I have always loved to read.

In fact, I still have my first-ever book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and Mrs Bears Birthday. I apparently loved this so much as a child that to this day 40 years, (almost give me a week or so) later both my parents can recite this book word for word at the drop of a hat.

One of my fondest childhood memories is crawling into bed with my Mum and listening to her read to us (me & my brother) before bed. We read so many amazing books this way but the one that is forever stuck in my memory the one I read to this day and is probably my all time favourite book is JRR Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings. Mum read this to us the year I turned 8. She had heard about the cartoon version of the book and she was horrified that that might be our first experience of The Lord of the Rings so she made sure we got the full experience instead.

I still remember crying over Gandalf in the mines of Moria, Tom Bombadil and the journey through the old forest. All the beautiful poems and songs, Gollum, and Faramir and Rohan all of it. I still read the Lord of the Rings each year usually round my birthday or Christmas. The Lord of the Rings cemented the fact that I was going to be a reader.

Its also possible it also ruined age-appropriate fiction for me because I did not enjoy the Chronicles of Narnia or any of those kid-friendly fantasy stories. Instead I moved straight on to the Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High and Goosebumps.

Those three series taught me to love a serialised format. Still one of my favourite kinds of books to read. I love following a character or a group of characters through multiple books over multiple years seeing how they change and grow, its the definition of book friends. My longest is the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series by Laurel K. Hamilton which I started buying at the almost positively too young age of 14 and am still reading at almost 40.

I started reading Horror before I ever watched it on the TV and movie screen, and I started with one of the best, Dracula. When I was about 12, I became obsessed with vampires and read a lot of fun teen novels about them including the original The Vampire Diaries trilogy, the Night World series by LJ Smith and anything I could find. Two of those became forever favourites Dracula and Interview with the Vampire.

I think everyone has that one classic that they just love, and for me, it’s Dracula. I even collect copies of the book, I watch every movie I can’t get enough of it.

Interview with the Vampire was one of those books that stamped itself across my heart. I remember reading it and thinking I didn’t realise books could be like that, so full of everything: emotion, life, words, beauty, horror all of it right there and it was mine. It was the book that turned me into an adult reader even though I was still really young, and had been reading in the adult section of the library for a while this is book that changed me from a child reading adult books into an adult devouring every book she could get her hands on, saving all her pocket money doing extra jobs just so I could buy one more book that month.

I’m sure that every book I’ve ever touched has in some way made me a reader, these are the books that I remember as having an impact on how and why I read and they still impact me. I’m sure that I still seek out vampire books because of Interview and Dracula, I know that my love of Fantasy is because of Tolkien and I still reread and reread and reread my favourites until they fall apart.

The best thing my parents ever did for me was to teach me to love books and to love to read; I am forever grateful I have the ability and the opportunity to work with books, readers, students & teachers and to read. Knowledge is power its why people who are attempting to control power attempt to control access to books. Because you can do anything if you can read.