Christina here – I was chatting to some of my writing friends via FaceTime the other day and for some reason we started reminiscing about our favourite childhood reads. We came up with one great title after another and I thought back to those exciting days when I would go off to the library to browse the children’s section – there was so much waiting for me to discover! What really struck me, however, was how similar my reading experiences and tastes had been to those of my two friends – all the Enid Blyton stories (especially the Famous Five series), Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Little Princess and The Secret Garden, L M Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, and many more. And because we all write romance now, it made me wonder whether we are all predisposed to liking certain types of stories from an early age? Is it tied up with our personalities or are we influenced by those around us?
Personally, I seem to have been fixated on fairy tales, romance and happy-ever-afters right from the start. This could have been because of the stories I was told (my grandmother especially passed on lots of Swedish folklore), but as far as I can remember, my parents read me lots of different things and not just about princesses and castles. I just happened to like the romantic ones the best and I was hooked on fairy tales. Only the nice ones, though, I didn’t like the Brothers Grimm stories in their gory original versions (wasn’t Snow White’s step-mother’s punishment just horrendous?!?), and I positively loathed Hans Christian Andersen’s sad tales.
My grandfather had a mini library with beautifully bound novels, including a wonderful set of four books containing One Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights) – these enthralled me. He wouldn’t allow me to read the stories until I was a bit older (I guess he felt some were a bit racy and/or violent), but he used to show me the gorgeous illustrations and tell me edited versions of the tales. When he died, he left those books to me and they always remind me of our times together. (Here's a photo of me and my grandparents with all those books – long before I was able to read them).
As soon as I was allowed there on my own, I scoured the shelves at the library for the kind of stories I wanted – anything with even a hint of romance. I was extremely happy to find that Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer contained a scene where Tom kissed his love interest Becky, but upon eagerly reading Huckleberry Finn to see if there was more romance from this author, I was bitterly disappointed that th
ere was none whatsoever. There was a distinct lack of romantic novels for children and teenagers altogether back then and I quickly graduated to the more adult stories. My father often made suggestions of classics I might like and I was happy to discover The Three Musketeers and The Count of Montecristo by Alexandre Dumas for example, which are still favourites. But they weren’t romantic enough. It wasn’t until I came across Georgette Heyer and Victoria Holt in my teens that I found what I’d been looking for.
With my own two daughters, I read them the same fairy tales and passed on the same Swedish stories my grandmother had told me, but neither of them likes romance. Not even a little bit. And despite my abiding interest in history, dragging the two of them to all sorts of stately homes and castles, they didn’t want to read about that either – history was ‘boring’. The books I’d enjoyed as a child they considered too old-fashioned. With regard to the Enid Blyton books, for example, I suppose they had a point since their generation would never have been let loose to roam the countryside alone to go camping without parents, but still … I so adored those and think I read every single one. I wanted to be George, and even named my dog Timmy. I felt my kids should have enjoyed the stories for the adventures and pure escapism they offered, but they simply couldn’t relate to those long-ago children and their lives at all.
I had clearly failed to pass on my passion for romance and history – or was I always doomed to failure because their personalities were so different to mine?
Obviously, the age/era we live in influences us too. I grew up in a small-town environment without the distractions of tv/internet/handheld games etc. Apart from playing with friends, reading was my main entertainment. My children, on the other hand, lived in a big city and have always had all those additional distractions. I don’t believe their school did enough to encourage them to read for pleasure either – when studying classics like Jane Eyre they were only given parts of it to analyze and reading the whole book was optional. Optional? Seriously? That made me so mad! It wasn’t until my daughter watched a tv adaptation with me that she realised it was actually a really good story. (And yes, she liked it despite the romance).
In my class at school, we had a reading aloud session once a week where we all took turns. I loved this, but at the same time it always made me very impatient because some of my classmates were so slow. Usually I would sneak read ahead of where we were supposed to be – a potentially risky strategy if I was suddenly asked to continue where someone else had left off and I was absorbed in another chapter! Anyone else do this?
I read quite a lot of Young Adult novels these days and I can’t help but wish such an incredible array of great stories had been available to me. My teenage self would have been in seventh heaven! I especially love the fairy tale retellings – no surprise there! (My favourite so far is Marissa Meyer’s series starting with Cinder – so inventive!) I feel it’s a shame that my daughters never wanted to read anything like that, but we are all different and as the French say, vive la différence! If people didn’t have differing tastes, perhaps I would never have found readers for my own stories. And now that these YA novels exist, I’m taking full advantage of that – aren’t we all still teenagers on the inside sometimes?
Re-reading childhood favourites doesn’t work though – I recently tried reading Enid Blyton’s The Secret Island just to see what it was like and to be honest, I should have left it alone. But there are some stories that stay with you and can be enjoyed in other ways. Whenever the ones I loved are made into a film or tv series, I always watch – I have the DVD of The Secret Garden, for example, which I can happily sit through any number of times. It never fails to delight! Perhaps it’s the nostalgia – being instantly transported back to your childhood self – or maybe it’s just that some books are simply really good stories, no matter what?
Which of your childhood favourites have you never forgotten and what story takes you back? And is there any kind of book you wish you’d had then but couldn’t find?
In my grammar school there was no library, but every classroom had a bookshelf of age-appropriate books for free reading, and I was trusted to take them home and bring them back. We were encouraged to read for pleasure, and for some of us it became a lifelong habit. They don’t do it that way anymore, as your Jane Eyre story shows; kids seem to be taught to pull information to pass tests, rather than for fun or general information. They have made reading into *work*.
I got hooked on Oz books when I was maybe 7 or 8. I still have many of them and I still look into them occasionally.
They are like fairy tales, but they’re not because the adventures happened not to medieval princesses and knights but real young American kids. I knew I was never going to be a princess but I could relate to those kids; they were like me. They told me I didn’t have to be born special, which I wasn’t; I could be just a regular little kid and have fun and adventure too. And in Oz I could talk to animals, which was another thing I wanted to do.
Now the John R. Neill pen sketches have such charm; Baum’s successor Ruth Plumly Thompson is still funny; and Oz is still out there somewhere.
In my grammar school there was no library, but every classroom had a bookshelf of age-appropriate books for free reading, and I was trusted to take them home and bring them back. We were encouraged to read for pleasure, and for some of us it became a lifelong habit. They don’t do it that way anymore, as your Jane Eyre story shows; kids seem to be taught to pull information to pass tests, rather than for fun or general information. They have made reading into *work*.
I got hooked on Oz books when I was maybe 7 or 8. I still have many of them and I still look into them occasionally.
They are like fairy tales, but they’re not because the adventures happened not to medieval princesses and knights but real young American kids. I knew I was never going to be a princess but I could relate to those kids; they were like me. They told me I didn’t have to be born special, which I wasn’t; I could be just a regular little kid and have fun and adventure too. And in Oz I could talk to animals, which was another thing I wanted to do.
Now the John R. Neill pen sketches have such charm; Baum’s successor Ruth Plumly Thompson is still funny; and Oz is still out there somewhere.
In my grammar school there was no library, but every classroom had a bookshelf of age-appropriate books for free reading, and I was trusted to take them home and bring them back. We were encouraged to read for pleasure, and for some of us it became a lifelong habit. They don’t do it that way anymore, as your Jane Eyre story shows; kids seem to be taught to pull information to pass tests, rather than for fun or general information. They have made reading into *work*.
I got hooked on Oz books when I was maybe 7 or 8. I still have many of them and I still look into them occasionally.
They are like fairy tales, but they’re not because the adventures happened not to medieval princesses and knights but real young American kids. I knew I was never going to be a princess but I could relate to those kids; they were like me. They told me I didn’t have to be born special, which I wasn’t; I could be just a regular little kid and have fun and adventure too. And in Oz I could talk to animals, which was another thing I wanted to do.
Now the John R. Neill pen sketches have such charm; Baum’s successor Ruth Plumly Thompson is still funny; and Oz is still out there somewhere.
In my grammar school there was no library, but every classroom had a bookshelf of age-appropriate books for free reading, and I was trusted to take them home and bring them back. We were encouraged to read for pleasure, and for some of us it became a lifelong habit. They don’t do it that way anymore, as your Jane Eyre story shows; kids seem to be taught to pull information to pass tests, rather than for fun or general information. They have made reading into *work*.
I got hooked on Oz books when I was maybe 7 or 8. I still have many of them and I still look into them occasionally.
They are like fairy tales, but they’re not because the adventures happened not to medieval princesses and knights but real young American kids. I knew I was never going to be a princess but I could relate to those kids; they were like me. They told me I didn’t have to be born special, which I wasn’t; I could be just a regular little kid and have fun and adventure too. And in Oz I could talk to animals, which was another thing I wanted to do.
Now the John R. Neill pen sketches have such charm; Baum’s successor Ruth Plumly Thompson is still funny; and Oz is still out there somewhere.
In my grammar school there was no library, but every classroom had a bookshelf of age-appropriate books for free reading, and I was trusted to take them home and bring them back. We were encouraged to read for pleasure, and for some of us it became a lifelong habit. They don’t do it that way anymore, as your Jane Eyre story shows; kids seem to be taught to pull information to pass tests, rather than for fun or general information. They have made reading into *work*.
I got hooked on Oz books when I was maybe 7 or 8. I still have many of them and I still look into them occasionally.
They are like fairy tales, but they’re not because the adventures happened not to medieval princesses and knights but real young American kids. I knew I was never going to be a princess but I could relate to those kids; they were like me. They told me I didn’t have to be born special, which I wasn’t; I could be just a regular little kid and have fun and adventure too. And in Oz I could talk to animals, which was another thing I wanted to do.
Now the John R. Neill pen sketches have such charm; Baum’s successor Ruth Plumly Thompson is still funny; and Oz is still out there somewhere.
I read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories eagerly as a child, but even then I had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong – one girl despised girls and pretended to be a boy, and the other girl was a wimp who liked playing house. I don’t think I’d dare try rereading them.
My childhood favourite was Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth, and I still reread it with pleasure. I loved all her books, but there’s something special about Marcus and his experiences to an alien world.
And I loved the Oxford University Press series of myths and legends from different countries, each country illustrated in a different colour (Scotland was purple and gray, Russia was red and gray, and so on).
I read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories eagerly as a child, but even then I had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong – one girl despised girls and pretended to be a boy, and the other girl was a wimp who liked playing house. I don’t think I’d dare try rereading them.
My childhood favourite was Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth, and I still reread it with pleasure. I loved all her books, but there’s something special about Marcus and his experiences to an alien world.
And I loved the Oxford University Press series of myths and legends from different countries, each country illustrated in a different colour (Scotland was purple and gray, Russia was red and gray, and so on).
I read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories eagerly as a child, but even then I had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong – one girl despised girls and pretended to be a boy, and the other girl was a wimp who liked playing house. I don’t think I’d dare try rereading them.
My childhood favourite was Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth, and I still reread it with pleasure. I loved all her books, but there’s something special about Marcus and his experiences to an alien world.
And I loved the Oxford University Press series of myths and legends from different countries, each country illustrated in a different colour (Scotland was purple and gray, Russia was red and gray, and so on).
I read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories eagerly as a child, but even then I had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong – one girl despised girls and pretended to be a boy, and the other girl was a wimp who liked playing house. I don’t think I’d dare try rereading them.
My childhood favourite was Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth, and I still reread it with pleasure. I loved all her books, but there’s something special about Marcus and his experiences to an alien world.
And I loved the Oxford University Press series of myths and legends from different countries, each country illustrated in a different colour (Scotland was purple and gray, Russia was red and gray, and so on).
I read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories eagerly as a child, but even then I had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong – one girl despised girls and pretended to be a boy, and the other girl was a wimp who liked playing house. I don’t think I’d dare try rereading them.
My childhood favourite was Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth, and I still reread it with pleasure. I loved all her books, but there’s something special about Marcus and his experiences to an alien world.
And I loved the Oxford University Press series of myths and legends from different countries, each country illustrated in a different colour (Scotland was purple and gray, Russia was red and gray, and so on).
Christina – My favorite book growing up was Little Women, which I remember reading on my own at age 10. I would act the book out in the privacy of my room, away from prying eyes, recalling the plays that the March girls put on for each other. However, I would continually rearrange the ending: I wanted Jo to end up with Laurie. That’s me the romance lover, I reckon. I missed out on a lot of other books because when our classes were taken to the library, as I was too shy to get to the front of the line. Eventually, I started browsing nearby shelves – which all contained fairy tales. I had Grimm and Anderson at home (hated Anderson, despite the gorgeous illustrations), but here were the Red, Blue, etc Fairy books, as well as the classical myths. Heaven! By the time I was 11 or 12, I was reading Jane Eyre, which I read as a romance, not realizing until much later that they way Jane grew up was an actual reflection of the way children were treated at that time. A little later, I got hooked on Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames, but not too many of either, since they couldn’t be borrowed from the library, and my mother wasn’t about to buy me whole series of books. When I explored the attic in our former house, I also discovered my father’s secret stash of westerns by Zane Grey as well as a collection of Rafael Sabatini. By the time I was in high school, I discovered the beginning of the gothics, and my life was never the same. I also loved Ellswyth Thane’s Williamsburg series. As for books I missed when I was growing up, I’m afraid they are legion: Mary Poppins, Homer Price and so many etcs. So many books…so little time. Very engaging post, Christina.
Christina – My favorite book growing up was Little Women, which I remember reading on my own at age 10. I would act the book out in the privacy of my room, away from prying eyes, recalling the plays that the March girls put on for each other. However, I would continually rearrange the ending: I wanted Jo to end up with Laurie. That’s me the romance lover, I reckon. I missed out on a lot of other books because when our classes were taken to the library, as I was too shy to get to the front of the line. Eventually, I started browsing nearby shelves – which all contained fairy tales. I had Grimm and Anderson at home (hated Anderson, despite the gorgeous illustrations), but here were the Red, Blue, etc Fairy books, as well as the classical myths. Heaven! By the time I was 11 or 12, I was reading Jane Eyre, which I read as a romance, not realizing until much later that they way Jane grew up was an actual reflection of the way children were treated at that time. A little later, I got hooked on Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames, but not too many of either, since they couldn’t be borrowed from the library, and my mother wasn’t about to buy me whole series of books. When I explored the attic in our former house, I also discovered my father’s secret stash of westerns by Zane Grey as well as a collection of Rafael Sabatini. By the time I was in high school, I discovered the beginning of the gothics, and my life was never the same. I also loved Ellswyth Thane’s Williamsburg series. As for books I missed when I was growing up, I’m afraid they are legion: Mary Poppins, Homer Price and so many etcs. So many books…so little time. Very engaging post, Christina.
Christina – My favorite book growing up was Little Women, which I remember reading on my own at age 10. I would act the book out in the privacy of my room, away from prying eyes, recalling the plays that the March girls put on for each other. However, I would continually rearrange the ending: I wanted Jo to end up with Laurie. That’s me the romance lover, I reckon. I missed out on a lot of other books because when our classes were taken to the library, as I was too shy to get to the front of the line. Eventually, I started browsing nearby shelves – which all contained fairy tales. I had Grimm and Anderson at home (hated Anderson, despite the gorgeous illustrations), but here were the Red, Blue, etc Fairy books, as well as the classical myths. Heaven! By the time I was 11 or 12, I was reading Jane Eyre, which I read as a romance, not realizing until much later that they way Jane grew up was an actual reflection of the way children were treated at that time. A little later, I got hooked on Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames, but not too many of either, since they couldn’t be borrowed from the library, and my mother wasn’t about to buy me whole series of books. When I explored the attic in our former house, I also discovered my father’s secret stash of westerns by Zane Grey as well as a collection of Rafael Sabatini. By the time I was in high school, I discovered the beginning of the gothics, and my life was never the same. I also loved Ellswyth Thane’s Williamsburg series. As for books I missed when I was growing up, I’m afraid they are legion: Mary Poppins, Homer Price and so many etcs. So many books…so little time. Very engaging post, Christina.
Christina – My favorite book growing up was Little Women, which I remember reading on my own at age 10. I would act the book out in the privacy of my room, away from prying eyes, recalling the plays that the March girls put on for each other. However, I would continually rearrange the ending: I wanted Jo to end up with Laurie. That’s me the romance lover, I reckon. I missed out on a lot of other books because when our classes were taken to the library, as I was too shy to get to the front of the line. Eventually, I started browsing nearby shelves – which all contained fairy tales. I had Grimm and Anderson at home (hated Anderson, despite the gorgeous illustrations), but here were the Red, Blue, etc Fairy books, as well as the classical myths. Heaven! By the time I was 11 or 12, I was reading Jane Eyre, which I read as a romance, not realizing until much later that they way Jane grew up was an actual reflection of the way children were treated at that time. A little later, I got hooked on Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames, but not too many of either, since they couldn’t be borrowed from the library, and my mother wasn’t about to buy me whole series of books. When I explored the attic in our former house, I also discovered my father’s secret stash of westerns by Zane Grey as well as a collection of Rafael Sabatini. By the time I was in high school, I discovered the beginning of the gothics, and my life was never the same. I also loved Ellswyth Thane’s Williamsburg series. As for books I missed when I was growing up, I’m afraid they are legion: Mary Poppins, Homer Price and so many etcs. So many books…so little time. Very engaging post, Christina.
Christina – My favorite book growing up was Little Women, which I remember reading on my own at age 10. I would act the book out in the privacy of my room, away from prying eyes, recalling the plays that the March girls put on for each other. However, I would continually rearrange the ending: I wanted Jo to end up with Laurie. That’s me the romance lover, I reckon. I missed out on a lot of other books because when our classes were taken to the library, as I was too shy to get to the front of the line. Eventually, I started browsing nearby shelves – which all contained fairy tales. I had Grimm and Anderson at home (hated Anderson, despite the gorgeous illustrations), but here were the Red, Blue, etc Fairy books, as well as the classical myths. Heaven! By the time I was 11 or 12, I was reading Jane Eyre, which I read as a romance, not realizing until much later that they way Jane grew up was an actual reflection of the way children were treated at that time. A little later, I got hooked on Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames, but not too many of either, since they couldn’t be borrowed from the library, and my mother wasn’t about to buy me whole series of books. When I explored the attic in our former house, I also discovered my father’s secret stash of westerns by Zane Grey as well as a collection of Rafael Sabatini. By the time I was in high school, I discovered the beginning of the gothics, and my life was never the same. I also loved Ellswyth Thane’s Williamsburg series. As for books I missed when I was growing up, I’m afraid they are legion: Mary Poppins, Homer Price and so many etcs. So many books…so little time. Very engaging post, Christina.
That sounds wonderful, Janice, and great idea to have mini libraries in each classroom! I missed out on the Oz books – as I grew up in Sweden and only had access to books in Swedish and not everything had been translated – but I’m sure I would have loved them too. So glad you still enjoy dipping into them!
That sounds wonderful, Janice, and great idea to have mini libraries in each classroom! I missed out on the Oz books – as I grew up in Sweden and only had access to books in Swedish and not everything had been translated – but I’m sure I would have loved them too. So glad you still enjoy dipping into them!
That sounds wonderful, Janice, and great idea to have mini libraries in each classroom! I missed out on the Oz books – as I grew up in Sweden and only had access to books in Swedish and not everything had been translated – but I’m sure I would have loved them too. So glad you still enjoy dipping into them!
That sounds wonderful, Janice, and great idea to have mini libraries in each classroom! I missed out on the Oz books – as I grew up in Sweden and only had access to books in Swedish and not everything had been translated – but I’m sure I would have loved them too. So glad you still enjoy dipping into them!
That sounds wonderful, Janice, and great idea to have mini libraries in each classroom! I missed out on the Oz books – as I grew up in Sweden and only had access to books in Swedish and not everything had been translated – but I’m sure I would have loved them too. So glad you still enjoy dipping into them!
That’s really interesting, Suzanna, because I didn’t see the Famous Five book that way until much later, I just envied them their adventures. Sadly I missed out on Eagle of the Ninth until I was an adult, but oh yes, myths and legends – loved them! I read the Odyssey long before I truly understood all of it and of course all the Norse sagas. Great stuff!
That’s really interesting, Suzanna, because I didn’t see the Famous Five book that way until much later, I just envied them their adventures. Sadly I missed out on Eagle of the Ninth until I was an adult, but oh yes, myths and legends – loved them! I read the Odyssey long before I truly understood all of it and of course all the Norse sagas. Great stuff!
That’s really interesting, Suzanna, because I didn’t see the Famous Five book that way until much later, I just envied them their adventures. Sadly I missed out on Eagle of the Ninth until I was an adult, but oh yes, myths and legends – loved them! I read the Odyssey long before I truly understood all of it and of course all the Norse sagas. Great stuff!
That’s really interesting, Suzanna, because I didn’t see the Famous Five book that way until much later, I just envied them their adventures. Sadly I missed out on Eagle of the Ninth until I was an adult, but oh yes, myths and legends – loved them! I read the Odyssey long before I truly understood all of it and of course all the Norse sagas. Great stuff!
That’s really interesting, Suzanna, because I didn’t see the Famous Five book that way until much later, I just envied them their adventures. Sadly I missed out on Eagle of the Ninth until I was an adult, but oh yes, myths and legends – loved them! I read the Odyssey long before I truly understood all of it and of course all the Norse sagas. Great stuff!
Thank you, Binnie! I’m so glad I’m not alone in disliking H C Andersen’s tales. They were just too sad and disturbing for me. And as for Little Women, I was so disappointed with the ending that to this day I don’t want to reread it and when the new film adaptation came out last year I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Love Jane Eyre and re-read it not long ago – although you’re right about it being a reflection of how children were treated back then, I still see it as a wonderful romance.
Nancy Drew – yes! Don’t think I read many westerns but I loved gothics and devoured Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. And I was really into Sherlock Holmes for a while. So many great memories!
Thank you, Binnie! I’m so glad I’m not alone in disliking H C Andersen’s tales. They were just too sad and disturbing for me. And as for Little Women, I was so disappointed with the ending that to this day I don’t want to reread it and when the new film adaptation came out last year I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Love Jane Eyre and re-read it not long ago – although you’re right about it being a reflection of how children were treated back then, I still see it as a wonderful romance.
Nancy Drew – yes! Don’t think I read many westerns but I loved gothics and devoured Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. And I was really into Sherlock Holmes for a while. So many great memories!
Thank you, Binnie! I’m so glad I’m not alone in disliking H C Andersen’s tales. They were just too sad and disturbing for me. And as for Little Women, I was so disappointed with the ending that to this day I don’t want to reread it and when the new film adaptation came out last year I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Love Jane Eyre and re-read it not long ago – although you’re right about it being a reflection of how children were treated back then, I still see it as a wonderful romance.
Nancy Drew – yes! Don’t think I read many westerns but I loved gothics and devoured Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. And I was really into Sherlock Holmes for a while. So many great memories!
Thank you, Binnie! I’m so glad I’m not alone in disliking H C Andersen’s tales. They were just too sad and disturbing for me. And as for Little Women, I was so disappointed with the ending that to this day I don’t want to reread it and when the new film adaptation came out last year I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Love Jane Eyre and re-read it not long ago – although you’re right about it being a reflection of how children were treated back then, I still see it as a wonderful romance.
Nancy Drew – yes! Don’t think I read many westerns but I loved gothics and devoured Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. And I was really into Sherlock Holmes for a while. So many great memories!
Thank you, Binnie! I’m so glad I’m not alone in disliking H C Andersen’s tales. They were just too sad and disturbing for me. And as for Little Women, I was so disappointed with the ending that to this day I don’t want to reread it and when the new film adaptation came out last year I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Love Jane Eyre and re-read it not long ago – although you’re right about it being a reflection of how children were treated back then, I still see it as a wonderful romance.
Nancy Drew – yes! Don’t think I read many westerns but I loved gothics and devoured Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. And I was really into Sherlock Holmes for a while. So many great memories!
Lovely post, Christina. My earliest memories of books as a child were of AA Milne — first the poems then the Winnie the Pooh, stories. Also Pookie, the rabbit with wings, and Aussie stories like Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and the Magic Pudding. I loved anything by Enid Blyton especially the “adventure” books (Valley of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure, Island of Adventure etc and the “mystery of— books. I have a sneaking suspicion those books shaped me as a popular fiction reader and later writer, even though I studied English Literature at university.
We didn’t have TV and I devoured everything I could get. Loved the Little Princess and the Secret Garden. then there was Kipling’s Kim, all the animal books — Wild Brother, Finn the Wolfhound, dozens of horse books especially The Silver Brumby series. Like Suzanna, I loved Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth and other stories, and I really loved Henry Treece’s books of ancient history — they sometimes scared me and haunted me, but they were wonderful. So many of those books I later bought as an adult either new or second-hand, wanting to have my childhood ‘friends’ at hand.
Lovely post, Christina. My earliest memories of books as a child were of AA Milne — first the poems then the Winnie the Pooh, stories. Also Pookie, the rabbit with wings, and Aussie stories like Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and the Magic Pudding. I loved anything by Enid Blyton especially the “adventure” books (Valley of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure, Island of Adventure etc and the “mystery of— books. I have a sneaking suspicion those books shaped me as a popular fiction reader and later writer, even though I studied English Literature at university.
We didn’t have TV and I devoured everything I could get. Loved the Little Princess and the Secret Garden. then there was Kipling’s Kim, all the animal books — Wild Brother, Finn the Wolfhound, dozens of horse books especially The Silver Brumby series. Like Suzanna, I loved Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth and other stories, and I really loved Henry Treece’s books of ancient history — they sometimes scared me and haunted me, but they were wonderful. So many of those books I later bought as an adult either new or second-hand, wanting to have my childhood ‘friends’ at hand.
Lovely post, Christina. My earliest memories of books as a child were of AA Milne — first the poems then the Winnie the Pooh, stories. Also Pookie, the rabbit with wings, and Aussie stories like Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and the Magic Pudding. I loved anything by Enid Blyton especially the “adventure” books (Valley of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure, Island of Adventure etc and the “mystery of— books. I have a sneaking suspicion those books shaped me as a popular fiction reader and later writer, even though I studied English Literature at university.
We didn’t have TV and I devoured everything I could get. Loved the Little Princess and the Secret Garden. then there was Kipling’s Kim, all the animal books — Wild Brother, Finn the Wolfhound, dozens of horse books especially The Silver Brumby series. Like Suzanna, I loved Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth and other stories, and I really loved Henry Treece’s books of ancient history — they sometimes scared me and haunted me, but they were wonderful. So many of those books I later bought as an adult either new or second-hand, wanting to have my childhood ‘friends’ at hand.
Lovely post, Christina. My earliest memories of books as a child were of AA Milne — first the poems then the Winnie the Pooh, stories. Also Pookie, the rabbit with wings, and Aussie stories like Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and the Magic Pudding. I loved anything by Enid Blyton especially the “adventure” books (Valley of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure, Island of Adventure etc and the “mystery of— books. I have a sneaking suspicion those books shaped me as a popular fiction reader and later writer, even though I studied English Literature at university.
We didn’t have TV and I devoured everything I could get. Loved the Little Princess and the Secret Garden. then there was Kipling’s Kim, all the animal books — Wild Brother, Finn the Wolfhound, dozens of horse books especially The Silver Brumby series. Like Suzanna, I loved Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth and other stories, and I really loved Henry Treece’s books of ancient history — they sometimes scared me and haunted me, but they were wonderful. So many of those books I later bought as an adult either new or second-hand, wanting to have my childhood ‘friends’ at hand.
Lovely post, Christina. My earliest memories of books as a child were of AA Milne — first the poems then the Winnie the Pooh, stories. Also Pookie, the rabbit with wings, and Aussie stories like Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and the Magic Pudding. I loved anything by Enid Blyton especially the “adventure” books (Valley of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure, Island of Adventure etc and the “mystery of— books. I have a sneaking suspicion those books shaped me as a popular fiction reader and later writer, even though I studied English Literature at university.
We didn’t have TV and I devoured everything I could get. Loved the Little Princess and the Secret Garden. then there was Kipling’s Kim, all the animal books — Wild Brother, Finn the Wolfhound, dozens of horse books especially The Silver Brumby series. Like Suzanna, I loved Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth and other stories, and I really loved Henry Treece’s books of ancient history — they sometimes scared me and haunted me, but they were wonderful. So many of those books I later bought as an adult either new or second-hand, wanting to have my childhood ‘friends’ at hand.
Thank you Anne! Yes, Winnie the Pooh – my dad used to read those to me and even sang one of the poems to try and make me go to sleep. And Enid Blyton’s Adventure books were some of my favourites too, just wonderful! Each country has their own children’s authors, don’t they, and for me the best was Astrid Lindgren, author of ‘Pippi Longstocking’ among other things. Some of her stories were amazing but don’t translate well into other languages. Funny you should say about buying the books as an adult – I’ve been looking to buy some of my favourites too!
Thank you Anne! Yes, Winnie the Pooh – my dad used to read those to me and even sang one of the poems to try and make me go to sleep. And Enid Blyton’s Adventure books were some of my favourites too, just wonderful! Each country has their own children’s authors, don’t they, and for me the best was Astrid Lindgren, author of ‘Pippi Longstocking’ among other things. Some of her stories were amazing but don’t translate well into other languages. Funny you should say about buying the books as an adult – I’ve been looking to buy some of my favourites too!
Thank you Anne! Yes, Winnie the Pooh – my dad used to read those to me and even sang one of the poems to try and make me go to sleep. And Enid Blyton’s Adventure books were some of my favourites too, just wonderful! Each country has their own children’s authors, don’t they, and for me the best was Astrid Lindgren, author of ‘Pippi Longstocking’ among other things. Some of her stories were amazing but don’t translate well into other languages. Funny you should say about buying the books as an adult – I’ve been looking to buy some of my favourites too!
Thank you Anne! Yes, Winnie the Pooh – my dad used to read those to me and even sang one of the poems to try and make me go to sleep. And Enid Blyton’s Adventure books were some of my favourites too, just wonderful! Each country has their own children’s authors, don’t they, and for me the best was Astrid Lindgren, author of ‘Pippi Longstocking’ among other things. Some of her stories were amazing but don’t translate well into other languages. Funny you should say about buying the books as an adult – I’ve been looking to buy some of my favourites too!
Thank you Anne! Yes, Winnie the Pooh – my dad used to read those to me and even sang one of the poems to try and make me go to sleep. And Enid Blyton’s Adventure books were some of my favourites too, just wonderful! Each country has their own children’s authors, don’t they, and for me the best was Astrid Lindgren, author of ‘Pippi Longstocking’ among other things. Some of her stories were amazing but don’t translate well into other languages. Funny you should say about buying the books as an adult – I’ve been looking to buy some of my favourites too!
I occasionally appear here to add a male perspective to the comments.
When I was young and still at junior school – this was a very long time ago, I’m talking of the early 1950s – there was a definite division between boys’ and girls’ books. I was never offered – or sought out – other commentators’ favourites like Enid Blyton or Frances Hodgson Burnett. I’m sure some boys were reading these, but they were the odd ones out. However, a lot of the women I’ve asked about this were actively searching out boys books. My wife’s mother used to get five books each week from the local children’s library, supposedly two for my wife, two for her brother and one to share. The girls’ books were the likes of “The Secret Five”, “The Famous Seven” or “Malory Towers”, the boys’ would be Biggles, Jennings or older adventure stories. My wife read all of them.
I was also reading Biggles, Jennings, older writers like Rider Haggard, H G Wells’ SF plus whatever adult books entered the house. The 1950s were the golden age of the reprint book clubs in the UK and lots of cheaply printed – but well made – hardbacks ended up in hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of households and thence into the hands of many fortunate young children; so I ended up reading lots of history and lots of adult fiction, even as a preteen. It’s difficult to pick out favourites as there were so many but a fairly random selection based on what I’ve re-read later would be “The Wind in the Willows”, “The Eagle of the Ninth”, the world war one Biggles short stories, “The War of the Worlds”, “King Solomon’s Mines” and, a little more obscure, “Bevis” by Richard Jeffries. Plus, to explain why I’m reading this blog, Georgette Heyer’s “The Quiet Gentleman”, a 1953 book club reprint I found when raiding my parent’s book shelves.
As for reading aloud, we also had this once a week and it was the bane of my junior school days (along with spelling – and that only improved with the arrival of spellcheckers). My problem was that I read much faster than I can speak, and the result of trying to do both at once when I was young was normally incoherence. The school kept insisting that I needed to read more, which my mother found incomprehensible as she’d fought a loosing battle to stop me reading at the dinner table. Eventually the school realised that reading aloud is not a very good metric when used to judge reading ability!
I occasionally appear here to add a male perspective to the comments.
When I was young and still at junior school – this was a very long time ago, I’m talking of the early 1950s – there was a definite division between boys’ and girls’ books. I was never offered – or sought out – other commentators’ favourites like Enid Blyton or Frances Hodgson Burnett. I’m sure some boys were reading these, but they were the odd ones out. However, a lot of the women I’ve asked about this were actively searching out boys books. My wife’s mother used to get five books each week from the local children’s library, supposedly two for my wife, two for her brother and one to share. The girls’ books were the likes of “The Secret Five”, “The Famous Seven” or “Malory Towers”, the boys’ would be Biggles, Jennings or older adventure stories. My wife read all of them.
I was also reading Biggles, Jennings, older writers like Rider Haggard, H G Wells’ SF plus whatever adult books entered the house. The 1950s were the golden age of the reprint book clubs in the UK and lots of cheaply printed – but well made – hardbacks ended up in hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of households and thence into the hands of many fortunate young children; so I ended up reading lots of history and lots of adult fiction, even as a preteen. It’s difficult to pick out favourites as there were so many but a fairly random selection based on what I’ve re-read later would be “The Wind in the Willows”, “The Eagle of the Ninth”, the world war one Biggles short stories, “The War of the Worlds”, “King Solomon’s Mines” and, a little more obscure, “Bevis” by Richard Jeffries. Plus, to explain why I’m reading this blog, Georgette Heyer’s “The Quiet Gentleman”, a 1953 book club reprint I found when raiding my parent’s book shelves.
As for reading aloud, we also had this once a week and it was the bane of my junior school days (along with spelling – and that only improved with the arrival of spellcheckers). My problem was that I read much faster than I can speak, and the result of trying to do both at once when I was young was normally incoherence. The school kept insisting that I needed to read more, which my mother found incomprehensible as she’d fought a loosing battle to stop me reading at the dinner table. Eventually the school realised that reading aloud is not a very good metric when used to judge reading ability!
I occasionally appear here to add a male perspective to the comments.
When I was young and still at junior school – this was a very long time ago, I’m talking of the early 1950s – there was a definite division between boys’ and girls’ books. I was never offered – or sought out – other commentators’ favourites like Enid Blyton or Frances Hodgson Burnett. I’m sure some boys were reading these, but they were the odd ones out. However, a lot of the women I’ve asked about this were actively searching out boys books. My wife’s mother used to get five books each week from the local children’s library, supposedly two for my wife, two for her brother and one to share. The girls’ books were the likes of “The Secret Five”, “The Famous Seven” or “Malory Towers”, the boys’ would be Biggles, Jennings or older adventure stories. My wife read all of them.
I was also reading Biggles, Jennings, older writers like Rider Haggard, H G Wells’ SF plus whatever adult books entered the house. The 1950s were the golden age of the reprint book clubs in the UK and lots of cheaply printed – but well made – hardbacks ended up in hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of households and thence into the hands of many fortunate young children; so I ended up reading lots of history and lots of adult fiction, even as a preteen. It’s difficult to pick out favourites as there were so many but a fairly random selection based on what I’ve re-read later would be “The Wind in the Willows”, “The Eagle of the Ninth”, the world war one Biggles short stories, “The War of the Worlds”, “King Solomon’s Mines” and, a little more obscure, “Bevis” by Richard Jeffries. Plus, to explain why I’m reading this blog, Georgette Heyer’s “The Quiet Gentleman”, a 1953 book club reprint I found when raiding my parent’s book shelves.
As for reading aloud, we also had this once a week and it was the bane of my junior school days (along with spelling – and that only improved with the arrival of spellcheckers). My problem was that I read much faster than I can speak, and the result of trying to do both at once when I was young was normally incoherence. The school kept insisting that I needed to read more, which my mother found incomprehensible as she’d fought a loosing battle to stop me reading at the dinner table. Eventually the school realised that reading aloud is not a very good metric when used to judge reading ability!
I occasionally appear here to add a male perspective to the comments.
When I was young and still at junior school – this was a very long time ago, I’m talking of the early 1950s – there was a definite division between boys’ and girls’ books. I was never offered – or sought out – other commentators’ favourites like Enid Blyton or Frances Hodgson Burnett. I’m sure some boys were reading these, but they were the odd ones out. However, a lot of the women I’ve asked about this were actively searching out boys books. My wife’s mother used to get five books each week from the local children’s library, supposedly two for my wife, two for her brother and one to share. The girls’ books were the likes of “The Secret Five”, “The Famous Seven” or “Malory Towers”, the boys’ would be Biggles, Jennings or older adventure stories. My wife read all of them.
I was also reading Biggles, Jennings, older writers like Rider Haggard, H G Wells’ SF plus whatever adult books entered the house. The 1950s were the golden age of the reprint book clubs in the UK and lots of cheaply printed – but well made – hardbacks ended up in hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of households and thence into the hands of many fortunate young children; so I ended up reading lots of history and lots of adult fiction, even as a preteen. It’s difficult to pick out favourites as there were so many but a fairly random selection based on what I’ve re-read later would be “The Wind in the Willows”, “The Eagle of the Ninth”, the world war one Biggles short stories, “The War of the Worlds”, “King Solomon’s Mines” and, a little more obscure, “Bevis” by Richard Jeffries. Plus, to explain why I’m reading this blog, Georgette Heyer’s “The Quiet Gentleman”, a 1953 book club reprint I found when raiding my parent’s book shelves.
As for reading aloud, we also had this once a week and it was the bane of my junior school days (along with spelling – and that only improved with the arrival of spellcheckers). My problem was that I read much faster than I can speak, and the result of trying to do both at once when I was young was normally incoherence. The school kept insisting that I needed to read more, which my mother found incomprehensible as she’d fought a loosing battle to stop me reading at the dinner table. Eventually the school realised that reading aloud is not a very good metric when used to judge reading ability!
I occasionally appear here to add a male perspective to the comments.
When I was young and still at junior school – this was a very long time ago, I’m talking of the early 1950s – there was a definite division between boys’ and girls’ books. I was never offered – or sought out – other commentators’ favourites like Enid Blyton or Frances Hodgson Burnett. I’m sure some boys were reading these, but they were the odd ones out. However, a lot of the women I’ve asked about this were actively searching out boys books. My wife’s mother used to get five books each week from the local children’s library, supposedly two for my wife, two for her brother and one to share. The girls’ books were the likes of “The Secret Five”, “The Famous Seven” or “Malory Towers”, the boys’ would be Biggles, Jennings or older adventure stories. My wife read all of them.
I was also reading Biggles, Jennings, older writers like Rider Haggard, H G Wells’ SF plus whatever adult books entered the house. The 1950s were the golden age of the reprint book clubs in the UK and lots of cheaply printed – but well made – hardbacks ended up in hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of households and thence into the hands of many fortunate young children; so I ended up reading lots of history and lots of adult fiction, even as a preteen. It’s difficult to pick out favourites as there were so many but a fairly random selection based on what I’ve re-read later would be “The Wind in the Willows”, “The Eagle of the Ninth”, the world war one Biggles short stories, “The War of the Worlds”, “King Solomon’s Mines” and, a little more obscure, “Bevis” by Richard Jeffries. Plus, to explain why I’m reading this blog, Georgette Heyer’s “The Quiet Gentleman”, a 1953 book club reprint I found when raiding my parent’s book shelves.
As for reading aloud, we also had this once a week and it was the bane of my junior school days (along with spelling – and that only improved with the arrival of spellcheckers). My problem was that I read much faster than I can speak, and the result of trying to do both at once when I was young was normally incoherence. The school kept insisting that I needed to read more, which my mother found incomprehensible as she’d fought a loosing battle to stop me reading at the dinner table. Eventually the school realised that reading aloud is not a very good metric when used to judge reading ability!
Oh boy! What a great post! I got heck from my Mom for reading too much! She wanted me to go outside and play more. I just loved The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”, all the Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon and even the Bobbsey Twins, but grew out of them quickly. Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie were favourites when I was 12 and 13. I tried to read the Harlequin romances but just could not get into them I am afraid. Black Beauty and other animal books were o.k. too altho a lot of them seemed to have sad endings. To this day I can remember a story read to us by my teacher in the lower grades = about a blind boy and his dog trying to escape Pompeii during the Vesuvius eruption. Do not know the title but it really impressed me. Thinking of it now it was a pretty grim subject for a teacher to read to children but very exciting!
Oh boy! What a great post! I got heck from my Mom for reading too much! She wanted me to go outside and play more. I just loved The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”, all the Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon and even the Bobbsey Twins, but grew out of them quickly. Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie were favourites when I was 12 and 13. I tried to read the Harlequin romances but just could not get into them I am afraid. Black Beauty and other animal books were o.k. too altho a lot of them seemed to have sad endings. To this day I can remember a story read to us by my teacher in the lower grades = about a blind boy and his dog trying to escape Pompeii during the Vesuvius eruption. Do not know the title but it really impressed me. Thinking of it now it was a pretty grim subject for a teacher to read to children but very exciting!
Oh boy! What a great post! I got heck from my Mom for reading too much! She wanted me to go outside and play more. I just loved The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”, all the Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon and even the Bobbsey Twins, but grew out of them quickly. Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie were favourites when I was 12 and 13. I tried to read the Harlequin romances but just could not get into them I am afraid. Black Beauty and other animal books were o.k. too altho a lot of them seemed to have sad endings. To this day I can remember a story read to us by my teacher in the lower grades = about a blind boy and his dog trying to escape Pompeii during the Vesuvius eruption. Do not know the title but it really impressed me. Thinking of it now it was a pretty grim subject for a teacher to read to children but very exciting!
Oh boy! What a great post! I got heck from my Mom for reading too much! She wanted me to go outside and play more. I just loved The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”, all the Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon and even the Bobbsey Twins, but grew out of them quickly. Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie were favourites when I was 12 and 13. I tried to read the Harlequin romances but just could not get into them I am afraid. Black Beauty and other animal books were o.k. too altho a lot of them seemed to have sad endings. To this day I can remember a story read to us by my teacher in the lower grades = about a blind boy and his dog trying to escape Pompeii during the Vesuvius eruption. Do not know the title but it really impressed me. Thinking of it now it was a pretty grim subject for a teacher to read to children but very exciting!
Oh boy! What a great post! I got heck from my Mom for reading too much! She wanted me to go outside and play more. I just loved The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”, all the Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon and even the Bobbsey Twins, but grew out of them quickly. Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie were favourites when I was 12 and 13. I tried to read the Harlequin romances but just could not get into them I am afraid. Black Beauty and other animal books were o.k. too altho a lot of them seemed to have sad endings. To this day I can remember a story read to us by my teacher in the lower grades = about a blind boy and his dog trying to escape Pompeii during the Vesuvius eruption. Do not know the title but it really impressed me. Thinking of it now it was a pretty grim subject for a teacher to read to children but very exciting!
I have always loved reading. My mother gave me books to look at when I was little and she said I couldn’t wait to be able to put the words together to make sentences so I could read them myself.
I grew up in rural Ireland. Libraries were marvelous places they had in the cities and towns and not for the likes of me. I had absolutely no access to them. We also had no money so I relied on friends to pass on books to me and any few pennies I was lucky to get were saved towards buying them.
Enid Blyton books were like nourishment to me. I read everything by her I could get my hands on. The Famous Five were my stand out favorites with Mallory Towers and St Clare’s coming in a close second.
I still have my copies of them and do reread them from time to time even though some of them are falling to bits they’re so old.
Thank you for a wonderful nostalgic post!!
I have always loved reading. My mother gave me books to look at when I was little and she said I couldn’t wait to be able to put the words together to make sentences so I could read them myself.
I grew up in rural Ireland. Libraries were marvelous places they had in the cities and towns and not for the likes of me. I had absolutely no access to them. We also had no money so I relied on friends to pass on books to me and any few pennies I was lucky to get were saved towards buying them.
Enid Blyton books were like nourishment to me. I read everything by her I could get my hands on. The Famous Five were my stand out favorites with Mallory Towers and St Clare’s coming in a close second.
I still have my copies of them and do reread them from time to time even though some of them are falling to bits they’re so old.
Thank you for a wonderful nostalgic post!!
I have always loved reading. My mother gave me books to look at when I was little and she said I couldn’t wait to be able to put the words together to make sentences so I could read them myself.
I grew up in rural Ireland. Libraries were marvelous places they had in the cities and towns and not for the likes of me. I had absolutely no access to them. We also had no money so I relied on friends to pass on books to me and any few pennies I was lucky to get were saved towards buying them.
Enid Blyton books were like nourishment to me. I read everything by her I could get my hands on. The Famous Five were my stand out favorites with Mallory Towers and St Clare’s coming in a close second.
I still have my copies of them and do reread them from time to time even though some of them are falling to bits they’re so old.
Thank you for a wonderful nostalgic post!!
I have always loved reading. My mother gave me books to look at when I was little and she said I couldn’t wait to be able to put the words together to make sentences so I could read them myself.
I grew up in rural Ireland. Libraries were marvelous places they had in the cities and towns and not for the likes of me. I had absolutely no access to them. We also had no money so I relied on friends to pass on books to me and any few pennies I was lucky to get were saved towards buying them.
Enid Blyton books were like nourishment to me. I read everything by her I could get my hands on. The Famous Five were my stand out favorites with Mallory Towers and St Clare’s coming in a close second.
I still have my copies of them and do reread them from time to time even though some of them are falling to bits they’re so old.
Thank you for a wonderful nostalgic post!!
I have always loved reading. My mother gave me books to look at when I was little and she said I couldn’t wait to be able to put the words together to make sentences so I could read them myself.
I grew up in rural Ireland. Libraries were marvelous places they had in the cities and towns and not for the likes of me. I had absolutely no access to them. We also had no money so I relied on friends to pass on books to me and any few pennies I was lucky to get were saved towards buying them.
Enid Blyton books were like nourishment to me. I read everything by her I could get my hands on. The Famous Five were my stand out favorites with Mallory Towers and St Clare’s coming in a close second.
I still have my copies of them and do reread them from time to time even though some of them are falling to bits they’re so old.
Thank you for a wonderful nostalgic post!!
Thank you, Donna, so glad you enjoyed it! My mother would have sympathised with yours – I much preferred having my nose in a book to going outside. I also sneak read under the covers after bedtime with a torch – I’m sure lots of us did that! I completely missed out on Narnia so perhaps it wasn’t translated into Swedish? But I watched the films with my kids so caught up later on. Black Beauty, Lassie and other animal stories – yes, often so sad but made a huge impression. (I persuaded my parents to buy a Lassie dog when they finally gave in to my pleas for a pet :-D). These stories really stayed in our minds, didn’t they!
Thank you, Donna, so glad you enjoyed it! My mother would have sympathised with yours – I much preferred having my nose in a book to going outside. I also sneak read under the covers after bedtime with a torch – I’m sure lots of us did that! I completely missed out on Narnia so perhaps it wasn’t translated into Swedish? But I watched the films with my kids so caught up later on. Black Beauty, Lassie and other animal stories – yes, often so sad but made a huge impression. (I persuaded my parents to buy a Lassie dog when they finally gave in to my pleas for a pet :-D). These stories really stayed in our minds, didn’t they!
Thank you, Donna, so glad you enjoyed it! My mother would have sympathised with yours – I much preferred having my nose in a book to going outside. I also sneak read under the covers after bedtime with a torch – I’m sure lots of us did that! I completely missed out on Narnia so perhaps it wasn’t translated into Swedish? But I watched the films with my kids so caught up later on. Black Beauty, Lassie and other animal stories – yes, often so sad but made a huge impression. (I persuaded my parents to buy a Lassie dog when they finally gave in to my pleas for a pet :-D). These stories really stayed in our minds, didn’t they!
Thank you, Donna, so glad you enjoyed it! My mother would have sympathised with yours – I much preferred having my nose in a book to going outside. I also sneak read under the covers after bedtime with a torch – I’m sure lots of us did that! I completely missed out on Narnia so perhaps it wasn’t translated into Swedish? But I watched the films with my kids so caught up later on. Black Beauty, Lassie and other animal stories – yes, often so sad but made a huge impression. (I persuaded my parents to buy a Lassie dog when they finally gave in to my pleas for a pet :-D). These stories really stayed in our minds, didn’t they!
Thank you, Donna, so glad you enjoyed it! My mother would have sympathised with yours – I much preferred having my nose in a book to going outside. I also sneak read under the covers after bedtime with a torch – I’m sure lots of us did that! I completely missed out on Narnia so perhaps it wasn’t translated into Swedish? But I watched the films with my kids so caught up later on. Black Beauty, Lassie and other animal stories – yes, often so sad but made a huge impression. (I persuaded my parents to buy a Lassie dog when they finally gave in to my pleas for a pet :-D). These stories really stayed in our minds, didn’t they!
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who hated Anderson’s fairy tales. The Little Girl Who Trod on a Loaf gave me nightmares! Yet I never minded the gore in Grimm’s fairy tales. Mostly I loved adventure stories—Robin Hood especially, Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs, Scott’s Ivanhoe, Stevenson’s Kidnapped (I fell in love with Alan Breck Stewart), Cooper’s Deerslayer. And then there were the horse stories like Black Beauty and the dog stories from Albert Payson Terhune.
You know, I get a delicious feeling just remembering the thrill of losing myself in those books.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who hated Anderson’s fairy tales. The Little Girl Who Trod on a Loaf gave me nightmares! Yet I never minded the gore in Grimm’s fairy tales. Mostly I loved adventure stories—Robin Hood especially, Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs, Scott’s Ivanhoe, Stevenson’s Kidnapped (I fell in love with Alan Breck Stewart), Cooper’s Deerslayer. And then there were the horse stories like Black Beauty and the dog stories from Albert Payson Terhune.
You know, I get a delicious feeling just remembering the thrill of losing myself in those books.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who hated Anderson’s fairy tales. The Little Girl Who Trod on a Loaf gave me nightmares! Yet I never minded the gore in Grimm’s fairy tales. Mostly I loved adventure stories—Robin Hood especially, Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs, Scott’s Ivanhoe, Stevenson’s Kidnapped (I fell in love with Alan Breck Stewart), Cooper’s Deerslayer. And then there were the horse stories like Black Beauty and the dog stories from Albert Payson Terhune.
You know, I get a delicious feeling just remembering the thrill of losing myself in those books.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who hated Anderson’s fairy tales. The Little Girl Who Trod on a Loaf gave me nightmares! Yet I never minded the gore in Grimm’s fairy tales. Mostly I loved adventure stories—Robin Hood especially, Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs, Scott’s Ivanhoe, Stevenson’s Kidnapped (I fell in love with Alan Breck Stewart), Cooper’s Deerslayer. And then there were the horse stories like Black Beauty and the dog stories from Albert Payson Terhune.
You know, I get a delicious feeling just remembering the thrill of losing myself in those books.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who hated Anderson’s fairy tales. The Little Girl Who Trod on a Loaf gave me nightmares! Yet I never minded the gore in Grimm’s fairy tales. Mostly I loved adventure stories—Robin Hood especially, Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs, Scott’s Ivanhoe, Stevenson’s Kidnapped (I fell in love with Alan Breck Stewart), Cooper’s Deerslayer. And then there were the horse stories like Black Beauty and the dog stories from Albert Payson Terhune.
You know, I get a delicious feeling just remembering the thrill of losing myself in those books.
Thank you Teresa, and I’m so glad you were able to get hold of books even if it was difficult! The Famous Five were my absolute favourites too (although coming second were the Adventure stories also by Enid Blyton), but I read everything she wrote as well. I still have my Famous Five books somewhere in my mother’s basement – must retrieve them. I’m glad you still have yours!
Thank you Teresa, and I’m so glad you were able to get hold of books even if it was difficult! The Famous Five were my absolute favourites too (although coming second were the Adventure stories also by Enid Blyton), but I read everything she wrote as well. I still have my Famous Five books somewhere in my mother’s basement – must retrieve them. I’m glad you still have yours!
Thank you Teresa, and I’m so glad you were able to get hold of books even if it was difficult! The Famous Five were my absolute favourites too (although coming second were the Adventure stories also by Enid Blyton), but I read everything she wrote as well. I still have my Famous Five books somewhere in my mother’s basement – must retrieve them. I’m glad you still have yours!
Thank you Teresa, and I’m so glad you were able to get hold of books even if it was difficult! The Famous Five were my absolute favourites too (although coming second were the Adventure stories also by Enid Blyton), but I read everything she wrote as well. I still have my Famous Five books somewhere in my mother’s basement – must retrieve them. I’m glad you still have yours!
Thank you Teresa, and I’m so glad you were able to get hold of books even if it was difficult! The Famous Five were my absolute favourites too (although coming second were the Adventure stories also by Enid Blyton), but I read everything she wrote as well. I still have my Famous Five books somewhere in my mother’s basement – must retrieve them. I’m glad you still have yours!
Great post, Christina. I was a big reader as a child and read everything I could get my hands on which included the newspaper. We received an afternoon edition which I read after school and made sure it was in “just delivered” condition for my father’s return from work. Nancy Drew et al were traded with neighborhood friends. When I was old enough for solo library visits a whole new world opened. I remember reading all of Pearl Buck and being entranced by China and that set my mind wandering to histories, Russian, French and English. When I was 13 my mother gave me Anya Seton’s “Katherine“ and so my love of romance novels was born.
Great post, Christina. I was a big reader as a child and read everything I could get my hands on which included the newspaper. We received an afternoon edition which I read after school and made sure it was in “just delivered” condition for my father’s return from work. Nancy Drew et al were traded with neighborhood friends. When I was old enough for solo library visits a whole new world opened. I remember reading all of Pearl Buck and being entranced by China and that set my mind wandering to histories, Russian, French and English. When I was 13 my mother gave me Anya Seton’s “Katherine“ and so my love of romance novels was born.
Great post, Christina. I was a big reader as a child and read everything I could get my hands on which included the newspaper. We received an afternoon edition which I read after school and made sure it was in “just delivered” condition for my father’s return from work. Nancy Drew et al were traded with neighborhood friends. When I was old enough for solo library visits a whole new world opened. I remember reading all of Pearl Buck and being entranced by China and that set my mind wandering to histories, Russian, French and English. When I was 13 my mother gave me Anya Seton’s “Katherine“ and so my love of romance novels was born.
Great post, Christina. I was a big reader as a child and read everything I could get my hands on which included the newspaper. We received an afternoon edition which I read after school and made sure it was in “just delivered” condition for my father’s return from work. Nancy Drew et al were traded with neighborhood friends. When I was old enough for solo library visits a whole new world opened. I remember reading all of Pearl Buck and being entranced by China and that set my mind wandering to histories, Russian, French and English. When I was 13 my mother gave me Anya Seton’s “Katherine“ and so my love of romance novels was born.
Great post, Christina. I was a big reader as a child and read everything I could get my hands on which included the newspaper. We received an afternoon edition which I read after school and made sure it was in “just delivered” condition for my father’s return from work. Nancy Drew et al were traded with neighborhood friends. When I was old enough for solo library visits a whole new world opened. I remember reading all of Pearl Buck and being entranced by China and that set my mind wandering to histories, Russian, French and English. When I was 13 my mother gave me Anya Seton’s “Katherine“ and so my love of romance novels was born.
Fantastic topic – made me try to remember all the good stories from my childhood. We were read to often starting as little tots. In school years the books I remember best are C S Lewis Narnia series, “Wheel On the School” “Brite and Fair” “Wind in the Willows” “Winnie the Pooh” “Little House on the Prairie” and oh so many more. My father loved to read the Grimm Fairy tales in German to us, while my mother was a wonderful story teller and made them all up.
As I got older library books were always by my bed – new adventures and topics depending on my interests at the time. For a while it was animal stories, then baseball, American Indian stories such as “Sitting Bull”, Then some of the classics mixed in “Little Women” and the others by Louisa May Alcott were my favorites for a long time.
Many of these books I read to my daughter but she all too soon could read faster on her own and is an avid reader still.
Thanks to libraries I have found some of my childhood favorites again. Fun to read them again.
Fantastic topic – made me try to remember all the good stories from my childhood. We were read to often starting as little tots. In school years the books I remember best are C S Lewis Narnia series, “Wheel On the School” “Brite and Fair” “Wind in the Willows” “Winnie the Pooh” “Little House on the Prairie” and oh so many more. My father loved to read the Grimm Fairy tales in German to us, while my mother was a wonderful story teller and made them all up.
As I got older library books were always by my bed – new adventures and topics depending on my interests at the time. For a while it was animal stories, then baseball, American Indian stories such as “Sitting Bull”, Then some of the classics mixed in “Little Women” and the others by Louisa May Alcott were my favorites for a long time.
Many of these books I read to my daughter but she all too soon could read faster on her own and is an avid reader still.
Thanks to libraries I have found some of my childhood favorites again. Fun to read them again.
Fantastic topic – made me try to remember all the good stories from my childhood. We were read to often starting as little tots. In school years the books I remember best are C S Lewis Narnia series, “Wheel On the School” “Brite and Fair” “Wind in the Willows” “Winnie the Pooh” “Little House on the Prairie” and oh so many more. My father loved to read the Grimm Fairy tales in German to us, while my mother was a wonderful story teller and made them all up.
As I got older library books were always by my bed – new adventures and topics depending on my interests at the time. For a while it was animal stories, then baseball, American Indian stories such as “Sitting Bull”, Then some of the classics mixed in “Little Women” and the others by Louisa May Alcott were my favorites for a long time.
Many of these books I read to my daughter but she all too soon could read faster on her own and is an avid reader still.
Thanks to libraries I have found some of my childhood favorites again. Fun to read them again.
Fantastic topic – made me try to remember all the good stories from my childhood. We were read to often starting as little tots. In school years the books I remember best are C S Lewis Narnia series, “Wheel On the School” “Brite and Fair” “Wind in the Willows” “Winnie the Pooh” “Little House on the Prairie” and oh so many more. My father loved to read the Grimm Fairy tales in German to us, while my mother was a wonderful story teller and made them all up.
As I got older library books were always by my bed – new adventures and topics depending on my interests at the time. For a while it was animal stories, then baseball, American Indian stories such as “Sitting Bull”, Then some of the classics mixed in “Little Women” and the others by Louisa May Alcott were my favorites for a long time.
Many of these books I read to my daughter but she all too soon could read faster on her own and is an avid reader still.
Thanks to libraries I have found some of my childhood favorites again. Fun to read them again.
Fantastic topic – made me try to remember all the good stories from my childhood. We were read to often starting as little tots. In school years the books I remember best are C S Lewis Narnia series, “Wheel On the School” “Brite and Fair” “Wind in the Willows” “Winnie the Pooh” “Little House on the Prairie” and oh so many more. My father loved to read the Grimm Fairy tales in German to us, while my mother was a wonderful story teller and made them all up.
As I got older library books were always by my bed – new adventures and topics depending on my interests at the time. For a while it was animal stories, then baseball, American Indian stories such as “Sitting Bull”, Then some of the classics mixed in “Little Women” and the others by Louisa May Alcott were my favorites for a long time.
Many of these books I read to my daughter but she all too soon could read faster on her own and is an avid reader still.
Thanks to libraries I have found some of my childhood favorites again. Fun to read them again.
Yes and that poor little mermaid! Just horrible … But Robin Hood – yes, wonderful! And Ivanhoe, another of my absolute favourites! It’s lovely to think back on all these great stories, isn’t it 🙂
Yes and that poor little mermaid! Just horrible … But Robin Hood – yes, wonderful! And Ivanhoe, another of my absolute favourites! It’s lovely to think back on all these great stories, isn’t it 🙂
Yes and that poor little mermaid! Just horrible … But Robin Hood – yes, wonderful! And Ivanhoe, another of my absolute favourites! It’s lovely to think back on all these great stories, isn’t it 🙂
Yes and that poor little mermaid! Just horrible … But Robin Hood – yes, wonderful! And Ivanhoe, another of my absolute favourites! It’s lovely to think back on all these great stories, isn’t it 🙂
Yes and that poor little mermaid! Just horrible … But Robin Hood – yes, wonderful! And Ivanhoe, another of my absolute favourites! It’s lovely to think back on all these great stories, isn’t it 🙂
Apologies, Binnie, not sure if my reply reached you as it seems to have gone to the whole group rather than you! (Please see below)
Apologies, Binnie, not sure if my reply reached you as it seems to have gone to the whole group rather than you! (Please see below)
Apologies, Binnie, not sure if my reply reached you as it seems to have gone to the whole group rather than you! (Please see below)
Apologies, Binnie, not sure if my reply reached you as it seems to have gone to the whole group rather than you! (Please see below)
Apologies, Binnie, not sure if my reply reached you as it seems to have gone to the whole group rather than you! (Please see below)
Thank you, Denise! Trading books with friends was great, wasn’t it, and a good way to discover new authors. But the library was a treasure trove for sure – it was so nice to just be allowed to wander up and down the shelves and look for gems! I’ve always loved history too.
Thank you, Denise! Trading books with friends was great, wasn’t it, and a good way to discover new authors. But the library was a treasure trove for sure – it was so nice to just be allowed to wander up and down the shelves and look for gems! I’ve always loved history too.
Thank you, Denise! Trading books with friends was great, wasn’t it, and a good way to discover new authors. But the library was a treasure trove for sure – it was so nice to just be allowed to wander up and down the shelves and look for gems! I’ve always loved history too.
Thank you, Denise! Trading books with friends was great, wasn’t it, and a good way to discover new authors. But the library was a treasure trove for sure – it was so nice to just be allowed to wander up and down the shelves and look for gems! I’ve always loved history too.
Thank you, Denise! Trading books with friends was great, wasn’t it, and a good way to discover new authors. But the library was a treasure trove for sure – it was so nice to just be allowed to wander up and down the shelves and look for gems! I’ve always loved history too.
Many thanks, Margot, so glad you enjoyed it! Oh yes, Little House on the Prairie – loved that! And Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows. How wonderful to hear the Grimm fairy tales in their original language – you are very lucky. And then to have new stories invented by your mother as well, perfect!
Many thanks, Margot, so glad you enjoyed it! Oh yes, Little House on the Prairie – loved that! And Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows. How wonderful to hear the Grimm fairy tales in their original language – you are very lucky. And then to have new stories invented by your mother as well, perfect!
Many thanks, Margot, so glad you enjoyed it! Oh yes, Little House on the Prairie – loved that! And Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows. How wonderful to hear the Grimm fairy tales in their original language – you are very lucky. And then to have new stories invented by your mother as well, perfect!
Many thanks, Margot, so glad you enjoyed it! Oh yes, Little House on the Prairie – loved that! And Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows. How wonderful to hear the Grimm fairy tales in their original language – you are very lucky. And then to have new stories invented by your mother as well, perfect!
Many thanks, Margot, so glad you enjoyed it! Oh yes, Little House on the Prairie – loved that! And Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows. How wonderful to hear the Grimm fairy tales in their original language – you are very lucky. And then to have new stories invented by your mother as well, perfect!
I was a huge reader as a kid. There was a streetlight right outside my bedroom window and I would often read by that after I went to bed.
My favorites were A Little Princess, the Anne of Green Gables books, the Little House books. Also Bobbsey Twins (got the first one when I was in second grade), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames. I also read all of the Childhood of Famous Americans biographies that my library had, as well as the Happy Hollisters books. Loved Eight COusins and Rose in Bloom by Alcott. I stumbled over Janet Lambert’s Penny Parish series when I found Star Spangled Summer at a used bookstore when I was in my early teens, and read my way through as many of her books as I could find.
I still go back a reread some of those books now and then.
I was a huge reader as a kid. There was a streetlight right outside my bedroom window and I would often read by that after I went to bed.
My favorites were A Little Princess, the Anne of Green Gables books, the Little House books. Also Bobbsey Twins (got the first one when I was in second grade), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames. I also read all of the Childhood of Famous Americans biographies that my library had, as well as the Happy Hollisters books. Loved Eight COusins and Rose in Bloom by Alcott. I stumbled over Janet Lambert’s Penny Parish series when I found Star Spangled Summer at a used bookstore when I was in my early teens, and read my way through as many of her books as I could find.
I still go back a reread some of those books now and then.
I was a huge reader as a kid. There was a streetlight right outside my bedroom window and I would often read by that after I went to bed.
My favorites were A Little Princess, the Anne of Green Gables books, the Little House books. Also Bobbsey Twins (got the first one when I was in second grade), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames. I also read all of the Childhood of Famous Americans biographies that my library had, as well as the Happy Hollisters books. Loved Eight COusins and Rose in Bloom by Alcott. I stumbled over Janet Lambert’s Penny Parish series when I found Star Spangled Summer at a used bookstore when I was in my early teens, and read my way through as many of her books as I could find.
I still go back a reread some of those books now and then.
I was a huge reader as a kid. There was a streetlight right outside my bedroom window and I would often read by that after I went to bed.
My favorites were A Little Princess, the Anne of Green Gables books, the Little House books. Also Bobbsey Twins (got the first one when I was in second grade), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames. I also read all of the Childhood of Famous Americans biographies that my library had, as well as the Happy Hollisters books. Loved Eight COusins and Rose in Bloom by Alcott. I stumbled over Janet Lambert’s Penny Parish series when I found Star Spangled Summer at a used bookstore when I was in my early teens, and read my way through as many of her books as I could find.
I still go back a reread some of those books now and then.
I was a huge reader as a kid. There was a streetlight right outside my bedroom window and I would often read by that after I went to bed.
My favorites were A Little Princess, the Anne of Green Gables books, the Little House books. Also Bobbsey Twins (got the first one when I was in second grade), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames. I also read all of the Childhood of Famous Americans biographies that my library had, as well as the Happy Hollisters books. Loved Eight COusins and Rose in Bloom by Alcott. I stumbled over Janet Lambert’s Penny Parish series when I found Star Spangled Summer at a used bookstore when I was in my early teens, and read my way through as many of her books as I could find.
I still go back a reread some of those books now and then.
Great post, Christina. Noone in my family read much, so I was left to my own devices to figure stories out. I read everything I could possibly get my hands on, but two favourites stand out: Mio my Mio and the Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. Norwegian literature for children was always so realistic, they bored me to death. By the time my family caught up on my reading – the one or two books a day should have been a huge clue – and they started to give me books for presents, I had already been let loose in the grown-up department of the local library. Alexandre Dumas was a huge favourite, and like you, I wanted romance. Jane Eyre is still my favourite book. Catherine Cookson, Vicoria Holt, Judith Kranz, Barbara Bradford Taylor were favourite writers.The Thorn Birds and Gone with the Wind – and then the most amazing of them all (at least to my twelve year old mind) Angelique. Probably the series that made me fall in love with historical romance. When I became able to read in English, i read every book of my favourite writers all over again. And I loved – still do – Margit Søderholms books 😀
Great post, Christina. Noone in my family read much, so I was left to my own devices to figure stories out. I read everything I could possibly get my hands on, but two favourites stand out: Mio my Mio and the Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. Norwegian literature for children was always so realistic, they bored me to death. By the time my family caught up on my reading – the one or two books a day should have been a huge clue – and they started to give me books for presents, I had already been let loose in the grown-up department of the local library. Alexandre Dumas was a huge favourite, and like you, I wanted romance. Jane Eyre is still my favourite book. Catherine Cookson, Vicoria Holt, Judith Kranz, Barbara Bradford Taylor were favourite writers.The Thorn Birds and Gone with the Wind – and then the most amazing of them all (at least to my twelve year old mind) Angelique. Probably the series that made me fall in love with historical romance. When I became able to read in English, i read every book of my favourite writers all over again. And I loved – still do – Margit Søderholms books 😀
Great post, Christina. Noone in my family read much, so I was left to my own devices to figure stories out. I read everything I could possibly get my hands on, but two favourites stand out: Mio my Mio and the Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. Norwegian literature for children was always so realistic, they bored me to death. By the time my family caught up on my reading – the one or two books a day should have been a huge clue – and they started to give me books for presents, I had already been let loose in the grown-up department of the local library. Alexandre Dumas was a huge favourite, and like you, I wanted romance. Jane Eyre is still my favourite book. Catherine Cookson, Vicoria Holt, Judith Kranz, Barbara Bradford Taylor were favourite writers.The Thorn Birds and Gone with the Wind – and then the most amazing of them all (at least to my twelve year old mind) Angelique. Probably the series that made me fall in love with historical romance. When I became able to read in English, i read every book of my favourite writers all over again. And I loved – still do – Margit Søderholms books 😀
Great post, Christina. Noone in my family read much, so I was left to my own devices to figure stories out. I read everything I could possibly get my hands on, but two favourites stand out: Mio my Mio and the Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. Norwegian literature for children was always so realistic, they bored me to death. By the time my family caught up on my reading – the one or two books a day should have been a huge clue – and they started to give me books for presents, I had already been let loose in the grown-up department of the local library. Alexandre Dumas was a huge favourite, and like you, I wanted romance. Jane Eyre is still my favourite book. Catherine Cookson, Vicoria Holt, Judith Kranz, Barbara Bradford Taylor were favourite writers.The Thorn Birds and Gone with the Wind – and then the most amazing of them all (at least to my twelve year old mind) Angelique. Probably the series that made me fall in love with historical romance. When I became able to read in English, i read every book of my favourite writers all over again. And I loved – still do – Margit Søderholms books 😀
Great post, Christina. Noone in my family read much, so I was left to my own devices to figure stories out. I read everything I could possibly get my hands on, but two favourites stand out: Mio my Mio and the Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. Norwegian literature for children was always so realistic, they bored me to death. By the time my family caught up on my reading – the one or two books a day should have been a huge clue – and they started to give me books for presents, I had already been let loose in the grown-up department of the local library. Alexandre Dumas was a huge favourite, and like you, I wanted romance. Jane Eyre is still my favourite book. Catherine Cookson, Vicoria Holt, Judith Kranz, Barbara Bradford Taylor were favourite writers.The Thorn Birds and Gone with the Wind – and then the most amazing of them all (at least to my twelve year old mind) Angelique. Probably the series that made me fall in love with historical romance. When I became able to read in English, i read every book of my favourite writers all over again. And I loved – still do – Margit Søderholms books 😀
I did not have access to a public library until I was in seventh grade and our elementary school only had “classroom” libraries. However, my parents were amazing when it came to supplying me with books. We had three sets of encyclopedias
and a set called “My Book House” – 12 volumes that went from nursery rhymes to epic literature. (nd a set that I have toted with me when moving!)
I also had subscriptions for several book clubs – the Real Book library, Walt Disney Book Club, Junior Classics – that kept me supplied with both fiction and nonfiction titles. In addition, if I wanted a particular book, I was pretty certain I would get it, as books were a staple birthday and Christmas present.
Books about horses and dogs were early favorites…Black Beauty, National Velvet, and all the Marguerite Henry titles, as well as Albert Peyson Terhune’s Sunnybank collie titles. (It wasn’t until I used him as a subject for a college paper that I realized how racist he was!).
I will admit that much of the “childrens’ literature that I now count as favorites I read after I entered the library profession. The Narnia books, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydian series and (gasp) Winnie the Pooh came to me late in childhood. But, as we all know, a great book is a great book as long as we make its acquaintance at the right time!
I did not have access to a public library until I was in seventh grade and our elementary school only had “classroom” libraries. However, my parents were amazing when it came to supplying me with books. We had three sets of encyclopedias
and a set called “My Book House” – 12 volumes that went from nursery rhymes to epic literature. (nd a set that I have toted with me when moving!)
I also had subscriptions for several book clubs – the Real Book library, Walt Disney Book Club, Junior Classics – that kept me supplied with both fiction and nonfiction titles. In addition, if I wanted a particular book, I was pretty certain I would get it, as books were a staple birthday and Christmas present.
Books about horses and dogs were early favorites…Black Beauty, National Velvet, and all the Marguerite Henry titles, as well as Albert Peyson Terhune’s Sunnybank collie titles. (It wasn’t until I used him as a subject for a college paper that I realized how racist he was!).
I will admit that much of the “childrens’ literature that I now count as favorites I read after I entered the library profession. The Narnia books, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydian series and (gasp) Winnie the Pooh came to me late in childhood. But, as we all know, a great book is a great book as long as we make its acquaintance at the right time!
I did not have access to a public library until I was in seventh grade and our elementary school only had “classroom” libraries. However, my parents were amazing when it came to supplying me with books. We had three sets of encyclopedias
and a set called “My Book House” – 12 volumes that went from nursery rhymes to epic literature. (nd a set that I have toted with me when moving!)
I also had subscriptions for several book clubs – the Real Book library, Walt Disney Book Club, Junior Classics – that kept me supplied with both fiction and nonfiction titles. In addition, if I wanted a particular book, I was pretty certain I would get it, as books were a staple birthday and Christmas present.
Books about horses and dogs were early favorites…Black Beauty, National Velvet, and all the Marguerite Henry titles, as well as Albert Peyson Terhune’s Sunnybank collie titles. (It wasn’t until I used him as a subject for a college paper that I realized how racist he was!).
I will admit that much of the “childrens’ literature that I now count as favorites I read after I entered the library profession. The Narnia books, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydian series and (gasp) Winnie the Pooh came to me late in childhood. But, as we all know, a great book is a great book as long as we make its acquaintance at the right time!
I did not have access to a public library until I was in seventh grade and our elementary school only had “classroom” libraries. However, my parents were amazing when it came to supplying me with books. We had three sets of encyclopedias
and a set called “My Book House” – 12 volumes that went from nursery rhymes to epic literature. (nd a set that I have toted with me when moving!)
I also had subscriptions for several book clubs – the Real Book library, Walt Disney Book Club, Junior Classics – that kept me supplied with both fiction and nonfiction titles. In addition, if I wanted a particular book, I was pretty certain I would get it, as books were a staple birthday and Christmas present.
Books about horses and dogs were early favorites…Black Beauty, National Velvet, and all the Marguerite Henry titles, as well as Albert Peyson Terhune’s Sunnybank collie titles. (It wasn’t until I used him as a subject for a college paper that I realized how racist he was!).
I will admit that much of the “childrens’ literature that I now count as favorites I read after I entered the library profession. The Narnia books, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydian series and (gasp) Winnie the Pooh came to me late in childhood. But, as we all know, a great book is a great book as long as we make its acquaintance at the right time!
I did not have access to a public library until I was in seventh grade and our elementary school only had “classroom” libraries. However, my parents were amazing when it came to supplying me with books. We had three sets of encyclopedias
and a set called “My Book House” – 12 volumes that went from nursery rhymes to epic literature. (nd a set that I have toted with me when moving!)
I also had subscriptions for several book clubs – the Real Book library, Walt Disney Book Club, Junior Classics – that kept me supplied with both fiction and nonfiction titles. In addition, if I wanted a particular book, I was pretty certain I would get it, as books were a staple birthday and Christmas present.
Books about horses and dogs were early favorites…Black Beauty, National Velvet, and all the Marguerite Henry titles, as well as Albert Peyson Terhune’s Sunnybank collie titles. (It wasn’t until I used him as a subject for a college paper that I realized how racist he was!).
I will admit that much of the “childrens’ literature that I now count as favorites I read after I entered the library profession. The Narnia books, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydian series and (gasp) Winnie the Pooh came to me late in childhood. But, as we all know, a great book is a great book as long as we make its acquaintance at the right time!
I started reading when I was very young. The Five Little Peppers, Little Women, and tons of other children’s books were ones I remember. The Tacy and Tib books were favorites of mine. And Lois Lenski wrote terrific books. Nancy Drew and Winnie the Pooh….my tastes varied.
At the same time, my father was a member of the Book of the Month Club, and I read, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, They Were Expendable and a quite a few other WWII books when I was in elementary school.
No one really cared what I read.
I was not a fan of either of the Bronte Sisters’ books. I loved Mark Twain’s sense of the ridiculous. When my children were small and I got to tour Hannibal Missouri, I was thrilled.
As a child, I was fortunate to live in an area which was served by a bookmobile, and I got as many books as I was allowed every time they came. The librarian was conscious of my choices, but she finally just surrendered to what I wanted. She knew I read different kinds of books.
Basically I read as much of my time as I could. I still do.
I started reading when I was very young. The Five Little Peppers, Little Women, and tons of other children’s books were ones I remember. The Tacy and Tib books were favorites of mine. And Lois Lenski wrote terrific books. Nancy Drew and Winnie the Pooh….my tastes varied.
At the same time, my father was a member of the Book of the Month Club, and I read, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, They Were Expendable and a quite a few other WWII books when I was in elementary school.
No one really cared what I read.
I was not a fan of either of the Bronte Sisters’ books. I loved Mark Twain’s sense of the ridiculous. When my children were small and I got to tour Hannibal Missouri, I was thrilled.
As a child, I was fortunate to live in an area which was served by a bookmobile, and I got as many books as I was allowed every time they came. The librarian was conscious of my choices, but she finally just surrendered to what I wanted. She knew I read different kinds of books.
Basically I read as much of my time as I could. I still do.
I started reading when I was very young. The Five Little Peppers, Little Women, and tons of other children’s books were ones I remember. The Tacy and Tib books were favorites of mine. And Lois Lenski wrote terrific books. Nancy Drew and Winnie the Pooh….my tastes varied.
At the same time, my father was a member of the Book of the Month Club, and I read, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, They Were Expendable and a quite a few other WWII books when I was in elementary school.
No one really cared what I read.
I was not a fan of either of the Bronte Sisters’ books. I loved Mark Twain’s sense of the ridiculous. When my children were small and I got to tour Hannibal Missouri, I was thrilled.
As a child, I was fortunate to live in an area which was served by a bookmobile, and I got as many books as I was allowed every time they came. The librarian was conscious of my choices, but she finally just surrendered to what I wanted. She knew I read different kinds of books.
Basically I read as much of my time as I could. I still do.
I started reading when I was very young. The Five Little Peppers, Little Women, and tons of other children’s books were ones I remember. The Tacy and Tib books were favorites of mine. And Lois Lenski wrote terrific books. Nancy Drew and Winnie the Pooh….my tastes varied.
At the same time, my father was a member of the Book of the Month Club, and I read, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, They Were Expendable and a quite a few other WWII books when I was in elementary school.
No one really cared what I read.
I was not a fan of either of the Bronte Sisters’ books. I loved Mark Twain’s sense of the ridiculous. When my children were small and I got to tour Hannibal Missouri, I was thrilled.
As a child, I was fortunate to live in an area which was served by a bookmobile, and I got as many books as I was allowed every time they came. The librarian was conscious of my choices, but she finally just surrendered to what I wanted. She knew I read different kinds of books.
Basically I read as much of my time as I could. I still do.
I started reading when I was very young. The Five Little Peppers, Little Women, and tons of other children’s books were ones I remember. The Tacy and Tib books were favorites of mine. And Lois Lenski wrote terrific books. Nancy Drew and Winnie the Pooh….my tastes varied.
At the same time, my father was a member of the Book of the Month Club, and I read, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, They Were Expendable and a quite a few other WWII books when I was in elementary school.
No one really cared what I read.
I was not a fan of either of the Bronte Sisters’ books. I loved Mark Twain’s sense of the ridiculous. When my children were small and I got to tour Hannibal Missouri, I was thrilled.
As a child, I was fortunate to live in an area which was served by a bookmobile, and I got as many books as I was allowed every time they came. The librarian was conscious of my choices, but she finally just surrendered to what I wanted. She knew I read different kinds of books.
Basically I read as much of my time as I could. I still do.
You were so lucky to have that street lamp, Susan – my torch always gave me away and I was caught 🙂 I read a lot of those books too and it’s wonderful to think back to those times! I’m glad you enjoy re-reading them – I’ll have to try a few more.
You were so lucky to have that street lamp, Susan – my torch always gave me away and I was caught 🙂 I read a lot of those books too and it’s wonderful to think back to those times! I’m glad you enjoy re-reading them – I’ll have to try a few more.
You were so lucky to have that street lamp, Susan – my torch always gave me away and I was caught 🙂 I read a lot of those books too and it’s wonderful to think back to those times! I’m glad you enjoy re-reading them – I’ll have to try a few more.
You were so lucky to have that street lamp, Susan – my torch always gave me away and I was caught 🙂 I read a lot of those books too and it’s wonderful to think back to those times! I’m glad you enjoy re-reading them – I’ll have to try a few more.
You were so lucky to have that street lamp, Susan – my torch always gave me away and I was caught 🙂 I read a lot of those books too and it’s wonderful to think back to those times! I’m glad you enjoy re-reading them – I’ll have to try a few more.
Thank you, Natalie! I think all the Astrid Lindgren stories were a given for those of us who grew up in Scandinavia. My favourites were Emil i Lönneberga because he was from the exact same part of Sweden I lived in so I could really empathise with him. (I even spoke with the same accent). And Margit Söderholm – oh yes! “Driver dagg, faller regn”, loved that. I’m afraid that Gone With the Wind was the first book I wall-banged though – over 1000 pages and then it had a sad ending! I was outraged and so disappointed. Same with The Thorn Birds. But loved the others you mentioned, Angelique was great 🙂
Thank you, Natalie! I think all the Astrid Lindgren stories were a given for those of us who grew up in Scandinavia. My favourites were Emil i Lönneberga because he was from the exact same part of Sweden I lived in so I could really empathise with him. (I even spoke with the same accent). And Margit Söderholm – oh yes! “Driver dagg, faller regn”, loved that. I’m afraid that Gone With the Wind was the first book I wall-banged though – over 1000 pages and then it had a sad ending! I was outraged and so disappointed. Same with The Thorn Birds. But loved the others you mentioned, Angelique was great 🙂
Thank you, Natalie! I think all the Astrid Lindgren stories were a given for those of us who grew up in Scandinavia. My favourites were Emil i Lönneberga because he was from the exact same part of Sweden I lived in so I could really empathise with him. (I even spoke with the same accent). And Margit Söderholm – oh yes! “Driver dagg, faller regn”, loved that. I’m afraid that Gone With the Wind was the first book I wall-banged though – over 1000 pages and then it had a sad ending! I was outraged and so disappointed. Same with The Thorn Birds. But loved the others you mentioned, Angelique was great 🙂
Thank you, Natalie! I think all the Astrid Lindgren stories were a given for those of us who grew up in Scandinavia. My favourites were Emil i Lönneberga because he was from the exact same part of Sweden I lived in so I could really empathise with him. (I even spoke with the same accent). And Margit Söderholm – oh yes! “Driver dagg, faller regn”, loved that. I’m afraid that Gone With the Wind was the first book I wall-banged though – over 1000 pages and then it had a sad ending! I was outraged and so disappointed. Same with The Thorn Birds. But loved the others you mentioned, Angelique was great 🙂
Thank you, Natalie! I think all the Astrid Lindgren stories were a given for those of us who grew up in Scandinavia. My favourites were Emil i Lönneberga because he was from the exact same part of Sweden I lived in so I could really empathise with him. (I even spoke with the same accent). And Margit Söderholm – oh yes! “Driver dagg, faller regn”, loved that. I’m afraid that Gone With the Wind was the first book I wall-banged though – over 1000 pages and then it had a sad ending! I was outraged and so disappointed. Same with The Thorn Birds. But loved the others you mentioned, Angelique was great 🙂
Linda, your parents sound as supportive as mine – I always received at least one book for each birthday/Christmas, it was the highlight of my day. Those book clubs sound great too! And you’re so right – all those stories are considered great for a reason, they will always be wonderful no matter what age we are when we read them!
Linda, your parents sound as supportive as mine – I always received at least one book for each birthday/Christmas, it was the highlight of my day. Those book clubs sound great too! And you’re so right – all those stories are considered great for a reason, they will always be wonderful no matter what age we are when we read them!
Linda, your parents sound as supportive as mine – I always received at least one book for each birthday/Christmas, it was the highlight of my day. Those book clubs sound great too! And you’re so right – all those stories are considered great for a reason, they will always be wonderful no matter what age we are when we read them!
Linda, your parents sound as supportive as mine – I always received at least one book for each birthday/Christmas, it was the highlight of my day. Those book clubs sound great too! And you’re so right – all those stories are considered great for a reason, they will always be wonderful no matter what age we are when we read them!
Linda, your parents sound as supportive as mine – I always received at least one book for each birthday/Christmas, it was the highlight of my day. Those book clubs sound great too! And you’re so right – all those stories are considered great for a reason, they will always be wonderful no matter what age we are when we read them!
You are the first person I’ve ever seen mention Janet Lambert! Up until I found those, most ”series” books I read were not truly romances: Bobbsey Twins, Vicky Vale, Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, etc. Some of them had romance in them, but they were more adventure than anything. I still own a few Janet Lambert I found in second hand stores, but I mostly read them as library checkouts. Candy Kane! My mother was a librarian so I pretty much read anything and everything I could. A couple years after Lambert I started in on Doctor/Nurse romances (because that was the predominant pairing back then).
You are the first person I’ve ever seen mention Janet Lambert! Up until I found those, most ”series” books I read were not truly romances: Bobbsey Twins, Vicky Vale, Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, etc. Some of them had romance in them, but they were more adventure than anything. I still own a few Janet Lambert I found in second hand stores, but I mostly read them as library checkouts. Candy Kane! My mother was a librarian so I pretty much read anything and everything I could. A couple years after Lambert I started in on Doctor/Nurse romances (because that was the predominant pairing back then).
You are the first person I’ve ever seen mention Janet Lambert! Up until I found those, most ”series” books I read were not truly romances: Bobbsey Twins, Vicky Vale, Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, etc. Some of them had romance in them, but they were more adventure than anything. I still own a few Janet Lambert I found in second hand stores, but I mostly read them as library checkouts. Candy Kane! My mother was a librarian so I pretty much read anything and everything I could. A couple years after Lambert I started in on Doctor/Nurse romances (because that was the predominant pairing back then).
You are the first person I’ve ever seen mention Janet Lambert! Up until I found those, most ”series” books I read were not truly romances: Bobbsey Twins, Vicky Vale, Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, etc. Some of them had romance in them, but they were more adventure than anything. I still own a few Janet Lambert I found in second hand stores, but I mostly read them as library checkouts. Candy Kane! My mother was a librarian so I pretty much read anything and everything I could. A couple years after Lambert I started in on Doctor/Nurse romances (because that was the predominant pairing back then).
You are the first person I’ve ever seen mention Janet Lambert! Up until I found those, most ”series” books I read were not truly romances: Bobbsey Twins, Vicky Vale, Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, etc. Some of them had romance in them, but they were more adventure than anything. I still own a few Janet Lambert I found in second hand stores, but I mostly read them as library checkouts. Candy Kane! My mother was a librarian so I pretty much read anything and everything I could. A couple years after Lambert I started in on Doctor/Nurse romances (because that was the predominant pairing back then).
Annette – bookmobiles are a wonderful thing! And I’m so glad the librarian didn’t stop you reading what you wanted to. I think it’s great to read widely when you’re young. For me, it just reinforced my taste for romance as I always preferred it, but it was good to try other things as well in order to broaden my horizons. I really liked Jane Eyre but have never been a fan of Wuthering Heights. I too have always been a bookworm and I can’t see that ever changing!
Annette – bookmobiles are a wonderful thing! And I’m so glad the librarian didn’t stop you reading what you wanted to. I think it’s great to read widely when you’re young. For me, it just reinforced my taste for romance as I always preferred it, but it was good to try other things as well in order to broaden my horizons. I really liked Jane Eyre but have never been a fan of Wuthering Heights. I too have always been a bookworm and I can’t see that ever changing!
Annette – bookmobiles are a wonderful thing! And I’m so glad the librarian didn’t stop you reading what you wanted to. I think it’s great to read widely when you’re young. For me, it just reinforced my taste for romance as I always preferred it, but it was good to try other things as well in order to broaden my horizons. I really liked Jane Eyre but have never been a fan of Wuthering Heights. I too have always been a bookworm and I can’t see that ever changing!
Annette – bookmobiles are a wonderful thing! And I’m so glad the librarian didn’t stop you reading what you wanted to. I think it’s great to read widely when you’re young. For me, it just reinforced my taste for romance as I always preferred it, but it was good to try other things as well in order to broaden my horizons. I really liked Jane Eyre but have never been a fan of Wuthering Heights. I too have always been a bookworm and I can’t see that ever changing!
Annette – bookmobiles are a wonderful thing! And I’m so glad the librarian didn’t stop you reading what you wanted to. I think it’s great to read widely when you’re young. For me, it just reinforced my taste for romance as I always preferred it, but it was good to try other things as well in order to broaden my horizons. I really liked Jane Eyre but have never been a fan of Wuthering Heights. I too have always been a bookworm and I can’t see that ever changing!
Almost every post above has mentioned books I read as a child. I did not read Enid Blyton though. A. A. Milne and Ogden Nash were my intros to poetry. Fairy tales, biographies, science via Danny Dunn, humor through Homer Price. My mother was a librarian and she never suggested anything, just let me loose in the stacks and I’ll never be able to thank her enough.
Almost every post above has mentioned books I read as a child. I did not read Enid Blyton though. A. A. Milne and Ogden Nash were my intros to poetry. Fairy tales, biographies, science via Danny Dunn, humor through Homer Price. My mother was a librarian and she never suggested anything, just let me loose in the stacks and I’ll never be able to thank her enough.
Almost every post above has mentioned books I read as a child. I did not read Enid Blyton though. A. A. Milne and Ogden Nash were my intros to poetry. Fairy tales, biographies, science via Danny Dunn, humor through Homer Price. My mother was a librarian and she never suggested anything, just let me loose in the stacks and I’ll never be able to thank her enough.
Almost every post above has mentioned books I read as a child. I did not read Enid Blyton though. A. A. Milne and Ogden Nash were my intros to poetry. Fairy tales, biographies, science via Danny Dunn, humor through Homer Price. My mother was a librarian and she never suggested anything, just let me loose in the stacks and I’ll never be able to thank her enough.
Almost every post above has mentioned books I read as a child. I did not read Enid Blyton though. A. A. Milne and Ogden Nash were my intros to poetry. Fairy tales, biographies, science via Danny Dunn, humor through Homer Price. My mother was a librarian and she never suggested anything, just let me loose in the stacks and I’ll never be able to thank her enough.
How wonderful to have a mother who was a librarian, Maria! And great that she just let you loose – very wise. There is something so special about a library (and a bookshop), I just love the feeling of being among all those books. Endless possibilities!
How wonderful to have a mother who was a librarian, Maria! And great that she just let you loose – very wise. There is something so special about a library (and a bookshop), I just love the feeling of being among all those books. Endless possibilities!
How wonderful to have a mother who was a librarian, Maria! And great that she just let you loose – very wise. There is something so special about a library (and a bookshop), I just love the feeling of being among all those books. Endless possibilities!
How wonderful to have a mother who was a librarian, Maria! And great that she just let you loose – very wise. There is something so special about a library (and a bookshop), I just love the feeling of being among all those books. Endless possibilities!
How wonderful to have a mother who was a librarian, Maria! And great that she just let you loose – very wise. There is something so special about a library (and a bookshop), I just love the feeling of being among all those books. Endless possibilities!
Pippi Longstocking was another of my faves as well Christina. She made it downunder. As did the Finn Family Moomintroll. As I recall we had books from a range of countries.
Pippi Longstocking was another of my faves as well Christina. She made it downunder. As did the Finn Family Moomintroll. As I recall we had books from a range of countries.
Pippi Longstocking was another of my faves as well Christina. She made it downunder. As did the Finn Family Moomintroll. As I recall we had books from a range of countries.
Pippi Longstocking was another of my faves as well Christina. She made it downunder. As did the Finn Family Moomintroll. As I recall we had books from a range of countries.
Pippi Longstocking was another of my faves as well Christina. She made it downunder. As did the Finn Family Moomintroll. As I recall we had books from a range of countries.
Oh yes, how could I forget the Moomins? I used to pretend to be Little My and try to speak with a Finnish accent LOL. I’m glad you had Pippi too – such a crazy girl but great fun. Apparently that story is 75 years old this year!
Oh yes, how could I forget the Moomins? I used to pretend to be Little My and try to speak with a Finnish accent LOL. I’m glad you had Pippi too – such a crazy girl but great fun. Apparently that story is 75 years old this year!
Oh yes, how could I forget the Moomins? I used to pretend to be Little My and try to speak with a Finnish accent LOL. I’m glad you had Pippi too – such a crazy girl but great fun. Apparently that story is 75 years old this year!
Oh yes, how could I forget the Moomins? I used to pretend to be Little My and try to speak with a Finnish accent LOL. I’m glad you had Pippi too – such a crazy girl but great fun. Apparently that story is 75 years old this year!
Oh yes, how could I forget the Moomins? I used to pretend to be Little My and try to speak with a Finnish accent LOL. I’m glad you had Pippi too – such a crazy girl but great fun. Apparently that story is 75 years old this year!
My parents always made sure we had access to reading material, and my mother often took me to the library, although pickings there were slim in our small town. At home we had a set of the Childcraft encyclopedia, which had volumes of stories and poetry. The one poem which stands out in my mind, which I memorized while home in bed with chicken pox, was “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes, and who in the world thought that was appropriate subject matter for children!
Some books I remember getting as Christmas gifts, which I loved, were “Rascal” by Sterling North, “Kon-Tiki” and “The Diary of Anne Frank”, which made a huge and lasting impression. I also read those Albert Payson Terhune “Lad, a Dog” books. In fact he used to live very nearby my home; my childhood telephone exhange was “Terhune-5”.
I was a late bloomer when it came to romance books, I did not discover there was such a thing until I was in my 20’s!
My parents always made sure we had access to reading material, and my mother often took me to the library, although pickings there were slim in our small town. At home we had a set of the Childcraft encyclopedia, which had volumes of stories and poetry. The one poem which stands out in my mind, which I memorized while home in bed with chicken pox, was “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes, and who in the world thought that was appropriate subject matter for children!
Some books I remember getting as Christmas gifts, which I loved, were “Rascal” by Sterling North, “Kon-Tiki” and “The Diary of Anne Frank”, which made a huge and lasting impression. I also read those Albert Payson Terhune “Lad, a Dog” books. In fact he used to live very nearby my home; my childhood telephone exhange was “Terhune-5”.
I was a late bloomer when it came to romance books, I did not discover there was such a thing until I was in my 20’s!
My parents always made sure we had access to reading material, and my mother often took me to the library, although pickings there were slim in our small town. At home we had a set of the Childcraft encyclopedia, which had volumes of stories and poetry. The one poem which stands out in my mind, which I memorized while home in bed with chicken pox, was “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes, and who in the world thought that was appropriate subject matter for children!
Some books I remember getting as Christmas gifts, which I loved, were “Rascal” by Sterling North, “Kon-Tiki” and “The Diary of Anne Frank”, which made a huge and lasting impression. I also read those Albert Payson Terhune “Lad, a Dog” books. In fact he used to live very nearby my home; my childhood telephone exhange was “Terhune-5”.
I was a late bloomer when it came to romance books, I did not discover there was such a thing until I was in my 20’s!
My parents always made sure we had access to reading material, and my mother often took me to the library, although pickings there were slim in our small town. At home we had a set of the Childcraft encyclopedia, which had volumes of stories and poetry. The one poem which stands out in my mind, which I memorized while home in bed with chicken pox, was “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes, and who in the world thought that was appropriate subject matter for children!
Some books I remember getting as Christmas gifts, which I loved, were “Rascal” by Sterling North, “Kon-Tiki” and “The Diary of Anne Frank”, which made a huge and lasting impression. I also read those Albert Payson Terhune “Lad, a Dog” books. In fact he used to live very nearby my home; my childhood telephone exhange was “Terhune-5”.
I was a late bloomer when it came to romance books, I did not discover there was such a thing until I was in my 20’s!
My parents always made sure we had access to reading material, and my mother often took me to the library, although pickings there were slim in our small town. At home we had a set of the Childcraft encyclopedia, which had volumes of stories and poetry. The one poem which stands out in my mind, which I memorized while home in bed with chicken pox, was “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes, and who in the world thought that was appropriate subject matter for children!
Some books I remember getting as Christmas gifts, which I loved, were “Rascal” by Sterling North, “Kon-Tiki” and “The Diary of Anne Frank”, which made a huge and lasting impression. I also read those Albert Payson Terhune “Lad, a Dog” books. In fact he used to live very nearby my home; my childhood telephone exhange was “Terhune-5”.
I was a late bloomer when it came to romance books, I did not discover there was such a thing until I was in my 20’s!
Thank you, Karin – it’s amazing the things that caught our attention and children’s minds are like sponges so everything was so easy to learn and stayed with us. Those encyclopedias sound great with their variety of stories. And yes, I remember Anne Frank’s Diary making a huge impression on me too, it was incredibly sad and I so wanted a different ending for her!
Thank you, Karin – it’s amazing the things that caught our attention and children’s minds are like sponges so everything was so easy to learn and stayed with us. Those encyclopedias sound great with their variety of stories. And yes, I remember Anne Frank’s Diary making a huge impression on me too, it was incredibly sad and I so wanted a different ending for her!
Thank you, Karin – it’s amazing the things that caught our attention and children’s minds are like sponges so everything was so easy to learn and stayed with us. Those encyclopedias sound great with their variety of stories. And yes, I remember Anne Frank’s Diary making a huge impression on me too, it was incredibly sad and I so wanted a different ending for her!
Thank you, Karin – it’s amazing the things that caught our attention and children’s minds are like sponges so everything was so easy to learn and stayed with us. Those encyclopedias sound great with their variety of stories. And yes, I remember Anne Frank’s Diary making a huge impression on me too, it was incredibly sad and I so wanted a different ending for her!
Thank you, Karin – it’s amazing the things that caught our attention and children’s minds are like sponges so everything was so easy to learn and stayed with us. Those encyclopedias sound great with their variety of stories. And yes, I remember Anne Frank’s Diary making a huge impression on me too, it was incredibly sad and I so wanted a different ending for her!
What an enjoyable post, Christina!
I was an avid reader as a child, and I see many books listed above that I too read including Enid Blyton, Cherry Ames, Jane Eyre, Little Women, and more. I recall reading Russian Fairytales, the Prince and the Pauper, and just about anything that didn’t move! I also remember that my grandmother read to us — I am David by Anne Holm and books by Kate Seredy come to mind. I found romances as a teen with Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland.
What an enjoyable post, Christina!
I was an avid reader as a child, and I see many books listed above that I too read including Enid Blyton, Cherry Ames, Jane Eyre, Little Women, and more. I recall reading Russian Fairytales, the Prince and the Pauper, and just about anything that didn’t move! I also remember that my grandmother read to us — I am David by Anne Holm and books by Kate Seredy come to mind. I found romances as a teen with Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland.
What an enjoyable post, Christina!
I was an avid reader as a child, and I see many books listed above that I too read including Enid Blyton, Cherry Ames, Jane Eyre, Little Women, and more. I recall reading Russian Fairytales, the Prince and the Pauper, and just about anything that didn’t move! I also remember that my grandmother read to us — I am David by Anne Holm and books by Kate Seredy come to mind. I found romances as a teen with Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland.
What an enjoyable post, Christina!
I was an avid reader as a child, and I see many books listed above that I too read including Enid Blyton, Cherry Ames, Jane Eyre, Little Women, and more. I recall reading Russian Fairytales, the Prince and the Pauper, and just about anything that didn’t move! I also remember that my grandmother read to us — I am David by Anne Holm and books by Kate Seredy come to mind. I found romances as a teen with Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland.
What an enjoyable post, Christina!
I was an avid reader as a child, and I see many books listed above that I too read including Enid Blyton, Cherry Ames, Jane Eyre, Little Women, and more. I recall reading Russian Fairytales, the Prince and the Pauper, and just about anything that didn’t move! I also remember that my grandmother read to us — I am David by Anne Holm and books by Kate Seredy come to mind. I found romances as a teen with Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland.
Donna, I suspect the short story your teacher read to you was The Dog of Pompeii by Louis Untermeyer. You can read it online by Googling.
Donna, I suspect the short story your teacher read to you was The Dog of Pompeii by Louis Untermeyer. You can read it online by Googling.
Donna, I suspect the short story your teacher read to you was The Dog of Pompeii by Louis Untermeyer. You can read it online by Googling.
Donna, I suspect the short story your teacher read to you was The Dog of Pompeii by Louis Untermeyer. You can read it online by Googling.
Donna, I suspect the short story your teacher read to you was The Dog of Pompeii by Louis Untermeyer. You can read it online by Googling.
Once I decided reading was a good thing (I apparently resisted until I was in the 3rd grade) there was no holding me back. What did I read? Everything possible. My mom took us to the library every week and we were allowed to check out 5 books each. So that meant I read my 5 books and my 4 sister’s 5 books each. Regardless of the age level – so even the baby books were read!
It was really exciting when I was finally considered old enough to ride my bike across town to the library myself. Because then I could go to the library 2 or 3 times a week in the summer! But only 5 books at a time.
I truly read everything. In Junior High I worked my way through every letter of the alphabet in the fiction and biography sections. Both at the Junior HS library and at the city library. In HS I was still working my way through the books in YA because there were new books coming in.
SciFi, Fantasy, animal books, romance, adventure, “boys” books, etc. Plus my mom got the Reader’s Digest books and I read everything in them as well! Mrs. Pollifax, Cathereine Cookson, Adventure, spy. Barbara Michaels Come home Aimie. etc, etc. However NO Stephen King. Ever.
Fairy tales apparently weren’t a thing for me. I know I was reading Georgette Heyer in HS because I know what year I read the Spanish Bride (I was 17, home with mono, crying my eyes out over bits of it).
Loved Trixie Beldon, Secret Garden, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt. Anne McCafrey, Kipling’s Kim, etc etc.
I know I bought books through the Weekly Reader program and Scholastic books. I still have a few of them. I’d pour over the book blurbs until I had enough money to order a book. So exciting when it finally came in.
In High School I bought the Signet Regency romances when we would make a trip to Atlanta and I had a chance to go to the bookstore. Which is when I first started reading Mary Jo’s books I’m thinking. That or when I was in College.
I read anything and everything in Jr High but by HS I had mostly gravitated to romance, fantasy and some SciFi. But of the later two, it depended on the story and how well drawn the characters were. Not necessarily the genre as a whole. Though I do admit that if I found an author I liked a book or two from I did read everything I could (like Heinlein) even though I might not really like all of it.
I too have occasionally gone out and bought some of my favorite childhood books because some of them have held up well…like The Secret Garden.
Once I decided reading was a good thing (I apparently resisted until I was in the 3rd grade) there was no holding me back. What did I read? Everything possible. My mom took us to the library every week and we were allowed to check out 5 books each. So that meant I read my 5 books and my 4 sister’s 5 books each. Regardless of the age level – so even the baby books were read!
It was really exciting when I was finally considered old enough to ride my bike across town to the library myself. Because then I could go to the library 2 or 3 times a week in the summer! But only 5 books at a time.
I truly read everything. In Junior High I worked my way through every letter of the alphabet in the fiction and biography sections. Both at the Junior HS library and at the city library. In HS I was still working my way through the books in YA because there were new books coming in.
SciFi, Fantasy, animal books, romance, adventure, “boys” books, etc. Plus my mom got the Reader’s Digest books and I read everything in them as well! Mrs. Pollifax, Cathereine Cookson, Adventure, spy. Barbara Michaels Come home Aimie. etc, etc. However NO Stephen King. Ever.
Fairy tales apparently weren’t a thing for me. I know I was reading Georgette Heyer in HS because I know what year I read the Spanish Bride (I was 17, home with mono, crying my eyes out over bits of it).
Loved Trixie Beldon, Secret Garden, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt. Anne McCafrey, Kipling’s Kim, etc etc.
I know I bought books through the Weekly Reader program and Scholastic books. I still have a few of them. I’d pour over the book blurbs until I had enough money to order a book. So exciting when it finally came in.
In High School I bought the Signet Regency romances when we would make a trip to Atlanta and I had a chance to go to the bookstore. Which is when I first started reading Mary Jo’s books I’m thinking. That or when I was in College.
I read anything and everything in Jr High but by HS I had mostly gravitated to romance, fantasy and some SciFi. But of the later two, it depended on the story and how well drawn the characters were. Not necessarily the genre as a whole. Though I do admit that if I found an author I liked a book or two from I did read everything I could (like Heinlein) even though I might not really like all of it.
I too have occasionally gone out and bought some of my favorite childhood books because some of them have held up well…like The Secret Garden.
Once I decided reading was a good thing (I apparently resisted until I was in the 3rd grade) there was no holding me back. What did I read? Everything possible. My mom took us to the library every week and we were allowed to check out 5 books each. So that meant I read my 5 books and my 4 sister’s 5 books each. Regardless of the age level – so even the baby books were read!
It was really exciting when I was finally considered old enough to ride my bike across town to the library myself. Because then I could go to the library 2 or 3 times a week in the summer! But only 5 books at a time.
I truly read everything. In Junior High I worked my way through every letter of the alphabet in the fiction and biography sections. Both at the Junior HS library and at the city library. In HS I was still working my way through the books in YA because there were new books coming in.
SciFi, Fantasy, animal books, romance, adventure, “boys” books, etc. Plus my mom got the Reader’s Digest books and I read everything in them as well! Mrs. Pollifax, Cathereine Cookson, Adventure, spy. Barbara Michaels Come home Aimie. etc, etc. However NO Stephen King. Ever.
Fairy tales apparently weren’t a thing for me. I know I was reading Georgette Heyer in HS because I know what year I read the Spanish Bride (I was 17, home with mono, crying my eyes out over bits of it).
Loved Trixie Beldon, Secret Garden, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt. Anne McCafrey, Kipling’s Kim, etc etc.
I know I bought books through the Weekly Reader program and Scholastic books. I still have a few of them. I’d pour over the book blurbs until I had enough money to order a book. So exciting when it finally came in.
In High School I bought the Signet Regency romances when we would make a trip to Atlanta and I had a chance to go to the bookstore. Which is when I first started reading Mary Jo’s books I’m thinking. That or when I was in College.
I read anything and everything in Jr High but by HS I had mostly gravitated to romance, fantasy and some SciFi. But of the later two, it depended on the story and how well drawn the characters were. Not necessarily the genre as a whole. Though I do admit that if I found an author I liked a book or two from I did read everything I could (like Heinlein) even though I might not really like all of it.
I too have occasionally gone out and bought some of my favorite childhood books because some of them have held up well…like The Secret Garden.
Once I decided reading was a good thing (I apparently resisted until I was in the 3rd grade) there was no holding me back. What did I read? Everything possible. My mom took us to the library every week and we were allowed to check out 5 books each. So that meant I read my 5 books and my 4 sister’s 5 books each. Regardless of the age level – so even the baby books were read!
It was really exciting when I was finally considered old enough to ride my bike across town to the library myself. Because then I could go to the library 2 or 3 times a week in the summer! But only 5 books at a time.
I truly read everything. In Junior High I worked my way through every letter of the alphabet in the fiction and biography sections. Both at the Junior HS library and at the city library. In HS I was still working my way through the books in YA because there were new books coming in.
SciFi, Fantasy, animal books, romance, adventure, “boys” books, etc. Plus my mom got the Reader’s Digest books and I read everything in them as well! Mrs. Pollifax, Cathereine Cookson, Adventure, spy. Barbara Michaels Come home Aimie. etc, etc. However NO Stephen King. Ever.
Fairy tales apparently weren’t a thing for me. I know I was reading Georgette Heyer in HS because I know what year I read the Spanish Bride (I was 17, home with mono, crying my eyes out over bits of it).
Loved Trixie Beldon, Secret Garden, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt. Anne McCafrey, Kipling’s Kim, etc etc.
I know I bought books through the Weekly Reader program and Scholastic books. I still have a few of them. I’d pour over the book blurbs until I had enough money to order a book. So exciting when it finally came in.
In High School I bought the Signet Regency romances when we would make a trip to Atlanta and I had a chance to go to the bookstore. Which is when I first started reading Mary Jo’s books I’m thinking. That or when I was in College.
I read anything and everything in Jr High but by HS I had mostly gravitated to romance, fantasy and some SciFi. But of the later two, it depended on the story and how well drawn the characters were. Not necessarily the genre as a whole. Though I do admit that if I found an author I liked a book or two from I did read everything I could (like Heinlein) even though I might not really like all of it.
I too have occasionally gone out and bought some of my favorite childhood books because some of them have held up well…like The Secret Garden.
Once I decided reading was a good thing (I apparently resisted until I was in the 3rd grade) there was no holding me back. What did I read? Everything possible. My mom took us to the library every week and we were allowed to check out 5 books each. So that meant I read my 5 books and my 4 sister’s 5 books each. Regardless of the age level – so even the baby books were read!
It was really exciting when I was finally considered old enough to ride my bike across town to the library myself. Because then I could go to the library 2 or 3 times a week in the summer! But only 5 books at a time.
I truly read everything. In Junior High I worked my way through every letter of the alphabet in the fiction and biography sections. Both at the Junior HS library and at the city library. In HS I was still working my way through the books in YA because there were new books coming in.
SciFi, Fantasy, animal books, romance, adventure, “boys” books, etc. Plus my mom got the Reader’s Digest books and I read everything in them as well! Mrs. Pollifax, Cathereine Cookson, Adventure, spy. Barbara Michaels Come home Aimie. etc, etc. However NO Stephen King. Ever.
Fairy tales apparently weren’t a thing for me. I know I was reading Georgette Heyer in HS because I know what year I read the Spanish Bride (I was 17, home with mono, crying my eyes out over bits of it).
Loved Trixie Beldon, Secret Garden, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt. Anne McCafrey, Kipling’s Kim, etc etc.
I know I bought books through the Weekly Reader program and Scholastic books. I still have a few of them. I’d pour over the book blurbs until I had enough money to order a book. So exciting when it finally came in.
In High School I bought the Signet Regency romances when we would make a trip to Atlanta and I had a chance to go to the bookstore. Which is when I first started reading Mary Jo’s books I’m thinking. That or when I was in College.
I read anything and everything in Jr High but by HS I had mostly gravitated to romance, fantasy and some SciFi. But of the later two, it depended on the story and how well drawn the characters were. Not necessarily the genre as a whole. Though I do admit that if I found an author I liked a book or two from I did read everything I could (like Heinlein) even though I might not really like all of it.
I too have occasionally gone out and bought some of my favorite childhood books because some of them have held up well…like The Secret Garden.
I too LOVED I am David. That book made such an impression on me. I still think of it from time to time.
I too LOVED I am David. That book made such an impression on me. I still think of it from time to time.
I too LOVED I am David. That book made such an impression on me. I still think of it from time to time.
I too LOVED I am David. That book made such an impression on me. I still think of it from time to time.
I too LOVED I am David. That book made such an impression on me. I still think of it from time to time.
I remember those read alouds. I would also read farther and faster to see what was going to happen. I would remember that the last words the reader said so I could find them. Luckily my teacher usually had them stop at the end of a paragraph! I remember Martian Chronicles that way. Later I read the whole thing. the beginning of my love for SyFy.
I remember those read alouds. I would also read farther and faster to see what was going to happen. I would remember that the last words the reader said so I could find them. Luckily my teacher usually had them stop at the end of a paragraph! I remember Martian Chronicles that way. Later I read the whole thing. the beginning of my love for SyFy.
I remember those read alouds. I would also read farther and faster to see what was going to happen. I would remember that the last words the reader said so I could find them. Luckily my teacher usually had them stop at the end of a paragraph! I remember Martian Chronicles that way. Later I read the whole thing. the beginning of my love for SyFy.
I remember those read alouds. I would also read farther and faster to see what was going to happen. I would remember that the last words the reader said so I could find them. Luckily my teacher usually had them stop at the end of a paragraph! I remember Martian Chronicles that way. Later I read the whole thing. the beginning of my love for SyFy.
I remember those read alouds. I would also read farther and faster to see what was going to happen. I would remember that the last words the reader said so I could find them. Luckily my teacher usually had them stop at the end of a paragraph! I remember Martian Chronicles that way. Later I read the whole thing. the beginning of my love for SyFy.
Thank you, Kareni! I don’t think I’ve read I am David – will have to look it up. Barbara Cartland – oh, yes, used to buy those for going on holiday when I was a teenager!
Thank you, Kareni! I don’t think I’ve read I am David – will have to look it up. Barbara Cartland – oh, yes, used to buy those for going on holiday when I was a teenager!
Thank you, Kareni! I don’t think I’ve read I am David – will have to look it up. Barbara Cartland – oh, yes, used to buy those for going on holiday when I was a teenager!
Thank you, Kareni! I don’t think I’ve read I am David – will have to look it up. Barbara Cartland – oh, yes, used to buy those for going on holiday when I was a teenager!
Thank you, Kareni! I don’t think I’ve read I am David – will have to look it up. Barbara Cartland – oh, yes, used to buy those for going on holiday when I was a teenager!
Wow, Vicki, you must have been a very fast reader! I was always quite slow (and still am) but I get through quite a few books anyway. SciFi and fantasy – yes! I took a class in High School called Futuristic Lit and the teacher gave us things like Heinlein and Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ – wonderful!
Wow, Vicki, you must have been a very fast reader! I was always quite slow (and still am) but I get through quite a few books anyway. SciFi and fantasy – yes! I took a class in High School called Futuristic Lit and the teacher gave us things like Heinlein and Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ – wonderful!
Wow, Vicki, you must have been a very fast reader! I was always quite slow (and still am) but I get through quite a few books anyway. SciFi and fantasy – yes! I took a class in High School called Futuristic Lit and the teacher gave us things like Heinlein and Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ – wonderful!
Wow, Vicki, you must have been a very fast reader! I was always quite slow (and still am) but I get through quite a few books anyway. SciFi and fantasy – yes! I took a class in High School called Futuristic Lit and the teacher gave us things like Heinlein and Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ – wonderful!
Wow, Vicki, you must have been a very fast reader! I was always quite slow (and still am) but I get through quite a few books anyway. SciFi and fantasy – yes! I took a class in High School called Futuristic Lit and the teacher gave us things like Heinlein and Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ – wonderful!
I’m glad it wasn’t just me, Cindy – I did try to keep my finger on the page the others were on but sometimes I go lost in the story further ahead. It was great fun, wasn’t it!
I’m glad it wasn’t just me, Cindy – I did try to keep my finger on the page the others were on but sometimes I go lost in the story further ahead. It was great fun, wasn’t it!
I’m glad it wasn’t just me, Cindy – I did try to keep my finger on the page the others were on but sometimes I go lost in the story further ahead. It was great fun, wasn’t it!
I’m glad it wasn’t just me, Cindy – I did try to keep my finger on the page the others were on but sometimes I go lost in the story further ahead. It was great fun, wasn’t it!
I’m glad it wasn’t just me, Cindy – I did try to keep my finger on the page the others were on but sometimes I go lost in the story further ahead. It was great fun, wasn’t it!
Yes – lots of doctor/nurse books. I was twelve when I started in on Harlequin romances. The neighbor that I babysat for was a subscriber and she gave me the run of her bookshelves. For historical romances I read Barbara Cartland. Oh…those…pauses…LOL.
Yes – lots of doctor/nurse books. I was twelve when I started in on Harlequin romances. The neighbor that I babysat for was a subscriber and she gave me the run of her bookshelves. For historical romances I read Barbara Cartland. Oh…those…pauses…LOL.
Yes – lots of doctor/nurse books. I was twelve when I started in on Harlequin romances. The neighbor that I babysat for was a subscriber and she gave me the run of her bookshelves. For historical romances I read Barbara Cartland. Oh…those…pauses…LOL.
Yes – lots of doctor/nurse books. I was twelve when I started in on Harlequin romances. The neighbor that I babysat for was a subscriber and she gave me the run of her bookshelves. For historical romances I read Barbara Cartland. Oh…those…pauses…LOL.
Yes – lots of doctor/nurse books. I was twelve when I started in on Harlequin romances. The neighbor that I babysat for was a subscriber and she gave me the run of her bookshelves. For historical romances I read Barbara Cartland. Oh…those…pauses…LOL.
Five Little Peppers! I read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and The Five Little Peppers Midway when I was a kid. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered that there are 13 FLP books! Thanks to ebay, I now have them all, though I still haven’t read them.
Five Little Peppers! I read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and The Five Little Peppers Midway when I was a kid. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered that there are 13 FLP books! Thanks to ebay, I now have them all, though I still haven’t read them.
Five Little Peppers! I read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and The Five Little Peppers Midway when I was a kid. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered that there are 13 FLP books! Thanks to ebay, I now have them all, though I still haven’t read them.
Five Little Peppers! I read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and The Five Little Peppers Midway when I was a kid. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered that there are 13 FLP books! Thanks to ebay, I now have them all, though I still haven’t read them.
Five Little Peppers! I read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and The Five Little Peppers Midway when I was a kid. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered that there are 13 FLP books! Thanks to ebay, I now have them all, though I still haven’t read them.
Thank you so much Kareni, for the title of that Pompeii book. I have been looking for that for years. not even librarians knew what it was called. And Angelique! My goodness, I devoured the books about Her!! Which led me to Daphne du Maurier. Oh wow, what memories.
Thank you so much Kareni, for the title of that Pompeii book. I have been looking for that for years. not even librarians knew what it was called. And Angelique! My goodness, I devoured the books about Her!! Which led me to Daphne du Maurier. Oh wow, what memories.
Thank you so much Kareni, for the title of that Pompeii book. I have been looking for that for years. not even librarians knew what it was called. And Angelique! My goodness, I devoured the books about Her!! Which led me to Daphne du Maurier. Oh wow, what memories.
Thank you so much Kareni, for the title of that Pompeii book. I have been looking for that for years. not even librarians knew what it was called. And Angelique! My goodness, I devoured the books about Her!! Which led me to Daphne du Maurier. Oh wow, what memories.
Thank you so much Kareni, for the title of that Pompeii book. I have been looking for that for years. not even librarians knew what it was called. And Angelique! My goodness, I devoured the books about Her!! Which led me to Daphne du Maurier. Oh wow, what memories.
Susan – babysitting was a great source of reading material, wasn’t it! I found some gems that way too 🙂
Susan – babysitting was a great source of reading material, wasn’t it! I found some gems that way too 🙂
Susan – babysitting was a great source of reading material, wasn’t it! I found some gems that way too 🙂
Susan – babysitting was a great source of reading material, wasn’t it! I found some gems that way too 🙂
Susan – babysitting was a great source of reading material, wasn’t it! I found some gems that way too 🙂
Daphne du Maurier – yes, really enjoyed those too! I must try and visit Jamaica Inn some time.
Daphne du Maurier – yes, really enjoyed those too! I must try and visit Jamaica Inn some time.
Daphne du Maurier – yes, really enjoyed those too! I must try and visit Jamaica Inn some time.
Daphne du Maurier – yes, really enjoyed those too! I must try and visit Jamaica Inn some time.
Daphne du Maurier – yes, really enjoyed those too! I must try and visit Jamaica Inn some time.
You are quite welcome, Donna! I read the story online yesterday after finding it; I can see how it left an impression on you.
And I’m yet another who read Angelique. In my case it was after having been told I needed to wait until I was sixteen. I was about twelve and promptly read it as soon as my parents were out of the house!
You are quite welcome, Donna! I read the story online yesterday after finding it; I can see how it left an impression on you.
And I’m yet another who read Angelique. In my case it was after having been told I needed to wait until I was sixteen. I was about twelve and promptly read it as soon as my parents were out of the house!
You are quite welcome, Donna! I read the story online yesterday after finding it; I can see how it left an impression on you.
And I’m yet another who read Angelique. In my case it was after having been told I needed to wait until I was sixteen. I was about twelve and promptly read it as soon as my parents were out of the house!
You are quite welcome, Donna! I read the story online yesterday after finding it; I can see how it left an impression on you.
And I’m yet another who read Angelique. In my case it was after having been told I needed to wait until I was sixteen. I was about twelve and promptly read it as soon as my parents were out of the house!
You are quite welcome, Donna! I read the story online yesterday after finding it; I can see how it left an impression on you.
And I’m yet another who read Angelique. In my case it was after having been told I needed to wait until I was sixteen. I was about twelve and promptly read it as soon as my parents were out of the house!
So many memories of books I had forgotten about. I loved Anya Seton, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Enid Blyton, The Silver Brumby, Joan Aitken Hodge, Barbara Cartland – not sure where to stop. And then I moved on to Hammond Innes, Alistair McLean and John Wyndham. When I was 10, a school report said ‘Alice reads too much, I hope she learns to curb it’. I have to say I find that quite astonishing but my mother said no one ever saw anything other than the top of my head! My friends used to hide their books when I came round as otherwise I would wander off with them even if they were half way through. I am a self-confessed, longterm reading addict – hurray! It drives the rest of my family demented 🙂
So many memories of books I had forgotten about. I loved Anya Seton, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Enid Blyton, The Silver Brumby, Joan Aitken Hodge, Barbara Cartland – not sure where to stop. And then I moved on to Hammond Innes, Alistair McLean and John Wyndham. When I was 10, a school report said ‘Alice reads too much, I hope she learns to curb it’. I have to say I find that quite astonishing but my mother said no one ever saw anything other than the top of my head! My friends used to hide their books when I came round as otherwise I would wander off with them even if they were half way through. I am a self-confessed, longterm reading addict – hurray! It drives the rest of my family demented 🙂
So many memories of books I had forgotten about. I loved Anya Seton, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Enid Blyton, The Silver Brumby, Joan Aitken Hodge, Barbara Cartland – not sure where to stop. And then I moved on to Hammond Innes, Alistair McLean and John Wyndham. When I was 10, a school report said ‘Alice reads too much, I hope she learns to curb it’. I have to say I find that quite astonishing but my mother said no one ever saw anything other than the top of my head! My friends used to hide their books when I came round as otherwise I would wander off with them even if they were half way through. I am a self-confessed, longterm reading addict – hurray! It drives the rest of my family demented 🙂
So many memories of books I had forgotten about. I loved Anya Seton, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Enid Blyton, The Silver Brumby, Joan Aitken Hodge, Barbara Cartland – not sure where to stop. And then I moved on to Hammond Innes, Alistair McLean and John Wyndham. When I was 10, a school report said ‘Alice reads too much, I hope she learns to curb it’. I have to say I find that quite astonishing but my mother said no one ever saw anything other than the top of my head! My friends used to hide their books when I came round as otherwise I would wander off with them even if they were half way through. I am a self-confessed, longterm reading addict – hurray! It drives the rest of my family demented 🙂
So many memories of books I had forgotten about. I loved Anya Seton, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Enid Blyton, The Silver Brumby, Joan Aitken Hodge, Barbara Cartland – not sure where to stop. And then I moved on to Hammond Innes, Alistair McLean and John Wyndham. When I was 10, a school report said ‘Alice reads too much, I hope she learns to curb it’. I have to say I find that quite astonishing but my mother said no one ever saw anything other than the top of my head! My friends used to hide their books when I came round as otherwise I would wander off with them even if they were half way through. I am a self-confessed, longterm reading addict – hurray! It drives the rest of my family demented 🙂
I agree with everyone – great great post. I was an avid reader from my earliest memory. So many books mentioned are in my list. To this day I remember the smell and wonder of the BOOKMOBILE. I still love Fairy stories. When you were young everything was a great new discovery!
I agree with everyone – great great post. I was an avid reader from my earliest memory. So many books mentioned are in my list. To this day I remember the smell and wonder of the BOOKMOBILE. I still love Fairy stories. When you were young everything was a great new discovery!
I agree with everyone – great great post. I was an avid reader from my earliest memory. So many books mentioned are in my list. To this day I remember the smell and wonder of the BOOKMOBILE. I still love Fairy stories. When you were young everything was a great new discovery!
I agree with everyone – great great post. I was an avid reader from my earliest memory. So many books mentioned are in my list. To this day I remember the smell and wonder of the BOOKMOBILE. I still love Fairy stories. When you were young everything was a great new discovery!
I agree with everyone – great great post. I was an avid reader from my earliest memory. So many books mentioned are in my list. To this day I remember the smell and wonder of the BOOKMOBILE. I still love Fairy stories. When you were young everything was a great new discovery!
Same here, Kareni – I sneak read it at someone else’s house I think. Why do parents not realise that telling a child they can’t read something only makes them want to read it more? 😀
Same here, Kareni – I sneak read it at someone else’s house I think. Why do parents not realise that telling a child they can’t read something only makes them want to read it more? 😀
Same here, Kareni – I sneak read it at someone else’s house I think. Why do parents not realise that telling a child they can’t read something only makes them want to read it more? 😀
Same here, Kareni – I sneak read it at someone else’s house I think. Why do parents not realise that telling a child they can’t read something only makes them want to read it more? 😀
Same here, Kareni – I sneak read it at someone else’s house I think. Why do parents not realise that telling a child they can’t read something only makes them want to read it more? 😀
Wow, Alice, I can’t believe any teacher would say that about a child! They should have encouraged you. But I’m glad it didn’t put you off and you’re still a reading addict – I’m pretty sure we all are here and it’s wonderful!
Wow, Alice, I can’t believe any teacher would say that about a child! They should have encouraged you. But I’m glad it didn’t put you off and you’re still a reading addict – I’m pretty sure we all are here and it’s wonderful!
Wow, Alice, I can’t believe any teacher would say that about a child! They should have encouraged you. But I’m glad it didn’t put you off and you’re still a reading addict – I’m pretty sure we all are here and it’s wonderful!
Wow, Alice, I can’t believe any teacher would say that about a child! They should have encouraged you. But I’m glad it didn’t put you off and you’re still a reading addict – I’m pretty sure we all are here and it’s wonderful!
Wow, Alice, I can’t believe any teacher would say that about a child! They should have encouraged you. But I’m glad it didn’t put you off and you’re still a reading addict – I’m pretty sure we all are here and it’s wonderful!
Thank you, Jeanne, and that is so true – the sheer wonder of all those stories just waiting to be read! I still feel like that sometimes except these days I know which books to look for to be sure I’m going to like them, so I am more choosy.
Thank you, Jeanne, and that is so true – the sheer wonder of all those stories just waiting to be read! I still feel like that sometimes except these days I know which books to look for to be sure I’m going to like them, so I am more choosy.
Thank you, Jeanne, and that is so true – the sheer wonder of all those stories just waiting to be read! I still feel like that sometimes except these days I know which books to look for to be sure I’m going to like them, so I am more choosy.
Thank you, Jeanne, and that is so true – the sheer wonder of all those stories just waiting to be read! I still feel like that sometimes except these days I know which books to look for to be sure I’m going to like them, so I am more choosy.
Thank you, Jeanne, and that is so true – the sheer wonder of all those stories just waiting to be read! I still feel like that sometimes except these days I know which books to look for to be sure I’m going to like them, so I am more choosy.
It’s nice to find another I am David fan, Vicki L! It’s certainly a memorable book.
It’s nice to find another I am David fan, Vicki L! It’s certainly a memorable book.
It’s nice to find another I am David fan, Vicki L! It’s certainly a memorable book.
It’s nice to find another I am David fan, Vicki L! It’s certainly a memorable book.
It’s nice to find another I am David fan, Vicki L! It’s certainly a memorable book.
Thank you so much for your comment, Mike, it’s great to get a male perspective as well! And huge apologies for this late reply – for some reason your message got stuck in the system and has only just appeared (no idea why!). I think you’re right about the division but although I loved all the romance, I definitely read some “boy’s” books as well. I drew the line at Biggles though – he was my mother’s favourite and she tried to get me to read those but I couldn’t get into them. Much later, as an adult, I read the first Biggles book and quite enjoyed it from a historical point of view, but it didn’t tempt me to read the rest. From some of the other comments here, it seems that some teachers and schools had some very odd ideas about how much or how little children should read. But it didn’t put off us diehard bookworms thank goodness! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for your comment, Mike, it’s great to get a male perspective as well! And huge apologies for this late reply – for some reason your message got stuck in the system and has only just appeared (no idea why!). I think you’re right about the division but although I loved all the romance, I definitely read some “boy’s” books as well. I drew the line at Biggles though – he was my mother’s favourite and she tried to get me to read those but I couldn’t get into them. Much later, as an adult, I read the first Biggles book and quite enjoyed it from a historical point of view, but it didn’t tempt me to read the rest. From some of the other comments here, it seems that some teachers and schools had some very odd ideas about how much or how little children should read. But it didn’t put off us diehard bookworms thank goodness! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for your comment, Mike, it’s great to get a male perspective as well! And huge apologies for this late reply – for some reason your message got stuck in the system and has only just appeared (no idea why!). I think you’re right about the division but although I loved all the romance, I definitely read some “boy’s” books as well. I drew the line at Biggles though – he was my mother’s favourite and she tried to get me to read those but I couldn’t get into them. Much later, as an adult, I read the first Biggles book and quite enjoyed it from a historical point of view, but it didn’t tempt me to read the rest. From some of the other comments here, it seems that some teachers and schools had some very odd ideas about how much or how little children should read. But it didn’t put off us diehard bookworms thank goodness! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for your comment, Mike, it’s great to get a male perspective as well! And huge apologies for this late reply – for some reason your message got stuck in the system and has only just appeared (no idea why!). I think you’re right about the division but although I loved all the romance, I definitely read some “boy’s” books as well. I drew the line at Biggles though – he was my mother’s favourite and she tried to get me to read those but I couldn’t get into them. Much later, as an adult, I read the first Biggles book and quite enjoyed it from a historical point of view, but it didn’t tempt me to read the rest. From some of the other comments here, it seems that some teachers and schools had some very odd ideas about how much or how little children should read. But it didn’t put off us diehard bookworms thank goodness! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for your comment, Mike, it’s great to get a male perspective as well! And huge apologies for this late reply – for some reason your message got stuck in the system and has only just appeared (no idea why!). I think you’re right about the division but although I loved all the romance, I definitely read some “boy’s” books as well. I drew the line at Biggles though – he was my mother’s favourite and she tried to get me to read those but I couldn’t get into them. Much later, as an adult, I read the first Biggles book and quite enjoyed it from a historical point of view, but it didn’t tempt me to read the rest. From some of the other comments here, it seems that some teachers and schools had some very odd ideas about how much or how little children should read. But it didn’t put off us diehard bookworms thank goodness! Thanks again!