Thursday 23 March 2017

Books.......an explaination

A question was posed on a friends blog......how do you treat your books?
 Well some would say not really well.
I am breaking a lot of rules here but I am being brutally honest, I lay them open on the page. 

However I NEVER turn a page down and crease the paper, that was drummed into me by my librarian father. 
That was the ultimate sin.....and what I am doing here was a close second.
My daughter is an avid reader and buyer of books so when I have run out of material I ask her what she has for me!

 And then I get to read some very eclectic titles. 
Note when I borrow books from other people I do not lay them open willy nilly. I am very respectful of books that have been entrusted to me. 
 I will grab whatever is handy to act as a bookmark.
This being a very sweet card from my husband. 
(must remember to take that out before handing the book back...)

This book is quite funny, as I know a few lazy folk. 
The story is patchy but well worth just sticking with it for the human observations. 

 Then there are the books that I would take with me on a desert island. 
I actually dont own a lot of books, I beg and borrow and then return them. Strangely I have a fabric library but have whittled down books to a select few. 
This was a story that was a theme through my childhood of searching for strong characters, those who struck out on their own and made their life independently of others who sought to control them. This was an outstanding book of its time published in 1963 with a female hero, who fought her Victorian father for the right to an education.

 
Whats more it was set in my hometown of Melbourne Australia!



 These are some of my other keepers. 

"Three Men On a Boat" makes me laugh out loud.
"Gormenghast" has the best descriptive passages of pure writing I have ever experienced. 
I think Mervyn was on strong substances when he wrote this, its bizarre but so well written. I identified with the hero being ambivalent to inheriting a title, it was just so angst ridden...but I saw his pain. I recommended it to a family member who hated the character, thought he was weak and soppy.
I was hurt, it felt personal. I really fall in deep with some books and sometimes its a risk to put it out there.....like a piece of your soul.
I can only imagine how writers feel after bad reviews. 

 "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" made me sob...which was awkward as I was reading it at 3.00am...as I do when I cannot sleep.
"The Dark Room" opened my eyes to the German experience of WWII. 
As a child of English parents I only heard one side. This is a great human perspective of what it was like to live as a German then and now. 

 "Wind in the Willows" my only friend as a preteen...I read and reread and reread....I never stopped returning wishing I too could escape on the river, find a true friend like Ratty....oh this book!
Its very broken and precious I have upgraded and bought a new copy but it doesn't feel like this book....this book holds my heart. 
 AA Milne a complete delight. 
Loved this poem
Loved Winnie The Pooh....he often made me laugh, and Eeyore....well I only have just understood him...and I adore his melancholy...

 I was given a lot of secondhand books as a child, read this a lot. Fairy Tales are actually quite gruesome and these were no exception!
Found these at my local thrift shop. They bought back memories of school reading. 
"cough, cough" I was actually a very advanced reader and had progressed from all set texts by age 8...was often just sent to the library and told to pick whatever I wanted! But I still have fond memories even so. 
 These texts are just so Australian...whereas my home reading was almost all English. 

 I hope you enjoyed this little foray into my books. 





2 comments:

  1. Love this! What a tribute to your 'life books.' This reminds me of a line from a movie (You've Got Mail): the books you read as a child shape you.

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  2. I've so loved reading about your favourite books. I remember you told me to read three men in a boat about 5 years ago... I really must get onto that. Love Winnie the Pooh! I never fold a page either.

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