The Very Hungry Reader

Books are a blessing. The best ones stay with you, and repeat on you for years to come. Generally I don't have the best memory for plot and action, but I tend to remember intricacies and details. The way light is described, a turn of phrase, a strange historical fact - my perception of the world is coloured by these little facts that rattle around in my brain, and occasionally pop to the fore when I am trying to recall all the information I have on a particular subject.

I am a reader, a rampant devourer of the written word, a literary glutton. I go through stages were it seems as though book after book passes through my hands, and I struggle to disentangle the subtle nuances in the plots. And then I go through reading droughts. Terrible, intellectually arid times when I can't commit to a storyline and when the words float through me and refuse to take hold. At the moment I am experiencing one of these self propagated phases of famine. I have a shelf of volumes, each with their own charms, and yet I cannot seem to settle with any of them. I flit from one to the other looking for god knows what to reel me in.

This has been going on for weeks, and alarming me somewhat, and then yesterday I sat down and read a whole book. I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This Eric Carle classic has been known to me as long as I can remember. At first I am sure I was fascinated by the holes in the book, as he munched his way through, and then by the amazing illustrations, and then by his sheer greed, and eventually by the message of transformation. I love this book, and with my sweet second cousin turning one (and me being one of those nightmarish people who buy children books) I bought it. And because I am one of those even worse people, I read it before the poor child had even clapped eyes on it. And as I read once more this original make over story (through binging - who knew?!) I vowed to return to my neglected tomes. And tonight I finished a chapter!

Meet Toren - the proud new owner of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Don't let his poor personal hygiene fool you, he is going to be a literary genius.