I’ve been seeing this trend all over TikTok and thought it could make a really nice blog post as an avid reader. When I think about different ages of my life I can think of so many different books that impacted me, but I tried to pick the first five that came to mind from the different stages of my life.

1. Hairy Maclary

There are so many books that remind me of my childhood but Hairy Maclary was always a favourite. I loved the rhymes and I ESPECIALLY loved Schnitzel Von Krumm as a child and then I got to read them all over again to my little brother and was reminded what great books they are.

2. Kiss

I loved anything by Jaqueline Wilson but I thought Kiss was such a good book. I always felt so “grown up” when I read it and I used to think Miranda was so cool and it is a book that I think I will keep revisiting as it makes me smile to think about when I first read it and how incredibly cool I felt.

3. I’ll give you the sun

I was gifted this book by my best friend and it is one of those books that really sticks with you. It made me cry so much when I first read it and I reread it recently and I still cried. It reminds me of summer and taking chances and loss and grief and finding out who you truly are and it really is such a good book and I wish I could reread it for the first time all over again.

4. Normal people

Not to sound basic, but Normal People had such an effect on me. I wrote about it for my A-Level coursework so I read it when I was 17, which shockingly feels such a long time ago now, and I was at the same time extremely irritated by it and extremely moved. The TV show was good, but the book is extraordinary.

5. Confessions of a forty something f*** up

Funnily enough, I am nowhere near 40, but this book really spoke to me. I read it just under a year ago and I was feeling particularly lost and unsure about what I wanted to do, who with and where I wanted to be at the time. This book is about all of those things and I felt so seen. It is funny, witty, honest and made me feel a little bit brighter about life. I can’t wait to read the sequel.

What books make you, you? Let me know in the comments!

Yours, justjaslettering xxx