These days lots of people now have Kindles. I remember when
they were new on the market; my friend Tanya told me that every time she went
for her lunch, people would say – ‘Oh is that a Kindle?’ She would then spend
the rest of her break answering questions about how good it was and how it compared
to a real book. She never got much reading done.
There are still the idealist, who stand by reading a real
book. The Un-Revolutionists who would shun a electronic device or the
inter-web-net for the feel of turning old pages and the excitement of
delving further into a story. At my local library in Brighton they have story
time for the kids, homework club and book signings with novelists talking about what motivated them and what they wanted to give to
the reader. Recently Terry Pratchett visited to talk about his most recent
Discworld Novel. The photos here are of a huge paper Dragon and the scales
glued on to it are pictures that children and adults have drawn. The idea was
to open the book to a random page, pick a word and draw or write something about it. The Dragon has now been hoisted up in the air – it looks Awesome!
A piece of advice given to me recently by my pal Hannah, was that when the Library gets boring – just find someone to play hide and seek with. But where would you hide? A random filing cupboard or a draw big enough to nestle down in? I reckon you would need to find a real dark, dingy corner to hide effectively, where they kept the boring old books. Perhaps the answer is to just sit with a newspaper over your face in a crowd of people and try to look inconspicuous. I have been thinking for a few years now that the best place for a boy to take a girl to get to know them would be the Library. If you were meant to have fun it would be by messing around in such a simple place. Finding smutty words and rude sounding phrases to share with someone and try not to laugh too load. Interesting facts and pictures. The time would be spent pulling silly faces and doing ridiculous things.
To me the best date ever would be for me and a girl to put on our Ninja
costumes, break into the library at night and steal the last pages of every single
book. No longer would people be disappointed by how the story ends they could
just make it up themselves. We would start a movement in society where
everyone would burn the last page in every book and spotty teenagers would develop
exotic wormy viruses that would sneak through the internet-web and kill
every last paragraph. The Daily Mail would liken our society to Nazi Germany
and Underground Gangs would no longer trade in drugs or guns because the last
pages of books would be worth so much more. So if tomorrow you hear on the news
about a library being broken into and the last page of every book stolen, then
you will know two things. I finally had a really good date and that someone was
just trying to set you and the rest of the world free!
This summer I was walking past a charity shop and I saw some
‘Choose your Own Adventure’ books in the
window; ones like my two sisters had given me when I was a kid. The idea was that
you choose how the story progresses and the ending was based on your own decisions. You could be a Spy, an
Outlaw, a Mountain climber or just go and investigate a Spooky old house with
some mates. Every so often the book would ask you to make a decision and divert
you to another page. Would you go down into the basement of the Spooky house or
just pussy out? When the Bear runs at you on the mountain top should you stand
still, make a noise or run away. Personally I would start by craping myself, I
can’t remember the answer so I should go back and buy the book just in case I
get attacked by a Bear (if I ever go to Alaska). I should also let you know in a
future blog.
Out of the 9 ‘Choose your own Adventures’ I saw in the window that day, me and my sisters owned 7 of them. Strange? Could someone have bought my books at a car boot sale years ago and the exact copies were now there in that shop. I know there was someone who made the same bad decisions that I made. As a Spy they followed the attractive girl into a room and a Death Ray fried them, leaving only a shadow on the wall. I guess we’ve all been burnt in life in a similar way. Hopefully the reader got the chance to rescue Maid Marian from the Sheriff’s Tower like I did and they found out the Spooky House was nothing to be scared of after all.
Our lives bring us to places where we have to make choices, some can be pretty big. It may take time to really understand what will make us happy and consider our options carefully. In life you may have found the best characters, I have Awesome friends who have shown me what it means to be strong, they helped me find my way when I felt lost. Characters who have made me laugh till I felt sick and whose words have made me see the world differently. It’s the Coolest and most embarrassing thing to say to someone they mean a lot, so I rarely do. If you have friends in your life that support you this way, you are lucky and you have done a good job looking! They will support you no matter what! You're choices are part of learning and as such they are a gift
This may make perfect sense, if you are in a destructive or silly mood - Go and push over a shelf of books. Because only then will you have a very real concept of what life is about. It’s a mess! Pages and stories get caught up and damage each other, they maybe should have never been thrown together at all. But books can always be fixed. As you put things in order you can round up the books you want to have close. When you look back on your life the perfect moments you found will have been shared with different people, in a whole host of stories - good and bad. Learn, become resilient, stronger. Chaos can be the absolute best! You surround yourself with the people who mean something to you. Somewhere you will find your favourite book.
(Note: Do Not go and push over a shelf full of books – its dangerous
and you will get in trouble. – it’s a metaphor)
Sometimes you will discover someone who is funny, kind,
spontaneous, wild, all the things you try to be. My friends often tell me I am
all of these, but I reckon I have a lot to learn from someone about those simple
nutty things. Meeting up with someone on a date or making a new friend it can often be surprising to find someone who understands why you are so daft. The reason might be you have a lot in common or just luck that you get on so well. The truth from a boys perspective when you find someone you connect with - is that the girl sitting opposite is important and interesting. Every
page you read meant you wanted to turn to the next…
Sticking your nose in a book can often be seen by others as a lonely
experience, but you can always read a book together, with a person you have fun with. Life is
about companionship, friendship and discovery. Reading is about getting
to know about a place or a person a little better. These are the things that
can change a life, an opportunity may come along that never will again. A chance to see where the Rabbit hole leads. In short a New book can be an Amazing thing! Keep Reading
