Accessit Team Talk – Shane – Accessit Library Support

What were the first books you read and did you read much growing up? Do you read regularly now?

Roald Dahl! Some classics like Matilda or the BFG. At a young age I had books read to me, like The Hungry Caterpillar or Hairy Maclary. I did continue to read a lot as I grew up, mainly Teen Fiction like CHERUB (I read the series over and over again), Alex Rider, Young Bond, Percy Jackson, and of course, Goosebumps. I also went through a phase at university where I read a lot, both for university and for pleasure. I don’t read so much now, though. Probably just because I haven’t bought my own books nor have been to the library in my spare time. When I do read, my favourite genre would probably be Murder Mystery. I’ve read a descent amount of Gillian Flynn.

What’s your mindset towards reading and what’s a challenge have found in developing the habit of it?

I’m definitely all for reading. I feel like you can tell when someone reads and has quite an expansive vocabulary. It expands and opens up the mind. I absolutely encourage it. Sometimes a challenge for me with reading is finding something to read. Often when I finish a book, I have the sad crisis of “alright, that’s done, where to from here?”.

What are the positive results of reading? How much do you endorse it?

There are just so many good books for readers at a young age. You can have so much more fun reading than you can in other ways, and expand your knowledge while you’re at it. With reading, you are reinforcing things as you go because you are forced to imagine the scenarios, consolidate things in your head and build the picture yourself.

Can you think of any book-to-movie transitions and are they good, or not so good?

“Stormbreaker” from the Alex Rider series. It was okay, but you don’t quite capture the detail you get from reading. However, it did give me an opportunity to watch through one of my favourite stories. Also, “The Boys” is a series of many graphic novels and is now a really popular TV show that I quite like to watch.

Which character in a book would you resonate with most?

(Laughs) I haven’t really read a book about support workers! But yes, probably Andy from the “Just Crazy” books. He is insanely goofy, does a lot of stupid things and always has a laugh with it.