Books and Reading Wednesday: Books on my Bookshelf

Doing the bookshelf tag last week got me thinking about all the books I own and the selection I have, but also the memories that come with them.

Books aren’t just books, I don’t just read a book, I experience a book.

A whole bunch of memories linger with the books I own.

So, I thought it would be nice to go through my books and make a post about the ones I own.

It won’t be reviews, but more just about the book and the experience I had with it.

I will be including all books: paperbacks, hardbacks, eBooks (kindle is still my bookshelf, just an electronic one!), audiobooks, etc.

So to start this series off I have Neil Gaiman’s, ‘Fragile Things’, which was included in the tag last week.

Please excuse the terrible quality picture taken on my bed; I was in a bit of rush!

I received this book for my birthday a few years ago. It was the first time I’d heard of Neil Gaiman, I didn’t even know he was a famous author! I was dubious about reading it, as it really didn’t seem like my kind of book, especially due to the fact it had ghost/horror stories in it.

I don’t do horror at all!

But anyway, out of a sense of obligation, I started reading it. And it took my breath away.

I couldn’t stop reading the selection of short stories contained in this book. I knew they were going to give me nightmares, but I didn’t care, I had to keep reading!

One of my main memories about reading this book was sitting in bed and it was very late and snowing outside. I’d just reached a short story about this kid who sees a gypsy woman beneath a lamp post, I won’t spoil it, but it creeped me out because the conditions (snowing, night, etc) were very similar to what was happening as I was reading it.

Then the lamp post outside my window flickered and I was done! 😀 It wasn’t even that scary of a story, but the way he wrote it had my heart leaping into my throat. I slammed the book shut and had to continue reading in the daytime.

I think my favourite story out of the whole book was one about the seasons, where the seasons were having a discussion around a camp fire.

Though it’s not the one I remember most. The one I remember most was about a creepy doorknocker in the middle of the woods!

I’m being vague, just in case people pick this book up, which I would highly recommend!

Random quote:‘There is a worm at the heart of the tower; that is why it will not stand.’

Favourite thing about the book: The title page of each new story. Very pretty.

Least favourite thing: One particular story was very disturbing and still haunts my thoughts to this day! (If you get the book, it’s the one with the old lady and the cat).

Something I took away from the book: Not to be worried about the length of a story. It can be powerful even with just a few sentences!

Well, there you go. My first post in this series. The posts will probably evolve over time, not entirely sure what I want to do with them yet, just have some kind of record of the memories with these books.

Reviews are great, but sometimes it’s nice to remember the personal memories about the books I own, where I got them, when I got them, that kind of thing 🙂

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Progress Report:

Status of sixth manuscript: Writing first draft.
Word count: 2054 (Total word count: 14,202).

Books read: 2/4

Mid-October book review: Writing review.