I was an avid reader as a child. To be frank, I wasn’t very outdoorsy, I wasn’t overly sociable, and there certainly weren’t all the gadgets back then to amuse the children of the 70s. Reading was my go to. I never had a shortage of books or comics to read. My Mum rarely refused if I asked for a new book. My reading age at school was always ahead of my physical age. I would very often sit with a book until I’d finished it. And then I’d start a new one.

As a young adult with a full time job, a sick husband and some voluntary work for good measure, I discovered the joys of so called chick lit. Wonderful frothy stories of love, adventure, friendship and fun, and always with a happy ending. Perfect for dipping in and out of, or taking on holiday. I’ve enjoyed many different authors as time has gone on.

More recently I enjoyed some of the historical stories set in the Second World War, or subsequent years, about girls working in factories, or shops, and the like. I also read a lot of what I branded ‘sob stories’ about survivors of child abuse or growing up in care. But they can be pretty traumatic.

I’ve always enjoyed erotic fiction, both reading and writing. Perhaps unsurprisingly. Despite not being true to BDSM principles, I really enjoyed the Fifty Shades trilogy.

But my favourite book, that I’ve come back to over and over is a poetry anthology. I have always loved poetry, again both reading and writing. And the book I love most is a collection of the top 100 popular poems as voted for by the viewers of the BBC’s The Bookworm in 1995. It contains so many of the poems I loved at school; the classics. There’s truly something for every mood. It was gifted to me by a manager in one of my retail jobs, and I have cherished it since. It’s not so pristine as it once was, for it is well read and well loved. And I anticipate I will treasure it for many more years to come.