For the Love of Charity Shops: This Week’s 5 Novels

“Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.”

― Khaled Hosseini

I took Maia into Cancer Research recently to have a browse through the books and found myself leaving with a bag full of novels. (Which is not surprising when they’re £1.50 each; I do tend to get carried away).

I loved reading as a child. Then as a teenager I sadly lost interest a bit but probably made it through a couple of novels a year.

Now I cherish any moment I get with a book.

Reading a novel, to me, is the ultimate treat because it is just that; a story. – It’s not for any direct self-improvement purposes, it’s not for me to work on my habits or learn how to be a better parent; the purpose is simply to get lost in a story that’s nothing to do with your life. It’s escapism.

I plan to read more novels in 2017. As much as I love personal development and self-help, I think I might tone it down a little next year and spend more of my sacred alone time getting lost in a fantasy world that someone else has created, rather than “visualising my goals and the future I will create for myself” or whatever other bit of life-changing advice I have yet to note down.

Here are the 5 novels I picked up at my latest Charity Shop splurge:

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett

I saw this in the cinema with my Mum in 2011. I still can’t believe I’ve yet to read the book. It’s one of the only stories to make both me and my mother cry at the same time. – Knowing that of course, it’s not even really fiction, makes it that much harder to swallow.