Today's post, as the title says, is 21 books for 21 years. In other words, today is my 21st birthday. I thought I would share 21 books that had a big impact on me or I have fun memories of reading them. As there are 21 books, I'm going to keep this post short and sweet.
1- Twas the Night Before Christmas (children's version)
I'll be honest, I don't remember reading this one, but I have a photo of me using a children's fabric version as a blanket when I was about 4 months old. And thus began my journey to becoming a bookworm.
2- Humphrey's Corner by Sally Hunter
This is a sweet book about a small elephant called Humphrey who just wants to find the perfect place to play. Someone bought me this as a child and gave me a cuddly version of the main character, that I still treasure to this day. At 21 years old, my very battered and well-travelled/loved Humphrey, still has a spot on my bed.
3- Red, Yellow, Blue and Green
These are four books about each of the colours above. They take you through objects that are those colours. I have no idea who wrote them sadly. I have a memory of my grandpa reading them to me when I was little. I remember just running up and demanding he read them to me over and over.
4- The Rainbow Fairies
When I started primary school, my mum would take me to the local library once a week and I was allowed to borrow a book or two. So I started with the Rainbow Fairies. They've expanded a lot since the early 2000s and there's now a fairy for everything. I even think Greta Thunberg has been turned into one, which is pretty cool. I remember these being great fun and liking the illustrations as well as the stories.
5-Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy
This was a book we used to be read in one of our classes at primary school. It's about a mother elephant (I see to have a thing for elephants) wanting just five minutes peace from her children and husband. We used to love having this read to us by our teacher.
6- Matilda by Roald Dahl
I read a lot of Roald Dahl as a kid, but Matilda was always my favourite. She was a fun little bookworm who got up to great things. I also remember liking the BFG and the Twits, but Matilda has a special place in my heart.
7- Horrid Henry- the Audiobook
I had a CD player in my bedroom and a small stack of CDs to listen to, one of which was a Horrid Henry story narrated by Miranda Richardson. I don't know if I ever read any of the physical books, but I listened to this so many times, that I can still remember all her voices for the characters as I'm writing this.
8- Astrosaurs
The Astrosaurs was my first ever World Book Day book. My dad bought it for me and I loved it so much that I went onto read some of the other books. These are about dinosaurs in space and I remember them being great fun.
9- Midnight by Jacquline Wilson
I read a lot of Jacquline Wilson books a child, but my favourite was always Midnight. This is about a girl called Violet who likes theses fairy books and writes to the author about them. She then befriends the popular new girl and it spirals out from there. I still have my copy of Midnight, which is very well read. It was on the slightly spooky side, which is why I think I liked it more than the other ones.
10- Harry Potter by JKR
Okay, so this one is going to take a bit of explaining. Harry Potter played a huge part in my upbringing. I have fond memories of reading the books and watching the films. It shaped me into the person I am today. Since JKR's comments in June 2020, I have distanced myself from this series. I have stopped buying Harry Potter themed items and in no way, shape or form do I support JKR. But I can't deny what Harry Potter has done for me and what it means to me. I will treasure the memories I have of it.
11- Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
I was probably a bit on the young side to be reading this series, but I think this was the first YA series I ever read. I'm fairly certain I borrowed it from the library before acquiring my own copies. This follows to young people, one a white inferior Nought and the other a black superior Cross. It's a reimagining where people of colour are from the higher classes and white people are the second rate citizens. They just did a great adaptation of it on the BBC. I loved this series and I still need to finish it. But I remember being swept away by it.
12- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I started reading these books in school as the films were coming out. We actually studied them in my English class when I was 12. Being the bookworm that I was, while everyone else was reading The Hunger Games, I was reading Catching Fire under the table as I'd already finished The Hunger Games. I haven't read them since then and I'd love to reread then nearly ten years later as when I originally read them, I somehow didn't realise that a main character had been killed off until someone told me two years later. And I still need to finish the films. These books were the first ones I remember become obsessed with and I'll always treasure those memories.
13- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
City of Bones and the Shadowhunter Chronicles came into my life when I was going through an especially difficult period. I found a lot of solace in these books as a teen. I bought the book and then the DVD of the film. I love the film adaptation as it introduced me to these books. I quickly collected all the books that were out at the time and read them over and over and over. As soon as I finished a reread, I'd jump straight back to book one. I will forever be grateful for these books, for them coming into my life when I was going through the most difficult period of my life.
14- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Despite no longer owning my beloved copies of my John Green books, I had a great time reading them. I was adamant that I wouldn't cry while reading TFIOS and yet I sobbed buckets. I went and saw the film with a friend at the time and we made it into a special weekend. We made our own t-shirts. It was the first time I remember being excited for a book to movie adaptation of a beloved book. I hope wherever my boxset ended up after deciding I wouldn't reread these books and that I no longer wanted them, it ended up with someone who enjoys them as much as I did.
15- Divergent by Veronica Roth
Another book series that I became obsessed with due to the films. My friend and I went and saw the first one in the cinema. I then went out and bought the books. I really enjoyed them. Even when I had the final one spoiled for me by some random girl in my school canteen when I was reading Insurgent while my friends ate lunch. Around this time, I read these books countless times because I couldn't imagine enjoying anything else. I didn't end up finishing the film adaptations as I got about thirty minutes into Insurgent and turned it off. The books were pretty good.
16- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas
One of the most beloved books in the book community. I too was swept up in the ACOMAF fever in 2016. I actually have a signed and personalised copy from America as a good friend of my dad's works in one of the big bookshops over there and kindly sent me my own copy when I told my dad I was a fan of the books. I know these books have their problems and following ACOWAR, I stopped reading the series. Yet this one just swept me away. It's a beast of a book and I read it in three days, which was unheard of for little 16 year old me. I haven't been swept up in the hype of a book quite like it since this one. It was a great experience.
17- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I have been meaning to reread The Night Circus for a while as I call it one of my favourite books and yet I've only read it once. I loved the story. I was still in college while reading it and we actually ended up studying an extract of it which was a section I hadn't read. I sacrificed my reading for my education. Erin Morgenstern is an incredible writer, she has such a beautiful writing style. I can't wait to reread her books at some point as they are works of art.
18- Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
I realised that I haven't mentioned many, if any LGBT books and as that is something that became quite important to me in 2018, it felt fitting to have this book here. I bought and read this very quickly. It was a sweet romance, if a tiny bit predictable. This book opened my eyes to the world of LGBT literature, which is something I now actively seek out. Autoboyography has survived many unhauls because of the fond memories I have of reading it and how it introduced me to this whole world LGBT books.
19- Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin
I may go as far to say that this is my favourite series. I've now read this book three times and each time it reaches a point where I become so absorbed that I forget the real world exists. Yes, this book has it's flaws and I can see why people don't like it. But I love the characters, Lou is a favourite of mine and I would love to be friends with her in real life. The magic system is unique. They're fun and silly, yet they handle the darker tone well. I'm currently rereading the series in preparation for the final book and I can't wait to see what happens. Shelby Mahurin has an exciting writing career ahead.
20- The Confession by Jessie Burton
Part of the reason this book is on this list was because it was the first time in my life that I had read about a character with the same name as me and the other reason why was because I couldn't stop reading this book. Jessie Burton is one of my favourite authors, I really enjoyed The Muse (The Miniturist not so much sadly). She has a way of creating these mysteries with interesting timelines. You're always trying to piece together the mystery from fragments. They're the type of book that you don't want to stop reading. I look forward to reading what ever she publishes next.
21- If We Were Villains by M.L Rio
Despite the fact that 2021 isn't over, I have a feeling that this book will make it onto my favourite list for the year. This is about a group of theatre students at a competitive theatre school and what happens when one of them dies. I was blown away by this book. I loved the characters, the story, the writing. Everything about it. It was just an incredible book. I've become quite interested in dark academia this year, specifically the books within this genre, so this was right up my ally. Not sure if I've read anything that will top this yet.
So those were some books that have shaped me into the person I am today. Some honourable mentions that didn't make it onto this list are Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid and anything Alice Oseman writes.
