Living With Biblophilia: A Serious Case Of Loving Books
Whoop whoop, happy world book day my fellow book heads and to the rest of you who have decided not to be elites. This post was meant to be up yesterday but I was so busy with this quarantine life (sleeping). So, indulge me and let's act like its today. yay.
Books are the fuel to my imagination, a whole new world to be discovered. It's always been a part of me as my earliest memory of reading was My Book of Bible Stories story book. It's a book that imbibed in me the desire to know new stuff and read stories too.
I read encyclopedias, biographies, newspapers, children novels, anything that could keep me entertained. This made me quite a knowledgeable child and so I was termed 'smart'. I didn't think I was though, I knew stuff because I read about them. I mean, you would too if you just picked up a fecking book. 🤷
In high school, lunch money for me wasn't actually lunch money. I saved 50NGN everyday to buy at least a book for the week. My love for books at this time had tilted to novels as I was quite the dreamer with a wild imagination.
At 11 years old, I had read a stack of romance novels by Danielle Steele, Nora Roberts and a bunch of Harley Quinn. I also adored African writers like Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka that gave me a brief on the Nigerian civil war.
The first crime thriller I ever read was James Patterson's 'Honeymoon' and from then on, my love for crime thrillers grew. I particularly love Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb, James Hadley Chase and James Patterson.
Eyes glistening, I open a new book with the excitement that can be likened to a child getting his favorite candy, ready to take in all of the flavor within. Grasping every little detail, pausing to analyze situations and reading suspense filled pages with a racing heart.
These days, I don't read as much as I want to but my love for books never die and I'm on a mission to read as much as I can as we quarantine. Now you find me reading memoirs like Okey Ndibe's, 'Never Look An American In The Eye', or books centered on feminism like Mona Eltahawy's, 'The Seven Necessary Sins For Women And Girls'
Books have been a counsel and eye-opener to me, giving me a glimpse of the world I might never see. Far and wide, it all comes to me in the pages of thousands of words I love to read.
Happy world book day!!!