The earliest memory of a literary experience,

…was from when I went to fifth grade, 10 years old. We lived in a two storey villa and I remember how I walked with my nose snuggled up between the book pages everywhere I went; The toilet, the sofa, for breakfast, for lunch…even walking up and down the staircase! What was this book, that could snare a 10 year old deep into its mysteries?

The year was 1999,

… and a debut author from U.K. had gotten her first book translated into Swedish, in the end it would be a 7 book series. If you haven’t figured it out yet, it was Harry Potter och De Vises Sten (Philosopher’s Stone). Certainly I’ve read books before that time, but Harry Potter was the first book that captivated me beyond reality… and it is that feeling that I search for in every book ever since. If a book manages to draw me into its world in such a degree that I can’t put it down and I forget all about time… then it is a hit!

Books like that are rare.

I can count most of them on my fingers, mostly fantasy and historical fiction, but nonetheless:

  • J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings
  • Stephen King’s The Talisman
  • Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina
  • Deborah Harkness A Discovery of Witches
  • Kader Abdolah The House of the Mosque
  • …

Reading are always both ways.

It can be magical and it can be plain dull. But in the end, I always read for myself – no one else. And that’s the way it should be. However, having blogged now for nearly 4 years, something that is only for oneself can still be shared.

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What book(s) have captivated YOU beyond time and space?