The Introverted Bookworm: Books of Importance.

As I mentioned in my introductory post, I'm a bookworm. That hasn't always been the case though. Up until Year 11 I'd never been much of a reader; it took me months to finish books, and that was if I even bothered to finish them. But in the summer months of Year 11, when I was meant to be revising for my GCSEs, I ordered two books off of Amazon. These two books were The Perks of being a Wallflower and Looking For Alaska. I had both of them read within a week, and after that I couldn't stop reading.

I was considering incorporating my love of reading into my blog by doing reviews on some of the books I plan to read over the summer. But I don't think I'm enough of a literary critic to pull that off. So instead I've decided to write a post about the books that I have read that mean the most to me, and attempt to explain why these books are so important to me.

Enjoy!

First I'll start with the book that means the most to me out of the three. That book just so happens to be the previously mentioned Looking for Alaska by John Green. I'm sure many of you have heard of John Green, due to the massive success of his last book, The Fault in Our Stars. The Fault in Our Stars is an incredible book, and in terms of writing, it is Green's best work to date; however in terms of what I've taken from the book Looking for Alaska wins hands down. 

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As cliché as it may sound to some, Looking for Alaska changed my outlook on life a little bit. Miles, the protagonist of the story mentions the idea of the 'Great Perhaps' at the beginning of the novel. And it is this simple little idea that life is a series of situations brought together by numerous perhapses -let's pretend that's a word- that had such a profound effect on me. I'll use an example to try and explain the 'Great Perhaps' to any of you who are unfamiliar with the book: one day you might decide to go to your favourite coffee shop for lunch and perhaps you'll be left alone to read your book; or perhaps someone will walk over and tell you how much they enjoyed the book you're currently reading and you'll form either a new friendship or a casual acquaintance; or perhaps if you sit outside you'll pet the cute dog sat patiently waiting for their owner to come out with their coffee; perhaps when the owner returns you'll strike up conversation and you'll find yourself with a date; or perhaps they'll just smile politely at you, pick up the lead and walk away.

Although I've always been fairly open to new experiences, whenever trying something new or going somewhere new, I was -and still am to a degree- slightly over cautious about the situation and everything surrounding it. However after reading Looking for Alaska I began to embrace new things more, all because of this idea of the 'Great Perhaps'. Instead of meticulously planning things to have as much order and control over the situation as possible, I began to loosen up and embrace the idea of all the things that could happen if I handed a bit of control over to chance. And I must say the 'Great Perhaps' has been very good to me, not so much to my finances in some cases, but overall it's been good to me so far.

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Secondly, there is Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray. This will be a lot shorter than Looking for Alaska's section as there is far less to explain. This book is important to me, and will not only remain important to me in the future but may also become an invaluable tool, because it provides so much insight into the psychological differences between men and women. 

Not only does it explain these differences and how they can lead to numerous relationship problems, it also provides exercises that help overcome these problems and provides real life examples of how successful these exercises can be if both partners are willing to work on their relationship. I know this is an incredibly popular book, but I think even more people should read it. If you want a successful, committed and happy relationship later in life -or even right now- then I'm practically 100% sure this book will come in handy.

And finally, as some of you may have guessed, is Quiet by Susan Cain. I've mentioned this book a lot already so I won't go into detail about it here; but you should definitely check this book out too!

I know this has been a super long post. Sorry if you got bored half way through, maybe I should have made it into a two part post. But if you did manage to make it to the end and I didn't bore you to death, then go you! Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Also, if you've made it this far and think I'm crazy for not including a book(s) that is really important to you, let me know what it is/they are in the comments and I'll check it/them out.
-Hannah. :)