Confessions of a Book Whore: "The Pottery" - S.A Partridge

 

 Today, Confessions of a Book Whore is hosting the delightfully talented S.A Partridge, award-winning author of The Goblet Club, Fuse, Dark Poppy's Demise and Triolet, Mauritius. One am, appears in the Home Away anthology.  Her blog can be found here and her Twitter account here. 

S.A Partridge confesses her bookish skeletons...

THANK YOU TO S.A PARTRIDGE FOR TAKING PART!

 

It’s difficult to think of one literary secret that stands out above the rest.

 

It took me a year to finish Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I've never read Jane Eyre.

I actually hated The Hunger Games.

 

I could probably think of a few more if I tried really hard. In the past I'm sure I've lied and said I've read books that I haven't to make myself sound more intelligent or to spare someone's feelings. I certainly don't have any guilty secret books (unless I've blocked them out somehow.)

The best secret I can come up with is that I used to get a little obsessed about the books I liked. Okay, scratch that. Really obsessed.

 

It’s no secret that I love Harry Potter. In the past I've posted about how I used to take the books out of the library time after time to make myself feel better. Its actually one of the few books that I can read a second or third or fourth (or eleventh) time without getting bored. To this day I keep a copy of The Prisoner of Azkaban or The Goblet of Fire handy for those particularly blue days.

 

It might be the escapist aspect that draws me. Any kid would give their front teeth for a chance to live in a world with real witches and wizards. If there was a way for me to dive into the books I'd be right there with Dumbledore's army, fighting the Deatheaters and Dementors. (My Patronus would be a bat or a crow or something equally gothy.)

 

S.A Partridge with the 'Monster book of Monsters'

 

Naturally, if I was in the books my love interest would be Sirius or Remus and... See what I mean about getting a little obsessed?

I was so into the series that I started compiling a guidebook called The Pottery that featured extensive character sketches and glossaries accompanied by pictures meticulously cut out of my mother’s You Magazines. The guide is currently gathering dust at the top of a cupboard at my parent's house where no one can see it along with all my Lord of the Rings collectable figurines.

 

That brings me to Lord of the Rings. Yes, I collected the figures. All of them. And yes, they are still in their unopened boxes. I also had all the books, including the rare ones, as well as my very own One Ring which is sitting in a box so I don’t lose it. And yes, I used to graffiti all over my school books with elfish and feel very clever about it.

 

Perhaps my secret is that I'm a closet fantasy fan. It would explain why I own every single Discworld novel (and the companion books) and why I cried for days when my parents refused to buy me Nanny Ogg's Cookbook for my birthday.

I still laugh at the mention of bananas. 

S.A Partridge in Dumbledore's office

As an adult I’ve calmed down a bit. I still use the hand-crafted Harry Potter bookmarks I made as a teenager, and during my recent holiday to the United Kingdom I made a point of visiting the Harry Potter Film Studios and bought a sack full of souvenirs. If I had a day to myself I’d more than likely sit down and watch the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings Films. And just the other day I picked up Witches Abroad for the fourth time to have a little giggle.

But the glory days of throwing myself headfirst into the sparkly waters of fandom are long gone. Who has time for that anymore? With working and writing and reading I hardly have time for anything else. Still, if I had to go back in time I wouldn’t change a thing. I really loved staying up till midnight so I could get a copy of the latest Harry Potter which I’d inevitably spend all night reading.  I miss the excitement I felt when my dad called me at home to say that he’d spotted an Arwen at Toys R Us and it was the one with the light-up sword that I didn’t have. Damn, I really miss it.

 

Perhaps growing up isn’t so great, after all.


- Post by S.A Partridge