Gift of Books

I found a book called Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen a while back and the cover kind of suggested I might like it and I did. Full of magic it was a lovely, lovely story with a bit of romance and happily ever after thrown in for good measure.

So when I saw The Sugar Queen I had to get it. It has been in my book pile for a while awaiting it's turn and that came today and will be a fairly short one I think because I can't put it down...

One of the characters in the book has a magical blessing - she is blessed with books. It started as a child when bored and a book of card games appeared - and followed her around till she understood it was hers. If she had a need a book would appear. Having just dumped her man because he admitted to being unfaithful, she has a book called Finding Forgiveness following her around. And then it gets joined by a second book called Old Love, New Directions. She is busily trying to ignore both of them but they crop up in odd places, except the bathroom because apparently books are like cats and hate water.... (wonder if wreck this journal ever found her?)

Anyway, this is a minor bit of a lovely book and this character isn't even the main character so I hope I have tempted you.... I love the idea of the gift of books... Imagine always knowing which book would help you right now, this second, no matter your need. Be it bored and looking for adventure, creative inspiration, self-help or any of a million other needs. Imagine that book always arriving the second you need it... What a lovely gift to have.

Books are a gift anyway. If there is one thing I would love to pass on to my kids, it would be a love of books. When I first visited F's house, I was quite pleased to see a well thumbed book on his coffee table. What I didn't know was that it had been in his possession for over a decade and he still hadn't finished it... Since being with me however I have slowly trapped him in a web of books and he isn't complaining!

I often leave books in the bathroom (currently Alice Through the Looking Glass) and I have found him reading all sorts of unlikely things. I have had him reading Maeve Binchy and poetry by Benjamin Zephaniah (a very modern black poet).

I already know that on my next list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, other authors will receive the treatment that Charles de Lint is currently receiving. Sheri S. Tepper writes modern feminist fantasy and although I have all her more recent books, I don't have all her earlier ones even though I could pick them up cheaply second hand from amazon. Another is Sharon Shinn with her interesting romances set on a fantasy world where a grand social science experiment has been undertaken....

What books would you give as a gift to others? What books would you give me?