Dear Jessie Burton,

I'm not going to write a letter that makes an awful lot of sense today, and I apologise, but The Miniaturist is honestly the best book I have ever read and I don't say that very often.Never before have I read something so shocking and totally unexpected and I absolutely loved it.

Your book had intrigued me for such a long time before I actually got around to buying it, and I've never quite been sure why. The title especially; I had never heard anything of the sorts! What even was a 'miniaturist', I had no idea, but I was absolutely dying to find out. So as soon as I had some spare time on my hands, I began to read.

I have always been completely fascinated by the past, especially the history of other countries. So when I realised that your book was set in 17th century Amsterdam, I honestly thought I had found my dream novel. Due to this, I fell  completely in love with the story before I had even started reading it. I quickly became immersed into the story and became accustomed to the characters. But then, massive plot twist (I won't spoil anything, I promise), and I felt like the entire world I once knew had been turned upside down and I wasn't even half way through the novel. 

As the novel progressed, I never dared to trust it again. I was so unbelievably surprised by recent events that I found myself in the rare position of not having any idea whatsoever as to what was going to happen. Although I found this quite unnerving at first, it was really quite exhilarating. It was like no other novel I had read before.

The ending did not disappoint, thank goodness. To give you a slight hint, if you look really closely at the last pages of my copy of your book, there are ripples in the pages from where my tears landed. From that alone, I think you can see the effect that it had on me. So powerful... so unjust; it presented a difficult reality from that point in time that I had never really thought about before. 

I have so many questions that I wish I could ask you that I have asked myself, and Google, many times. I guess the answers may lie with Nella, Johannes and even yourself. But they are for another time. I wouldn't wish anyone to read your book if they knew the plot. It is, a completely beautiful surprise.

Signing off till next time,

Nin :-) x

To All the Writers

I wanted to write a letter to you, the creators; The creators of our fantasies. I simultaneously want to thank you and demand a thousand apologies, for you actually determine my thoughts, feelings and emotions for days after reading your works. I wanted to write a letter to you to try and explain your role from the point of view of a reader because sometimes, I don't even think you realise what power you hold over us readers.

Before I continue, I feel like I ought to explain the difference between someone who reads, and a reader. Someone who reads is a casual reader, they read as and when they want to and they don't become overly immersed in whatever they are reading. They could read a book one day and forget about it the next. Readers, on the other hand, are the ones you need to be careful with. Readers become so incredibly involved in the stories you are writing, it sometimes comes to a point when they cannot distinguish between a story and reality. The characters become their friends and family, and if something happens to them, like if something happened to their real family or friends, you can break them. I consider myself a reader, I also consider being a reader dangerous. 

Now when you, the creators, write a book, you are effectively playing God. You decide the fate of the characters, thus deciding the fate of the readers. You have so much power. I beg you to use it wisely. Make us laugh, make us cry, make us squeal with adoration, make us feel what the characters feel because we crave it. Don't get me wrong, I love being a broken reader, but only in the right way. Don't break us then leave us, break us then heal us. 

So, the purpose of this letter? I wish to ask you something. Do you think of your 'readers' before you publish anything? Do you think of how your work will make us feel? Whether we will smile, laugh, or sob in desperation? Does it matter to you  or does the thought of you having so much power completely amuse you? I have always wondered this because it is the one thing that stops me from making the jump from being a reader to a storyteller. Playing god terrifies me. Does it terrify you?

Signing off till next time,

Nin :-) x

Dear Veronica Roth

Dear Veronica Roth, 

When I first read Divergent, I didn't know anyone who had read the series. I bought the first book one morning and by the end of the day I had both finished the first book and ordered the second. Then, as expected, the next day, after hours of just waiting, the book arrived and just like the first, I had finished it by the end of the day. I had very quickly, imagined myself in Chicago-of-the-future, had placed myself in a faction and taken many quizzes to prove myself correct.

I went to school the following Monday and told everyone and anyone who would listen about your books. It was my latest obsession to say the least. Eventually, my friends read the books because I just wouldn't shut up about it. They, like me, became obsessed with them. They were the hot topic of discussion for at least a month. There was only one problem, Allegiant was yet to be released.

Months passed quickly by and before we knew it, it was October 23rd and the final book was here. I had pre ordered my copy, and very much like the others, I had finished it and cried (a lot) about it  by the end of the day. I had even seen a spoiler the morning it was released, didn't believe it, and then when it actually happened I was so surprised and shocked and scared. You, Veronica Roth are one powerful woman.

Going back to when I read the first book, I mentioned that I put myself in a faction. After reading Allegiant, it made me think about just that. It made me think that the whole concept of being 'Divergent' is flawed. Surely, everyone is divergent? I thought that I could place myself in a category, well I guess that is what you are supposed to think. In reality, I am kind, I am selfless, I am brave, I am honest and I am intelligent and so is everyone else! I understand that you are meant to go with whatever quality speaks to you the most. I found it quite degrading actually, to think  that I would be placed into a catagory, according the majority of my personality. 

This lead me to think about other books, and the reality is, a lot of books are based on the same concept! Take the Harry Potter series, one of the most well loved series of our time. Even J.K Rowling divides us in the form of houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin dependant on our qualities. It was much more of a common reality than I had first expected.

Despite all of this, I still completely love your books. They made me think of the potential horror of our future, that both tereifies and excites me in some respects. I do hope that our world never falls into such a dire situation as the world you depicted does.

Signing off till next time,

Nin :-) x

Dear Mark Haddon,

Dear Mark Haddon,

Your book The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nighttime has such a personal meaning to me. It really helped me to understand when I was sure that I never would. I am writing this letter to you to thank you for that because I wouldn't be the same person I am today without it.

Now before I go into details as to why I came about your book, I think I ought to give you some context. I have a younger brother called Angus. When he was two, he was diagnosed with severe autism; everyone told our family that he would never be able to talk or interact with others. Obviously, I was too young to understand at the time as I am only a year and a half older than him, so I just went about life knowing that he was different, but not fully understanding why and how.

I grew up with autism, it was, and still is part of day to day life. So, I guess you could say that I didn't know any different. Sticking to an exact routine everyday was normal for me. On reflection, I don't think that I realised how different my childhood had been until many years later. 

So, I came across your book and I could immediately see Christopher in my brother. I know that Christopher doesn't have it as severe as my brother does, and he seems to have Aspergers rather than autism (correct me if I'm wrong), but all the little things he does, like not liking 'chatting' were exactly the same! It enabled me to understand my brother more than I had ever before. I was able to see the world through his obviously confused eyes for just a second and it really gave me an insight into what life is like for him. It was so refreshing seeing someone talk about autism almost humorously, rather than portraying it as a condition. 

Many years later and I still love and read your book. We studied it in English class in year 9 (I obviously had a considerably large advantage) I even went to see the play in London last year. If anyone ever needed to understand why my brother, or anyone else with Aspergers or Autism for that matter, was different, I would always just refer them to your book. I hope it has helped others to understand as much as it helped me.

In short, your book made me feel like this :-)

Signing off till next time,

Nin :-) x

Dear J.K Rowling

Dear J.K Rowling,

I cannot deny what I am about to say, and I know that you probably hear this a lot. Your books have been my obsession for the past seven years of my life and continue to be to this day. The world of Hogwarts has been my escape for so long. I finally feel like the time has come for me to let you know of my unrequited love towards your characters and the world you created seventeen years ago.

 Although your books were published a long time before I actually started to devour them, I still feel like a part of the original ‘Harry Potter family’. I didn’t receive my own first copy till many years later. However, I do remember my first ‘Harry Potter experience’ quite vividly. I borrowed it from my best friend’s brother, who was a complete Harry Potter fanatic; he even had a snitch painted on his wall; I was so jealous. My so called ‘best friend’ was extremely anti-books, I however was extremely not. Poor little 10-year old Lily found herself with no one to talk to about this new magical place she had discovered. This lead my first read through to be unfortunately uneventful.

I intensely tore through your books, so, naturally, when I reached the end I was utterly distraught. Harry Ron and Hermione (but especially Harry) had become my absolute idols. When the books ended it was like my three best friends had all simultaneously moved far away. “There is NO life without Harry Potter” my past self originally thought. I don’t think I even picked up another book for at least another week after I had finished them. But then, not long after this reading spree, like all the other ‘cool kids’ in my year at school, I gave in to peer pressure and discovered cringy, girly teen fiction such as Jacqueline Wilson among many others. I fell head over heels down the rabbit hole into another world full of fall outs, breakups and makeups where every day was like a soap opera and everything was forgotten about, until the bomb that was secondary school blew up beneath my feet.

Now, dear J.K, I will not waste your time with my pretty average sob story of a ginger nerdy teen who gets picked on by her peers for having the wrong hair colour and liking the wrong things, an unfortunate example being your books. I was then forced to repress my ultimate desire to read just so I could fit in. But I shan’t bore you with that now, that is a whole other tale for another letter. I will, however, move on to my second read through of your series. It came around quite unexpectedly, yet, unlike the first time, it definitely was eventful; I met my best friend through your books.

It was late 2011, I had moved schools to somewhere more excepting of my reading habits thank goodness, and I had completely run out of books to read (since this occasion, I should mention that I always now have a surplus of books on my shelves) so I decided to go through some of my old favourites, Harry Potter being my obvious first choice. On the top of the pile was my very own set of your books that I had received at Christmas the year before and immediately discarded because I was too ‘cool’ for those childish stories. So, I picked them up, and once again, began to read.

I was immediately reminded of Harry and his whimsical world that had entranced me a few years previously. Despite me being a little older, it was certainly no less wonderful.  However, as I progressed through the series, something seemed different this time. Or rather someone, in this case. As I described earlier, Harry was my absolute idol throughout read-through-number-one. Yet after reading all that ooey gooey teen trash, Harry seemed somewhat arrogant and much darker than I so fondly remembered him. Especially after reading the last book, I actually grew to really dislike the character. He seemed to ignore his best friends as he was too engrossed in his own importance. It was clear that he was trying to play the hero by saving his friends thus sacrificing himself. This however made me think the exact opposite; he was not allowing his friends to help him on his seemingly impossible mission, even though they were more than willing to assist. In hindsight, I can see that this is the beauty of his character. It shows us that not even heroes are faultless and that everyone has their imperfections. Yet back then, I homed in on his flaws and never took his strengths into consideration. I won’t lie to you dear J.K, I was furious with you. In my eyes, you had ruined mine and Harry’s friendship, despite nothing actually changing.

I intended to keep my Harry Potter readings quiet, just in case it sounded childish and a little strange to some. Yet, one day, I needed to vent my fury of this character my brain had been tricked into loving and oh boy did I vent. This poor girl who I barely even knew just stared into space as we walked and I ranted until I had finished and she laughed at me. Turns out she felt the same way too and we spent the rest of the hour just talking and ranting to our hearts content. This was the beginning of a long and happy friendship.

This day lead to many more happy readings, each from which I took new things and learnt more and more about Harry’s world. The characters were no longer characters; they were my brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles. To say I was obsessed was an understatement. Lupin taught me that being different isn’t such a bad thing at all; Hermione taught me that reading can literally save your life and of course, the Weasleys taught me that it was actually pretty cool to be ginger.

I feel that this book has influenced my life to an extent that no other book, or series of books, can match. No matter how clichéd or popular it is. Harry Potter taught me the rules of life: how to act, how not to act, how to be the hero and how to not to be the loser. Although your books may have been closed long ago and cinemas across the world have emptied of your people, your stories, I feel, will live on forever.   I have followed Harry and his stories for a long time now, and I will continue to do so, right “until the very end.”

        

Signing off till next time,

Nin :-) x

Hello World :-)

Dear World,

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read my very first post, you are all awesome! Secondly, welcome to Nin's Letters, my new blog in which I will be writing letters to the world about the things that I love.

Seeing as this is my first post, I think I ought to introduce myself. I go by Nin, I am 17 years old and I live in a small, rural village in England. I am currently in year twelve in a sixth form college and I study english literature, history and psychology, all of which I love but english literature is certainly my favourite!

I have had a passion for books and reading from a young age and I now take pleasure in reading a huge variety of novels, poems and plays. However, I went through a faze when I was on the cusp of adolescence where I didn't read as it wasn't 'cool' to do so. In hindsight, that time period when I didn't read was the unhappiest I had been in my life and I strongly believe that not doing something that I loved played a huge part in that. By creating this blog and writing these letters, I would like to inspire all of you to take pleasure in your passions and love them publicly, because I would not want you to make the same mistake that I made.

I intend for this blog to be predominantly literature based as, in case you haven't guessed by now, I LOVE to read books and review them. However, the reviews posted on here will be in the form of a letter to the author of the novel rather than your bog standard review. The reason being for this is that I feel like I can share my thoughts and experiences of a novel better in this format. I do hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them!Despite all these bookish thoughts, I do aim to include something other than this in the near future once I get accustomed to this new platform.

Right then, I guess that is all I need to say for now. I hope that you will stick around for my next letter which will be to J.K Rowling about my experiences with the Harry Potter series.

Signing off till next time,

Nin :-) x