Resilience #36 Not World Book Day

I know it’s not World Book Day, anymore. And yes; I’m a bit late to the party.

But that’s the way I like it.

You see, allocated ‘celebration’ days are all well and good, it’s just that, well… they’re a day. What about the other 364?

Sure, they’re fun while they last, but they’re relatively short-lived in the scheme of things. I reckon books are metaphorical puppies, not just for Christmas.

Admittedly, I have a love/hate relationship with books. Read a good one, and it’s easy to transcend space and time exploring a fictitious world. Discovering a particularly engaging author often means one book leads to another, and before you know it, you’ve exhausted the entire back-catalogue.

Occasionally, I read a book and get stopped in my tracks. I realise I’m not enjoying it. That’s not a sleight on the author, just an admittance that maybe that particular read isn’t for me. Which of course, is fine.

But it can throw me. I might not pick-up another book for months, and I don’t really know why. It’s almost as though I’ve got my fingers burnt turning the pages, and don’t want to risk it. Funny, I know.

But it makes me think what you read matters and what you don’t read matters. When we’re not following someone else’s narrative, chances are we’re making one up. You’d think we give ourselves a happy ending, but strangely it’s often the opposite.

Anyway.

If I’m allowed a little creative licence, here’s a few fictional characters that have had a bearing on my formative years (real or imaginary!). Please don’t judge. 

Mr Greedy: how many slices of toast! He was ahead of his time #bulking

Paddington Bear: figuring it out, like the rest of us.

Danny the Champion of The World: what it feels like to have an amazing Dad.

Adrian Mole: edgy, back then.

Andy Capp: because a picture speaks 1000 words.

Just thinking about these characters seems to transport me back to a different time and place. Books, eh?

I’d love to know your fictional influencers from a time before influencers. All welcome, no judgement. Just an everyday celebration of books that mean the world to you!

Drop me a line.

Will