It’s World Book Day this Friday!
This day comes and passes almost as seamlessly as Valentine’s Day, though I do appreciate how the latter has been altered over the years to celebrate platonic love alongside romantic love. Growing up, World Book Day seemed to get all the commercialisation it needed in schools what with the pound book tokens and costume days. Over the years, I dressed up as several of my favourite female heroines: Ludwig Bemelmans’ Madeline, Roald Dahl’s Matilda, and the year I left school, Hermione. The latter was particularly special because I got to carry around a handmade wand Michael very sweetly crafted for me and curse everyone at school that had screwed me over in the prior seven years.
When I started this blog I did the first half of a book tag to set the tone. It seemed important to outline what kind of literature I indulge in. My reading habits haven’t exactly changed in the last six months but I’ve certainly immersed myself in a lot more material, despite my inability to ever update my Goodreads (I read more than four books last year, ask anyone). On Christmas Day every year, after the present opening, roast dinner, royal speech and family film squabble, I find myself doing a clear out of my room. I start off with the draw that I know I’ve shoved the most crap into over the previous 12 months, empty it, bin half the contents and rearrange the rest, all the while telling myself that the reshuffle of my post-it notes and paperclips embodies my priorities being straightened out and my life being on track.
During the yearly clutter clear, which takes place from midnight and continues to 3am (thank God for Taylor’s latest album release, I'll be listening to that every year from now) I go through the hundreds of books on my shelves and pick out the ones I haven’t read. I proceed to make a pile of them on my desk so they can stare me down and judge me if I decide to reread Harry Potter or watch Netflix. For the most part, the method works; I’ve read 12 books this year and it’s not even the end of February. I’ve been rinsing my Audible credits, too.
You can read part 1 of The Book Tag here.
The newest book you’ve read by publication date?
Prince Harry’s Spare. Admittedly, I really enjoyed it. The prose succeeds in being both moving and biting; every corner of Harry’s existence remains plagued by his mother’s sudden and tragic death. If you forget Piers Morgan and the controversial TikTok sounds which have taken up the headlines, the novel consists of many tender moments - Harry speaks adoringly of his grandparents and, for most of the novel, his father, and his constant internal despair that he is letting them down. He constantly feels second best to his brother both academically and professionally, an insecurity many can relate to.
Harry provides insightful details regarding his time spent in the army and the stress the press caused him whilst he was deployed. He doesn't deny the controversies his younger years were plagued with, such as attending a party wearing a Nazi uniform - he acknowledges them all and expresses his regrets. I can't really work out why people are so angry about the book, it reads very well and I interpret it as a man wanting to take hold of a narrative which spun out of control long ago. Meghan is hardly in the book - she appears about two-thirds in.
I wrote a brief piece on my takings from the book last month, which you can read here.
Favourite writer?
It’s a tie between Oscar Wilde and Sylvia Plath. I’ve talked about Sylvia’s poems and The Bell Jar many times, the sorrow Plath weaves into her prose is so seamless and beautifully done. Esther in The Bell Jar is one of my favourite literary characters - she persevered and tried, again and again, to find the cause of her demons and a remedy to rid herself of them.
In a letter to Ann Davidow, dated 1951, Plath tells her friend that she thinks ‘it is hard for (Sylvia) to express herself with everyone’ because her ‘introspection and queer thoughts always make me feel no one will understand - except someone I love, like you’. For introverts like myself, there’s a constant, raging fear that accompanies trust hand in hand - you wonder how soon a secret will be shared the moment you’ve told someone. Sylvia expresses this anxiety in her letter, writing that when she loves someone, she makes herself ‘increasingly vulnerable to them - and give them the power to hurt me by letting them know the sensitive spots’. Truly, I have yet to encounter another writer who describes the consequential anguish of misstepping in love so well.
Oscar Wilde is different - it’s easy to hate classics but The Picture of Dorian Gray is such an insightful and extraordinary read. The novel’s preface on art and Lord Henry’s characterisation are what make it; the hedonist’s dialogue consists of lines like ‘the real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality.' Brilliant.
Buying books or borrowing books?
Bless my mum for taking me to Walsall Library every other Saturday when I was a kid, I’d borrow 4-8 books at a time and take home a Disney DVD. I still go to the library when I can though the place looks completely different to what it looked like when I was growing up. Still, it has the most affordable cafe you’ll probably find in the country - I don’t know if it’s because it’s first and foremost a library, or because it’s Walsall.
To answer the question, borrowing. Seeing the date you borrowed a book stamped into its front cover beneath the other dates it was borrowed is always very special. I like owning books that mean a lot to me, like my Penguin classic collections, but I wouldn’t have known how important they were until I’d read them. That’s when buying is fun.
Apps like Borrowbow are brilliant - I can log in with my trusty Walsall library card and borrow audiobooks for free. I’ll always support libraries in some way - they mean so much to me.
Bookmarks or dog ears?
Am I an idiot? Because I have no clue what this means. What is a dog ear? It is a literal dog ear? Bookmarks, please.
I made this bookmark on my first day back at school in year 4 - everyone in my class made one. I was the resident bookworm of my class at this point and I was determined to have the bookmark to prove it - what occurred was a result of my then-obsession with rainbows.
A book you can always re-read?
Harry Potter of course. I plan on rereading The Hunger Games this year - I haven’t touched them since I was about 12 which…was a very long time ago. I loved them when they first came out and I can’t wait to revisit the story.
Pale skin and braided hair were very much my vibe before Katniss came along, FYI.
Can you read while listening to music?
I can listen to an audiobook of one book and completely process the story whilst reading a paperback detailing another narrative. How my brain does this I don’t know but I’m not going to be cocky about it - it took me 5 attempts to pass my driving test so there are plenty of short-circuited wires in my brain.
Yes, I can listen to music. I usually go for old-school Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, not so much because they’re my favourite artists but because I listen to their songs so much I know when to switch off the part of my mind that processes and sings along to the lyrics. I can turn the music into white noise in my mind if I want to. Other times, I have a playlist of Lofi mixes on YouTube that I turn to.
One or multiple POV’s?
I like both! I think it depends on the genre; I’m quite content with the Harry Potter series being told from Harry’s perspective. On the few occasions the prose switched to Voldemort's I’d be willing it to end though I do enjoy the Prime Minister chapter at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince. A hilarious reminder of how incompetent Cornelius Fudge is.
If a novel is a romance, I prefer a joint POV. I would have loved to have read Grace’s side of the story in Our Chemical Hearts. And whilst it’s not a romance, Stephen King’s The Shard does a great job with interweaving plot lines.
Do you read a book in one sitting or multiple days?
Sadly, the last time I read a book in one sitting was the first lockdown. I spent my furlough wages on books and read the most that I had done since I was a child - it was amazing, the escapism from the world it provided and the characters and authors I discovered. A Monster Calls stands out to me as one of my favourite lockdown reads. The book had me in tears, I was completely floored by it - the yew-tree in Connor’s garden is, as Connor even calls it at one point, a ‘you-tree’. It’s myself, it’s you, it’s the human belief system and worry factory. The ‘monster’ is almost divine in its knowledge and teachings, telling Connor he must take greater care in accepting the inevitable. His mother’s impending death, whilst heartbreaking, is obvious from the beginning of the novel. As readers, we sympathise with Connor’s denial of her illness, hope alongside him for a miracle but accept the circumstances much earlier.
A book you read because of its cover?
If I didn’t read a book because of its cover, it's because the world told me to. I read Horrid Henry, Dork Diaries, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Narnia and The Hunger Games because the world told me to, and having grown up with most of the films, I indulged in the source material before watching the adaptions.
I read all books based on their covers. Growing up I always gravitated towards the prettiest-looking book covers on the library shelves and I’ll use this opportunity to have my say in the photographs vs illustrations as book covers debate - illustrations, always. On my Waterstones trips even now I’m always guided by the covers first.
Hi everyone - thanks for reading!
I hope you've all had a good week. My emotions lately have been quite up and down - I can't work out if I'm happy or not. Either way, I'm OK and I hope you are too.
Lots and lots of love,
Karisma xxx