Every so often I find I acquire a new interest…..the last one that I had was adult colouring which…yes, I still do but it has stopped me from being crazy about it. Others have been cross-stitch, card making, pen paling, knitting and always reading. I still knit. I still have penpals. I almost forgot after the cross-stitch craze of course I discovered Facebook. I was not the only one who missed yesterday’s Facebook disappearance.

Anyway …back to reading…I do not have a special genre/subject that I go to. And now I have two dream-style volunteering jobs in my retirement days. I cull, sort and price paperbacks and other books at the Cancer Research in Guildford on a Tuesday afternoon and I sit at the till and sell books at the Oxfam Bookshop in Guildford also. Even an avid lover of books……YES..most days I will come back with at least a couple.

A couple of months ago I came home with a copy of Anne of Green Gables. I had seen the movie but cannot remember reading the book. This got me thinking that I could not remember reading many children’s books at all, so started to look for titles. I soon couldn’t stop and now have a pile to read and a paper list that I carry around in my bag.

The next one I started was Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.The proper story not the fairy tale or the pantomime. I actually had to give up on reading this as I found it very dark and disturbing and I really could not complete it.

I have read a beautiful copy of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It’s a beautiful padded copy that I got from the Oxfam Bookshop. Also, I have enjoyed Family from One End Street and the Railway Children by E . Nesbit.
The one I have just started to read is Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. I do remember watching a TV serial many years ago on the BBC.

I will not list all the ones that await me but I look forward to Oliver Twist, Heidi. The Secret Garden just to name three. I am on the lookout for The Secret 7 and Famous 5 which I have read and will enjoy re-reading, I have never read any of Roald Dahl so was delighted to find 5 in the charity shop so look forward to The Witches, Georges Marvelous Medicine, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Daniel and the Champion of the World.

Books on my paper list that I am looking for copies for are Watership Down, Charlottes Webb, Alice in Wonderland, Swallows and Amazons, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin to name a few.

I cannot remember many books at home when I was small…but one thing is I do remember my dad taking me along to the library and getting me a ticket….and my ambition of being old enough to go over the adult side when I was 14. So thanks Dad for seeing me on the road to my love of books.

Literature stuff I remember from school is being taught the words of The Owl and the Pussy Cat. and being read chapters of The Pilgrims Progress at school on Friday mornings. I do remember some of us falling asleep. I went to night school and did O-level English Literature and Language and acquired grades B and C but I forget which for what. I have never forgotten the books I had to read. Pride and Predeiduce by Jane Austen, Twelfth Night.Shakespeare, Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell. I still have my Jane Austin copy.

If you are able to comment It would be lovely to know the kind of books you enjoy. Thank you

Tuesday, October 5, 2021