I heard a clever advert on the radio recently which had sound effects created by a book. The book was repeatedly shut to produce 'footsteps' and dropped on the floor to create a door slam sound. The pages were rustled to make a crackling fire effect and so on. The advert failed insofar that I have no idea what they were trying to get me to buy, but it did succeed in reminding me about my life-long love affair with books.
Regular readers (if such animals exist), may remember my previous rant called 'Refusing to turn the page' where I railed against the advent of e-books. I genuinely fear that the demise of the printing industry may be on the horizon to follow the long list of trades which technology has made redundant.
I do hope that like me, there has been a point in your life where a book has grabbed hold of you and refused to let go.
Sadly, like young love, the last time this happened to me was as a student in the days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The book in question was 'Lord of the Rings' by Tolkien and I can remember lying on my bed for hours as it held me tight and transported me into a fantasy world. Or was that my young love experience? My memory is so bad nowadays.
I am a huge fan of print - I will read anything, even the back of a cereal packet if there is nothing else. Have to say, not a fan of Tolkein, but loved Mark Haddon's books
ReplyDeleteCurious Incident of the dog in the nightime, and also A Spot of Bother. This one really hit a chord with me ... as a child I used to listen avidly to adults and wonder, the one things that worried me was when my mum talked about someone having a nervous breakdown, and it used to worry me what one was, how would I know to be able tp say that what it was? When did it constitute a "nervous breakdown"? This book at least tried to answer my question. As well as making me laugh at loud...alot.