read the good stuff! Famous Five,and anything else by Enid Blyton, Ronald Dahl,Sweet Valley high and University, Babysitters CLub. This is how i spent most of my childhood. My bookshelf has grown too large for me to name but till date i carry a book with me always. Reading to me is and has always been an escape! And Yes, it is definitely SEXY!
I started reading books when I was twelve. I read everything! When people tell me that they're bored. I say grab a book. There's a whole life in there. A whole new perspective.
I read two, three books per week. Currently reading Ayn Rand. "Atlas Shrugged" fascinating woman.
Great post, lady.
hey shona v!!! hope u r feeling ok now???
ohhhh im such a book worm! yes, reading is def S.E.X.Y.!!!!
i loooooooooooooved enid blyton, sweet valley, archie, betty and veronica and all the rest(i still read those)..i love danielle steele, jackie collins, sydney sheldon..and some other randoms i cant remember..
the long walk to freedom was quite moving..i love biographies and autobiographies..i love anything history-related..
and how can i forget my nigerian authors??!!
u have no idea how happy i am to know that chari reads!
Every book you have mentioned I have also read and enjoyed and I feel the same way about men who do not read and people who show off about NOT reading books...just not right....illiteracy aint cute why should not reading a book be?
But my favourite book of all time...this is the book that made me realise that I am a closet romantic...the book that I can read again and again....Pride and Prejudice...Jane Austen...love it!
oooh do you remember Nancy Drew, THE SECRET 7?, The babysitters club...those are early read now...
Shet!!!!! lol...you've taken me down memory lane with enid blyton and sweet valley high...Damn!!! i started reading as far back as...i cant even remember..
My Dad is a real bookworm!! His library is full with shelves and shelves of books he hasnt even read yet..
He would make me read books everyday...darn!! if i did smthing wrong, he would punish me by making me read a book..i just had to love it..
"readers are leaders" he would say.. Now, im hooked on more than ever..
One of my fave books in the world is 'The Mask' by john grisham..
Later Babes!!!
F.
oh gosh. i love books. my friends are always knocking them out of my hands. and on a day when i feel like being alone, i take me a book and some food. then i'm good to go. books i have read....honestly, i cannot count. i have a mini library in my house and i keep saying that when my ship comes in and my script becomes famous, i would auction them off at record prices. Psych! my books will remain with me for generations. some of my favorite authors are Jeffery Archer, D'allesandro Jacquire, Sabrina Jefferies, Robert Ludlum, Enid Blyton, Shakesphare, Debbie Macomber, Cristina Dodd, Danielle Steele, need i go on? and just a lil boast. sometimes when i am jobless, i read three books in a day. i mean real books.
1st time here.i love books like mad.i never 4get pple who give me books as gifts.i've gone broke spending my last kobo on a book.Enid blyton,Archie,Mills and boons,heartsongs....good ol days.My fav book is 'Why u act the way u do'by tim Lahaye.That book has so changed me,more like telling me who i am.followed by richard branson's 'losing my viginity';weird title,but great content.
i enjoyed this post.
And I thought I was a bookworm. I read everything up there except the Eric Jerome Dickeys now I need to get those.
@SMFWell done SMF!!!!Yes you were first!!
@Afro - Too slow my friend, too slow..lol!!
@Bumight - Yes days gone by, I wonder besides Harry Potter what do the kids of today read!! I guess you've got course work to read no?Study my dear!!!
@Afro - why thank u boo...yes books make you see in the eyes of the characters, and you actually get to visualise it all, feel it and hell when you get to that place you'll even think of the book!!..lol..
@M/HR - Oh yess I do remember the Hobbit!!
@Tigeress - girl you're being first on some spots and not this one!!!Should have given you the heads up, i apologise!! I hear you about reading being knowledge, we do learn a lot by reading.I so hear you that we should learn from the mistakes of others and not always our own!!So true hon..I loved God Don't Like Ugly!! Aaaah the Famous Five...memories of me stuck in the library!!
@SMF - City Boy is quite a good read, naughty you for a library with other people's books!!! Robert Ludlum = my fave movies of all times!!! The Bourne trilogy!!!
PS: I'm going to ignore that you said 20 pairs is more than enough, I counted my shoes last nite...I won't say how many pairs I've got but m actually looking to buy some summer shoes now...so u see now that winter is gone, i can't be rocking closed shoes, which means sandals and open toe shoes, wedges n all need to be bought...so i really won't tell u how many!!!
@Funms - lol @ John Grisham almost directing your career path!!So true that books are a form of escapism!!
@TheBossMack - thank you!!
@DannyB - Yup I also think I read the entire Pacesseters collection, just saw them on amazon and they're definitely going to make my library now..for old times sake!! Wow...your mum was a student of the great Wole!!
Very well pt ShonaGurl
i must admit that i have wanting to comment here in a while
and yeah, co-signing with the SKitten
@Rockie - I remember all the males in my former job were crazy about Who Moved My Cheese, had to read just to see what the fuss is all about and it was comme ci comme ca!..lol..
If I could write like Enid Blyton, then my world would be the ideal!!!
@Temite - well said hon - Give me a book and you give me LIFE!! Said like a true book worm!!!Literature definitely alights the world, starts conversations, sparks romances and tickles the mind!!!
@Ms Sula - gosh your dad was just like my mum...never got them dolls just books, puzzles, chess sets, scrabble etc..and now I do the same with my nieces and nephews..lol!
@Sirius - ooooh another EJD fan...girl I love that man's writing but his Gideon trilogy and pleasure weren't IT for me, that man is hot though...gosh if i find a man who can write so sensual like him dunno what I wouldn't do to him..LOL!!
@Hadassah - Lol @ Mills & Boon...which young girl didn't read them??..LOL!!I saw them in Borders the other day and laughed like mad..think some folks thought I'd lost the plot! Yeah EJD is quite the man, and I also like Tyree Omar, E.Lynn Harris...i could go on about black literature!!
@Wordmerchant - my girl!!I've been meaning to read that Terri book from when a friend recommended it to me, hmmm guess will have to purchase it asap!!Memoirs of a Geisha was also a great read for moi, have it and the movie..My mum is a fan of Marian Keys...remember when I first read Watermelon..gosh i laughed so hard!!
@Diane - high-five boo...yup reading is definitely sexy!!!!
@Sexkitten - thanx girl!! And yup bored people need to just grab a book!!
@Buttercup - Hon, m back in the land of the living!!! Yay, Chari reads!!!!
@K - Girl how can i forget Nancy Drew?I watched the Disney movie and i think i was enjoying it more than my niece..lol!Girl, Pride and Prejudice has to be on my book shelf as THE BOOK!! And then the movie...its actually Pride and Prejudice day on one channel on Sunday and u knows Shona will be watching it!!
@Fashinga - yes girl, memory lane is the way to go with all them books..guess it was a universal thing!1 ooooh i so love 'readers are leaders!'..lol!!
@Bibi - I love my books, my mini-library that I have going on..and I recommend books depending on people's moods n all...hmmmm maybe in later life i'll be a librarian or something..lol!!!!
@Omoh - please do come back again!!! Hmmm will read that Richard book i guess...
@LusciousRon - yeah girl try EJD and start from his first book 'Cheaters' because his characters in his early books moved from book to book but not a sequel type of thing..so start from Cheaters..or even the short story Cafe Piel (book's called Got to be Real)
....but, pray tell, what could be better than reading?
OHHHHHH yeahhh!!!!
READING IS SO COOL
@rethots - my thoughts exactly!what could be better than reading??
@Robyn - I heard that!!!!
I read my first 600 pages book when i was in primary school so yes I AM A BOOK LOVER TOO...
Enid Blyton,oh...those were the days!
These days am too busy to pick up a book. I should try...really try to discover the magic of books again.
Oh! I LOVE STEPHEN KING TOO...
Nancy Drew, Enid blyton, those are all time classics! Looking back now, tis funny how reading romantic novels in my early teens got me all hot and bovered come the sex scenes and these were weird feelings which confused moi big time! So i kinda had sex without actually having had sex...lol... I love me some deep stuff @ the moment, loved Paulo Coelho's alchemist and his eleven minutes + several others. Knowledge is definitely power, and tho i thought i'd discovered myself, i still have loads to learn... Reading the alchemist again!
You know i tried so hard to leave a comment on this post!
Gosh! Anyway, i agree reading is very sexy! My husband reads way more than i do, i can't stand a guy who doesn't read too...and you remind me of a lot of books i read ad a kid....some of the authors you mentiones, i know nothing about though!
You almost sound like a nerd!
Hope you're doing well Miss Shona who was kept in a shoe box! lol
@Aphrodite - Hey boo!!I guess we all heart Enid!Hmm about Stephen King me no likey, his books scare the sh*t outta me..guess that's how great a writer he is right??
@Audzz - hmm actually had sex with out really having sex...u lil freak u!!..lol...na u knows i heart you...lol!!
@Writefreak - sorry o my sister, why blogger hating on u?At least you got to comment!! Glad your hubby reads, that's on my non-negotiable list...a man has to read!!
Funny you mentioned me being nerd..i do think i am u know!!..lol..one of the fashionable ones!Hey that shoe-box thing then led to a shoe addiction which i blame the parents for!!
Lol...go ahead blame the parents for your excesses!
yes o...this is one is definitely the parents fault..why did they put me in there?now i can't resist!!..lol..
@ScribbleMFree - I counted my shoes last night..not bad as I thought..I only have 35 pairs of shoes, not including boots / sandals..
Awww I loved famous five, but I graduated to Mills and boons all too soon. lol!
I love that quote. It is indeed profound! I love men that read as well. I'm inclined to think they are smarter than men who don't and smart (for me)= sexy mutha!
Heads up m'lady!
@Neffie - Ditto!! Smart man = sexy mutha!!!!!!
@Roc - thank u kind sir though....
hey! Did Bob turn up?
I am a book worm too
I remember my grade one books
the 'Janet and john ones'lol
look Janet
see John
here comes sally
see sally run
run sally run
miss primary school.......obviously my reading has come a long way since then
@Tigeress - No Bob didn't turn up!
@MDM - Girl, thanx for reminding me about those books..my mum made me read them when I was 4 so by the time i got to Grade one i was breezing through!!!
You see now I feel guilty. I've not picked up a book in ages well except for the odd Jackie Collins when am on my frequent long flights to the states and once I get back it's abandoned. I used to use uni as an excuse for not reading but now I've left uni almost a year, no more excuses and I think am gonna start with some on your list here especially the story of 'superhead' what a name to be called.
Sister you do well as usual.
Reading is definitely a great and liberating thing. Knowledge is power!
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" really caught me as a child. I love it still.
If you can, read 'Stranger in the Wind' I couldn't put it down. Different from 'Their eyes...' but very good all the same.
I 2nd u jare! A guy tells me he cant remember d last time he read and dats -1 for him in my books!
Anyhoo Shona darling how r u?
http://thecounselorandherthots.blogspot.com/2009/03/night-i-almost-died-in-my-sleep_20.html
Bob told he was gonna arrange something with you. I'll have a word with him. lol
Enid Blyton was one of the best parts of my childhood! Gosh, I used to imagine I lived on the Faraway Tree.
please tell me what their eyes were watching God was about??? xx
Omg, I used to read sweet valley twins and sweet valley high too...I know I should be ashamed to admit it but I'm not...lol
Shona,
Hello, lovely post here, and I agree with you that it is unfashionable to say you do not read...
I only hope this habit will not die as technology is competing with the mindset of this present generation.
I loved James Hardley Chase, Things Fall Apart of course....but my best read is a tie between Mario Puzo's "The GodFather" and Norman Vincent Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking"
These two books changed my inside, my attitude, my life in so many respects for the better.
Excellent post.
God bless
I'm with you Shona! I looove to read, growing up I used to fantasize that Enid Blyton would move next to me so that I could visit her frequently and read all her books. I am in the process of trying to build my library and i'm going to start with all the Harry Potter series.
I loooved Hans Christen Andersen fairy tales too. Ahhh this post made me wanna go to the library. Teeheehee...
PS:- I used to think you were Nigerian.
"Enid Blyton, Hans Christen Andersen, Sweet Valley High"...you just reminded me of my best reading days. Afterwards it's been more of textbooks.
John Grisham, Mary H Clark and Karen Kingsbury...I love their books
Yeah, books have changed my life, my thinking, my perspective, and have made me know places i have never been too. I once heard a lady became an ambassador to a place because she knew so much about the country - through reading.
Thank you for the beautiful comment you left on my blog.
knock knock ndakutagger gero! lol
I'm a book lover too and reading is sexy Id never want to be with a man that didn’t read!
I loved those childhood books and like you I'm really into autobiographies
How are you love?
"Writing is therapy for the writer and also for the reader!" That speaks directly to me.
This post was like a Eureka moment to me. I realise now why i've been unable to write. Writing has always been a part of me, I started reading at 6. By this i mean all the novels my dad bought me each year for my birthday became more than words to learn and pictures to look at and be read to, and became real stories! I read Okot P'Bitek's "Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol" at age 7, and i still remember my favourite line - "Woman, shut up, pack your load, go". That was the man's summary to all of his wife's complaints. Recently, i substituted my nightcap novel for series and movies. My blog has been taken over by aliens since then.
I could go on and on but...thanks Shona, for reminding me of my first love. I'm going out to buy me some books!
then again, it shouldnt come as a surprise that most bloggers love books. to write well, you need to read.
allo allo..anybody there!!! update jo :)
I was more of Roy of the Rovers kid, so i never really read much until i was forced to study English for a degree and since then only 3 books still stand out Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Ben Okri's Famished Road.
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