Day 2 - A Book I've Read More Than 3 Times

This title should really read, Books I Have Read More Than 3 Times.

I really find this hard to narrow down. For awhile there, before I branched out to discover new authors, I just read my favourites over and over. I think I even blogged about my favourites.

So, I'll just give you one (that I haven't blogged about before, I don't think), that I have read over and over.

For me, loving a book enough to read it again and again means that somehow the author has transported me out of this world and into theirs. Prince William (according to the Daily Mail) joked a few days ago to their tour guides when he and Kate and Prince Harry were touring the Harry Potter museum, not to tell Harry that Harry Potter wasn't real, because he didn't know that yet. I laughed out loud when I read that, because that would actually totally be me. I often fantasize that Hercule Poirot is real, and that if only someone wrote to him he could come and solve all these unsolved murders. And Anne of Green Gables - she really lived all those years ago on Prince Edward Island. And in my mind, camping on the lake with four children who sailed in the dark and were nearly duffers really did happen - actually, I think that one might be based on real-life events.

So, to read a book more than once proves the art and skill of the writer. So hard to choose, but I have to pick a book I haven't blogged about before (so hard to do), so I'm choosing My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.

This is actually the cover of the DVD movie, but it kind of sums up the book. And look! Imelda Staunton, who is one of my favourite actresses, is just brilliant as the mother.

A madcap English family. Dogs. Greek island and Greek Villas and plenty of laughs.

Gerald Durrell is one of my favourite authors. So many of his books are actually informative and educational but he weaves the educational bits into such humourus stories, that you don't even realise that you are captivated by the mating rituals of the preying mantis, or feel quite protective to the matchbox full of tiny scorpion babies when his older brother, who only wants to light a candle, opens up the matchbox at the dinner table, only to throw the tiny little scorpion babies all over the table.

This is a laugh out loud book, pretty irreverant in places and Jerry just pulls you in to the magic and old-time world of the island of Corfu. Truly, this island is on my bucket list of places to see, just because of his writings. The sun-drenched hills filled to the brim with bountiful olive trees, and high, narrow walkways, and hot, sleepy villages and lonely beaches with warm water, and lunch under the sweeping bows of trees near the house - it really does sound like a paradise in Jerry's eyes, and he has made me want to go there.

I love his eccentric, crazy family and the funny things that they do. This is a definite for anyone's library. I love it so much, I actually once bought a very expensive rare edition with photographs from the Durrell's family album and paintings to illustrate. It is one of my most prized books.

If you haven't read this, go and do yourself a favour and get it now, and enjoy a romp on the Island of Corfu with the funniest, most endearing family you will ever meet.