B is for *Books. A-Z Challenge.

/ Laeli

As an awkward , anxious child I didn’t have very many friends and the ones I did have were more frenemies than anything else. Don’t you dare feel sorry for me because A. looking back I preferred it that way. Its only in hindsight that I can see I only ever felt bad because other people thought there was something wrong with it. And B. I had books!

Lots and lots of books! When money was flush, my mother would take me to the bookstore and buy me anything I wanted and then some! When money was tight, there was the library. We made weekly trips and I was left to my own devices and allowed to bring home as many books as I could carry, in whatever subject or skill level I desired. I was reading trashy romance novels in grade 5, ha!

Books became my best friends and my best educators. Seriously, books did more for my intelligence than the public school system ever did.

Do I have a favourite book? That is a hard thing to declare. For years I’ve said The Witching Hour by Anne Rice was my favourite book. I read that thing with intense focus and appreciation in the weeks following the birth of my son. Then I read it over and over again. The story so capitvating to 20 year old me. It gave me something other than BABY to think about and I really needed that.

I’ve since read it again as a 40 year old and think I’ve outgrown it. Especially a lot of the questionable parts. It still holds a very special place in my heart though and of course I’m so grateful for it!

I read so many books in a year that it takes something really special to stick in my brain and stay there. I rarely buy books – they would take over my house in no time! – so if a book does make it to my book shelf, you know it’s special to me.

I have a lot of Buddist-y books, my favourite being this:

This one is excellent in a crisis!

And I have a lot of LIttle House-y books. My favourite being this:

I have a few novels.


And a few books about women


And finally, I have a few more kids books


One of the coolest things about books, I’ve discovered in my later years are … BOOK Clubs!

The very first thing I ever went to, by myself, on my own, was a book club!

I then went on to start a book club with a friend which we axed last year – There ended up being only three of us on a consistent basis, which does not a book club make-but now we’re all in a library run one together and its all good. I really like how the members are all so different from one another. How they bring a view unique to them and their experiences to the whole thing.

PLUS, there’s always the potential to make new friends and gain valuable insights into your own life.

I think book clubs are really just a front for connection.

I love and appreciate books so much, I got a book tattoo done on my leg! How’s that for dedication? 🙂

I do review books here, so stick around if that’s your jam. Add me on Goodreads too, if you want.

I always say ” Books saved my life.” and I mean that.

What do books mean to you?

32 thoughts on “B is for *Books. A-Z Challenge.”

  1. I also have quite the collection of books, with my tastes ranging from nonfiction to historical to biographies.

    I also wanted to say hello, and thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  2. I, too, am a reader but I didn’t come to that love as a child. It was something that ‘grew’ on me because … over the years I would find books I loved … and like a drug, I ‘wanted more of that.’

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  5. You have a great sense of humor! We have a lot in common. I also loved reading books as a kid (but hated writing). As an adult, I like writing books but my kids interrupt me too much to read them. But, I still manage to do it. I found this reading log online. It helps me because I forget which books I read and which ones I don’t. Maybe it’ll be helpful to you, too? https://blogspot.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=603a29a08423ce4ff614fd6a2&id=61beca780e

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  6. Books have also meant the world to me since being a young kid up to now, at age 60. So many favorites. Chuck Palahniuk is at the top of my chart for writers. Muriel Barberry is another. A new author that is a little on the dark side but an excellent writer is Adrienne Celt.

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  7. I love to read books but when purchased there would be place for either them or us in our flat!! Jokes apart, i think they dont judge you even if you happen to pick your book after a long time! Gone With The Wind is among my favourites but there are many more… Happy AtoZ!!

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    • Oooooh Gone with the Wind…SWOON! That is an excellent read ❤ Thank goodness for the library. I cant imagine what this house would look like…
      You're so right about books not judging us…I love that! ❤

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  8. I loved my many books, too. Some of my favorite memories are from going used book hunting with my parents. We had a mission to collect the original Nancy Drew books and I loved reading about her adventures. My mom tried to get me into everything she enjoyed as a kid, and of course, I developed some of my own loves. I don’t read nearly enough anymore, but I enjoy it so much – and books are great friends, particularly, like you say, when you know too many frenemies while growing up! (Same here.)

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  9. I like what you said about outgrowing books – I have a few that I value for having an impact in my youth, but I would not dare to read them again.
    To me, books are addiction in the most literary meaning of the word. When I start reading a good book, everything else gets pushed to the side: I won’t go to sleep, I won’t eat (unless headache from lack of wood disturbs reading), I won’t pay attention to anything in the real world. That’s why I stopped reading before bed time – too often I ended staying up until 3 or 4 am just to finish a book I enjoyed.

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    • YES! I love the books that do that to me too. Or the ones that take over my mind so badly I have to remind myself its not “real” Do you get cranky too if someone or something interrupts you? I turn into a foul monster.

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      • I love it when they do it to me, but at the same time, being a responsible adult, I can’t let them do that to me.
        Yeah, I get irritable when interrupted – I don’t mind a small one, but if it’s repetitive, I get grumpy.
        This makes me think that after A to Z is done, I should write a post about my reading adventures: once I missed a tram stop because I was reading, the other time I missed that a guy was picking me up in park, or I tried to continue reading through my boyfriend (at the time) phone call….

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  10. I, too, remember going with my mother and sisters to the library every couple of weeks. We walked there through back alleys and past a pig farm. We didn’t have much, but we always had books. We could not have had a better foundation for life.

    Now, though, I have more books than I can read. I keep giving them away, but they keep finding me.

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  11. Books mean the absolute world to me! Though I did have friends as a child, I would read a lot. I still do!
    Well books have certainly taken over my house, I have this Bookshelf filled with mine and mum’s books!
    The Witching Hour is going on to my read list!
    Loved this post!
    Dropping in 🙂

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  12. Books are healers, friends, therapists – they mean a great deal to me too. Enjoyed reading your take on books and how much they matter.
    P.S.: Your picture of Charlotte’s Web and Heidi made me long to immerse myself in them again; I love both! Weekend plans sorted 🙂

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