The Perks of Being a Bookworm

I was always that kid that would never pick up a book. Why would I when there is a TV in the room? I always felt it was too much effort and it was boring. Why take hours to read a story when I could see an entire story start to finish in half an hour? Boy, was I wrong. The first book that probably got my attention was Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, I broke the cardinal rule and I judged the book by its cover. I read the blurb one day on Amazon, looked at the name of the book and I don't know what it was but I just added it to my virtual cart. And I think it was possibly the best purchase I ever made.

I don't want to come across as a total geek (hard to do when talking about my interests), but this book was amazing. I identified with the main character more than I want to admit. There was almost a level of comfort knowing that someone was similar to me, even if he was fictional. I loved the book and I finished it on the train, much to the discomfort of my fellow travellers - I cried (some man points lost there).

When I finished the book I tried quickly to fill the void. So back I went on to Amazon and trusted their recommendations. There was one author I couldn't seem to escape - step forward John Green. So I bought three of his books - Paper Towns, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Looking for Alaska. There was ups and downs in these books for me, parts I loved and parts that infuriated me (in the best way). I love John's way of writing. It feels as though the character is talking to you. I know that is the narrative style, but it seemed so natural and it wasn't condescending at all - in the sense that the words were words expected to be used, there was no showing off. My favourite book by John Green is The Fault in Our Stars. It is a beautifully devastating book. Don't want to spoil it for anyone because I feel they should discover it on their own and take what they want from it. I cried multiple times, I got way too invested and I will always having a loathing for Mr Green as he created a character that I will be searching for for the rest of my life - Augustus Walters.

Unfortunately John Green only wrote so many books so once again I have had to go out and find new ones. One of my favourites include Ned Vizzini author of Its Kind Of A Funny Story. I broke the rules and watched the film first, so glad I loved the film so that I still wanted to read the book. Without sounding like a condescending book reader but the book was better. So many more layers to the main characters and I connected to the book more than the film.

The best thing for me about reading is finding quotes. Some quotes cut deep, make me laugh and make me realise that maybe I am not the only person who thinks the way I do. Also through my taste in books I made a great friend who quickly turned into one of my best friends. I was no longer the character looking for someone who could like me for my weirdness, quirkiness and randomness, I was the character who had friends that I could tell anything to.

Some great quotes told through Tumblr posts -