My life in books

I have read many books in my life but one of my 50th birthday aims was to get 50 book reviews on GoodReads. To do that I went back to books I had read from the 1970s onwards.

To help my project I also revisited drawings and paintings I had done of my favourite literary heroes and, more prominantly, heroines. The last painting I did was of Madeline Usher from 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' by Edgar Allan Poe; a book I first read in 1979 and still my favourite author.

The 1980s are represented by Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Books I really enjoyed in this decade were 1984 by George Orwell, probably my favourite book ever. I also loved Ariel by Sylvia Plath, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The 1990s are represented by Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I read much in this decade mostly because of my daily commute to the libraries I used to work in required a lot of travelling on public transport. The books I particularly enjoyed were A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens, Misery by Stephen King and Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice.

The 2000s are represented by Vianne Rocher from Chocolat by Joanne Harris. I was very busy in the noughties being a working mum, I was also runing my SubVerse Poetry Group from 2000 to 2005 and teaching the piano from 2008 onwards. However I did find time to read all seven of the Harry Potter series of books by JK Rowling. I also really enjoyed the Other Boleyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory, The woman in black by Susan Hill and The thirteenth tale by Diane Setterfield.

In the 2010s my reading has been more attuned to what my daughter enjoys. That is why this decade is represented by Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, three books I loved reading. I have also acknowledged that reading about flawed people in imperfect situations is much more enjoyable than reading about perfection. Bearing this in mind the top five books I have loved lately are.

1. We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
2. The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins
3. Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
4. Gone girl by Gillian Flynn
5. Labor day by Joyce Maynard

To read my book reviews in full please visit my Good Reads page, to view more of my literary heroines please visit my DeviantArt page. My own writing can be found on my WattPad page.