by Maria C Collins

Created on: March 15, 2009   Last Updated: December 06, 2009

I have avidly devoured books for as long as I can remember. Family stories say that, before I could read by myself, I would toddle after grown-ups with an armful of books pestering anyone and everyone to read to me. I love the feel and the smell of books and the joy of opening a new book or discovering an old book in a second-hand shop. When a new public super library opened in my home town, the family joked that I would be moving into the library to dwell happily amongst the bookshelves and indulge myself forever.

I am a real book person and E books are not for me. You cannot take the computer or an e book reader to bed and fall asleep with your head in its pages as you can with a paperback or hardback book. I feel that words on a screen are not as intimate and accessible as words on a page.

It is difficult to choose my favorite books from amongst so many wonderful books that I have read and to pick some, over others, seems to slight those which I have not chosen. In addition, the list of my favorite books tends to vary with my mood.

One book, however, is always top of my list of favorite books, "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. It was the first "grown-up" book that I read aged nine. Although I did not quite understand all of the nuances of the plot and characters, I loved the story and the description and felt myself there on the wild Yorkshire moors. I have read "Wuthering Heights" many times since. I always find it an enjoyable read and always take something different from the book away with me.

Another book, or rather series, that I read often is "Almonds and Raisins" by Maisie Mosco. The series begins at Manchester (England) railway station and traces the family saga of a Jewish family who fled from the pogroms in Eastern Europe in the early years of the twentieth century. The series' central character is Sarah, the young mother of the family in "Almonds and Raisins" and, through her, tells of the family's struggles to settle in England and the story of the children growing up in a strange land. The next two books are "Scattered Seed" and "Children's Children", which bring the saga through the Second World War and up to Sarah's 90th birthday. There are follow-on books called "Out of the Ashes" and "New Beginnings" take the story up to the nineteen eighties. I enjoy this series because it follows a story over time, the characters are well and lovingly drawn, one feels is part of the Sandberg family and appreciates the problems of immigrant families

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