Thursday 31 January 2013

Lists - 2/52




Joining in with Meet Me At Mike's a great blog by the way.




A List Of Books I Read Again and Again When I Was Young




The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

The Secret Seven - Enid Blyton

The Phantom Tolbooth - Norton Juster

Olga da Polga - Michael Bond

Mrs Pepperpot - Alf Proysen

Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

What Katy Did - Susan Coolidge

Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? - Judy Bloom

The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and Three Quarters - Sue Townsend

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkein

The Earthsea Quartet - Ursula le Guin

The Moomins - Tove Jansen

The Phoenix and The Carpet - E Nesbit

The Borrowers - Mary Norton

The Family From One End Street - Eve Garnett

The Swish Of The Curtain - Pamela Brown

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe - C S Lewis



Writing this list has transported me back in time to lying on my bed in the late seventies and early eighties. My bedroom was my sanctuary in a very loud, busy and messy household. (My Dad was a builder, and there were often breeze blocks in the living room). I can close my eyes and see the Dolly Mixtures wallpaper on the wall, my lamp with it's adjustable stand. The curtains were orange with diamond patterns, which I think had once hung in the living room. I expect I'm wearing  a nightie, probably polyester. Do girls still wear nighties, or is it all onesies these days?

I used to lie on my stomach with my pillow tucked underneath me, lost in a book. I still do now. I remember secretly reading when the light should have been out. I remember running into Mum and Dad's bedroom to tell them that I had finished The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. I loved it so much and was so proud to have finished, I just had to share it.

I recall having a little bookcase, but most of my books were borrowed from the library at school, and when I got older the local municipal library at the bottom of my road. Marksbury Road Library had different doors to go in and out, which I thought was very posh. The wooden counter was slightly raised and smelt of polish. You chose your book and took it to the lady, who stamped the book and took out the little card inside. The books had that used, second handy smell. I loved that smell. Library books don't smell like that anymore. The nearest I can get to it is the smell of books that I pick up in charity shops.

It would be a lie to say that I was a voracious reader, but I enjoyed reading very much. I still do. There are some months that I read very little, and some when I can get through several novels. Either way it has always been and still remains a great pleasure of mine to curl up in bed with a book and transport myself somewhere else just for a little while. 

Did you enjoy any of the books listed above? Have you tried to encourage your children to read a well loved book from your own childhood? Have you ever re-read them as an adult and gained the same amount of pleasure as you did as a child? 

What would your own list be?

Leanne xx















4 comments:

  1. Great list, and you paint a vivid picture of reading as a child.

    I read lots of these - I especially remember reading lots of Enid Blyton (Famous 5 and Mallory Towers) and then moving on to Judy Blume, which I loved. I used to ask my mum for the Sweet Valley High books but she disapproved and said no, which of course made me want them even more. And Anne of Green Gables - I loved that too.

    Gillian x

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    1. Oh dear. I disapprove of quite a lot of books that Sam reads. They seem far too nihilistic for my liking!

      Leanne xx
















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  2. I loved Enid Blyton and Judy Bloom when I was growing up. And Roald Dahl was another favourite. x

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    1. I do remember reading Fantastic Mr Fox, but I really discovered Mr Dahl when I had children.

      Leanne xx

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