Top 10: Books of my childhood (part II)

This is part II of my Top 10: Books of my childhood list! See part I here.

5. A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS by Lemony Snicket

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Curse you, Lemony Snicket. Snicket is possibly the expert at stringing readers along, but he also makes you love every second of it. He baits you with The Challenge, telling you very clearly in the blurb NOT to pick the book up; that it is the first in a long chain of depressing and wildly unfortunate events, so of course you DO just to prove him wrong. Then he hits you with The Story: It was just so appealing on a children-against-the-world level, and who didn't love that as a kid? Pure escapism. Snicket pits the three good, smart Baudelaire orphans against the evil, irrational Count Olaf, and every other adult in the story is seriously too incompetent to help. Finally, after you've accepted The Challenge and been reeled in by The Story, he claims you with The Hook: He leaves you with these awful cliffhangers, where Count Olaf has been seemingly chased away YET AGAIN. In the beginning of each instalment, the Baudelaires seem to have finally found happiness and peace at last with a new guardian, only to have Olaf show up EVERY TIME. That's the beauty of The Hook: you know it's coming, but you spend the next decade praying that something in their miserable lives will change. You would think this would get old eventually, and it did, but you just couldn't stop reading, and when you did find yourself complaining that they never seemed to get closer to solving any mysteries (VFD??? The sugar bowl? ...Who the hell is Beatrice??), you remembered that you were WARNED not to read the book from the very first page, and you bitterly shut your mouth.

Top 10: Books of my childhood (part I)

This is the first in a series of 'Top 10' posts that will hopefully help you understand me as a reader - my likes, dislikes, weaknesses - better! See upcoming posts here. First up: books of my childhood.

What are the books that shaped your childhood? Did you enjoy reading as a child? I was (still am) obsessed. The books that you read as a kid play a huge part in shaping you as a reader, as does every book you read. Sentimental value goes a long way. Sometimes I find myself re-reading a childhood book, realizing all the flaws in it, but loving it all the same just for the memories.

Here are the first 5 books (part 2 to come) that made me love reading as a child, up till about the age of 13. And yes, I counted a few book series, because it was too hard. 

1. HIS DARK MATERIALS series by Philip Pullman

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Seriously, this blog would not be here if it wasn't for this book. I read this when I was 11, and feel as if I've been chasing a high ever since. And I'm not sorry for that creepy analogy. I'd always loved reading, but the His Dark Material series, comprised of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, completely changed me. Northern Lights is hard to get into and starts slowly, and the movie was utterly disappointing, but it's so, so worth it. I cried at the end of the last book, and when my family went on holiday to Oxford many years later, I went to the Oxford Botanical Gardens, found a bench, and sat on it with The Amber Spyglass clutched in my hand. If you don't understand the reference, you need to go read these NOW.