Why I Love Books

"Books are the best weapons in the world..." especially if you are travelling through time and you end up stuck in a library with your companion, Queen Victoria and some other gezza fleeing a werewolf [which is for some strange reason allergic to mistletoe] - oh and there's a bunch of bold monks waiting outside with guns.

Yes, I am opening my article with Doctor Who references to entice you, and I will do it again. I was nine years old when I first watched that episode, and that scene made me fall in love with Doctor Who. Books are great weapons.

As a child, I was confined to a wheelchair, watching other children have water-fights at the peak of summer. Books gave me freedom because I discovered the power of imagination. As a reader, I wasn't limited anymore, and as a writer I figured out how words are limitless.

Books have brought me much comfort and support in my life. One of my favourite smells in the world is a book. Whether it is a fresh new book unopened and untouched or a yellow stained book with a broken spine. The smell of books makes me feel happy, content, and at peace.

In my eyes, there is nothing more enjoyable than finding a gem of a book, one that you just can't put down. When a book is written so well, you flick through the pages so effortlessly, getting caught up in the story and growing with its characters. Then you reach the end without realising. Suddenly, you feel lost, empty and sad that it's over.

Books and their characters shape us, inspire us, and stay with us forever. Stories teach us lessons and valuable morals which remind us to understand others on an empathetic level - fairy tales, and fables for example.

Books offer us an escape from one world into another as if we were Mary Poppins jumping into a painting where singing penguins wear tailored suits. Books are a door to another world - and give readers the power to live another life. Any book, no matter the era, reflects a moment in time. They allow us a slight glimpse into the past that contains a pocket in time with immortal voices. A window into another world and soul.

Books give us stories that shape and impact our pop culture, whether it's the Stoker's Dracula, Tolkien's Frodo Baggins, or the infamous Mother of Dragons! These are, to name a few, of course, characters like Robin Hood, and stories like Arthur and Merlin that shape our identity and culture with historical myth or fact. All because someone wrote it all down in a book.

"After all, I believe legends and myths have some truth to them."

At the same age (9 still in my wheelchair - it had purple handles), I met beloved children's author Jacqueline Wilson in the city I was born in - Winchester. Jacqueline Wilson is the author that inspired me to become a writer (besides Roald Dahl). She was so kind to me, she said "I'm not sure how to drive one of those things", as I positioned my wheelchair for a photo. Dad was getting the camera ready and I remember complimenting her on her many many rings.

For every book she had published, she buys a new ring, and she has a lot of wonderful books. I went home completely and utterly speechless. Little did I realise that exactly ten years later I would learn the craft of writing in the city Jacqueline was born in - Bath. So thank you Jacqueline, thank you so, so much.

I was always told to be a good writer you must read a wide variety of books across multiple genres. I mean, you can't write a book without having read one, otherwise, how would you know you are writing a good book worth reading? True bookworms are nomads; imaginative adventurers. The limit does not exist in the realm of imagination, and for disabled people like me, it is liberating.

Could you imagine a world without books?

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