I have mentioned before that I am going to do book reviews once in awhile and what better book to start than my favorite ones? I fell absolutely in love with Xanth right at the first book. I took it all in hook, line and sinker. I even named my son “Xanth Reign” because of my obvious addiction to the series.

Anyways, on to the review:

Xanth by Piers Anthony is a “punnish” series, it is a trilogy but not your typical trilogy – The first trilogy consists of 27 books and the second trilogy as of now consists of 7 books. Xanth is a world of its own, it is a magical parallel world with its own set of rules and where puns abound. It is a world not for the feint of heart where dragons, tangle trees, krakens, goblins, harpies, evil sorceress and evil magicians try to rule.

Would you like to drink chocolate milk from pods? Or eat pies from pie trees? How about drinking soda from lake tsoda popka? Xanth offers you that and so much more. The way the stories are intertwined, the various detours, the word play, the puns are what makes Xanth special. It is not just a series for those who are not privy to the “Adult Conspiracy”, it is a series that spans all ages. Try reading the first book, A Spell for Chameleon, and believe me you will get hooked. Although, I must concede, there may be people (prudes really… ) who might see Xanth as inappropriate for children, but this is not so. Xanth is series that children both young and old will enjoy. The series are well-written and the words are easy enough for youngsters to understand although people who are privy to the Adult Conspiracy may see/read something other than the actual meaning of the words.

Go to your local bookstore, ask for the first Xanth series and go home and read it – wait, before you go home, ask the bookstore attendant to reserve all the Xanth books they have for you, because believe me you will come back for more.

I have finished the first trilogy and am now into the second trilogy, I am still looking for Air Apparent, Two to the Fifth, Jumper Cable and Knot Gneiss… If any of you have them, care to lend them to me?

I am a voracious reader and proud of it. I read everything, from medicine brochures, pamphlets, roadside posters, children books, ebooks, practically anything I could get my hands into. I can read an entire novel in a day, in one sitting if the plot is really good. I remembered when I had all the time in my life and I would spend it meeting people, monsters, aliens, animals and whatnot. I talked with monsters, heroes, princes and princesses, magical creatures, famous people and long lost friends.

My love of reading and books started at a very young age. If I can remember it right, the first book I read when I first learned how is The Bible. I would memorize verses and whole chapters, my memory retention back then was superb . I won a lot of Bible contest back when I was young. I got to know Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys really well. I then found suspense novels and they retained my attention for quite awhile, I hoarded them, I read them voraciously, I dream about them. Stephen King, John Saul are my best friends. They entertained me and I spent most of my allowance buying their books.

I read romance novels every now and then but they just don’t have enough content to keep me entertained. I do love the idea of a knight in shining armor but too much of it is just, well, too much. I then found the world of fantasy and it got me, hook, line and sinker. I am a very practical(?) person, but the idea of a fantasy land where magic is abundant and happy endings can happen (but not always) appeals to the child in me. I got to know JRR Tolkien, JK Rowlings, David Eddings and Piers Anthony among others. They were my constant companion, and they still are.

Although, I do not have enough free time to read books the way I did before, I still can squeeze in a chapter or two in between work. I fell in love with Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and I even named my son “Xanth Reign” in honor of this magical land and its people. I have most of the collection in ebooks which I download into my phone to read once in awhile. Although not as fulfilling as holding a real book in your hands and manually flipping the pages, reading books in my ebook reader can still give me the satisfaction that only books can give me.

So, am I addicted to books? Nah…