This week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph features an old fashioned library - a theme right up my street, as libraries have played a large part in my life. 
o Books
are food and drink to me - a habit which began early on. It was a
treat to get a book at Christmas and birthdays and choosing a new book
to take on holiday was part of the anticipation of the trip. I can remember the first book I borrowed from the library - an illustrated history of
England with a cover picture of the young Queen Elizabeth 1 In all her 16th century regalia.
Classics featured in my reading, boosted by the BBC classic Sunday teatime serials on TV - Little Women and its sequels, What Katy Did, Heidi, Sarah Crewe and The Secret Garden, Jane Eyre, and Children of the New Forest; later onto Charles Dickens novels - Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield. Some of these titles have now fallen foul of the "snowflake/woke" generation, but I never felt I needed a "trigger warning" about them.
In teenage years, I was slow to move onto adult popular fiction - Agatha Christie I think was my route, though I have never been into crime novels where there is a sudden great denouement in the final pages; also Georgette Heyer's Regency romances, the novels of Daphne Du Maurier and Catherine Cookson, and the family sagas by Mazo de la Roche, set in North America.
I love curling up in bed or on the sofa, or or soaking in bath bubbles with a good book and can't see that an electronic book has nearly the same appeal. However Kindle did come into its own when my local library was closed in the extended Covid Lockdowns.
It was at the Heritage Hub that I was first introduced to the idea of blogging - and here I am, ten years later with my own blog!
After an early school visit to the local library, I played at
being a Librarian.
I remember one Christmas being delighted at getting in my stocking a
date stamp. I made up issue labels for my books, and dragooned my family
into being customers, so I could enthusiastically stamp away.
o Books
are food and drink to me - a habit which began early on. It was a
treat to get a book at Christmas and birthdays and choosing a new book
to take on holiday was part of the anticipation of the trip. I can remember the first book I borrowed from the library - an illustrated history of
England with a cover picture of the young Queen Elizabeth 1 In all her 16th century regalia.
As a
child my favourite author was one much despised then by pundits, but
loved by her readers - in other words Enid Blyton, especially The Famous Five, Secret Seven and Mallory Towers, also remembering as a younger child Noddy and Big Ears.
Enid Blyton's books could be fought over in the library, but we were
less willing to raise our hands in class and admit we read her.
I loved school stories and got very involved in the long running Chalet School series, by Elinor Brent Dyer,
with its foreign setting, odd phrases in French and German, the exotic
names of the characters (Elisveta, Evadne, Gisela) and the exploits of
the lead character Joey Maynard and later on her large extended family.
Another favouritism author was Noel Streatfield with her tales of ballet school and skating success.
For lighter relief, I had my favourite weekly magazines - "Girl",
with Angela Air Hostess, Belle of the Ballet, Kay from "The Courier",
Claudia of the Circus, etc., the Picture Gallery which I cut up and put in a
scrapbook, plus a series "Mother Tells You How" on domestic tips!! If
you wonder how I remember all of this - my daughter gave me a
nostalgic book on "The Best of Girl" one Christmas.
Classics featured in my reading, boosted by the BBC classic Sunday teatime serials on TV - Little Women and its sequels, What Katy Did, Heidi, Sarah Crewe and The Secret Garden, Jane Eyre, and Children of the New Forest; later onto Charles Dickens novels - Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield. Some of these titles have now fallen foul of the "snowflake/woke" generation, but I never felt I needed a "trigger warning" about them.
In teenage years, I was slow to move onto adult popular fiction - Agatha Christie I think was my route, though I have never been into crime novels where there is a sudden great denouement in the final pages; also Georgette Heyer's Regency romances, the novels of Daphne Du Maurier and Catherine Cookson, and the family sagas by Mazo de la Roche, set in North America.
My tastes haven't changed much - family sagas and historical novels by authors, Anya Seton (e.g. "The Winthrop Woman" set in early New England), Cynthia Harrod Eagles' family saga series "The Morland Dynasty" which relates the story of a Yorkshire family from the times of Richard III down the centuries, Catherine Gavin (my favourite "The Snow Mountain" about the last days of the Russian Czar and his family), and Philippa Gregory's royal series.
Other contemporary authors include Joanne Trollope, Rosamund Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Libby Purves.
For my non-fiction choice -
history, biography, music, ballet, costumes, and crafts pre-dominate and
my collection of reference books is important to me to turn to, to
answer all those odd questions that crop up - even though the Internet has really taken them over.
I love curling up in bed or on the sofa, or or soaking in bath bubbles with a good book and can't see that an electronic book has nearly the same appeal. However Kindle did come into its own when my local library was closed in the extended Covid Lockdowns.
My pleasure from books has also come from seeing the delight my little granddaughter got from her
collection - Touch and Feel books were a new phenomena to me, and then she was onto the "Aliens Love Underpants" series and "Hairy McClary of Donaldson's Dairy" - very wacky and great fun! It is never to early to start loving books!
So what did I become? A Librarian - and yes, I did conform a bit to the stereotyped image - the glasses did it! I also did my best to counteract the image that the only thing Librarians did was stamp books.
Being a librarian served me very well It included a wonderful year on an exchange scheme in the USA, working at Radcliffe College Library in Cambridge, Mass; a long spell in the tourist information centre network in the Scottish Borders, and finally as Researcher at the Heritage Hub, Hawick, home of the Scottish Borders Archive Service.
Radcliffe College Library in the 1960's when I was there.
Working in a tourist information centre in 1978 - it now looks so old fashioned - old style phone, no computer, no uniform, just a name badge.
The Heritage Hub, Hawick
Home of the Scottish Borders Archive Service
Home of the Scottish Borders Archive Service
How many people can work in a place connected to their hobby!
It was at the Heritage Hub that I was first introduced to the idea of blogging - and here I am, ten years later with my own blog!
Note - the cartoon character is courtesy of Pixabay
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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for bloggers
to share their family history and memories through photographs
Oh you definitely hit this meme today! So glad to know your path to where you sit today through literature. Mine was quite different in childhood! But I caught up with you on the classics of romanticism, then went sideways into more murder mysteries and sci-fi! I had completely read the collection of my "lower school library" by 7th grade, so got permission to visit the high school library on my free time. I loved it!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your post and especially those photos! Librarians are special people!
ReplyDeleteEven in my early childhood my mum often took me to the town library (borrowing books both for me and for herself). In my teens I wanted to be a librarian, but alas was discouraged from it in career counselling at highschool, as I was told there were too many unemployed librarians on the job market already. So went to secretary college instead of library college.
ReplyDeleteI was very fortunate that my parents loved reading, books, and libraries, so I was given a library card at an early age. I can remember many times getting help for my school reports from a librarian on how to use the card files and the Dewey Decimal numbers. Sadly in the 21st century Wikipedia has become my encyclopedia, and Google my librarian. I miss the libraries of my youth but at least I don't have to pay a fine on overdue books anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started writing in '93, I was in and out of our local library all the time digging for information. The librarians knew me well. And if need be, they would order books for me from libraries everywhere - which for what I needed was mostly in the U.S., or from England and Scotland. Now, as Mike noted, I get most of my needed information online. I haven't been inside a library in ages which is a shame, but the internet is just too convenient. I like the picture of you at work in the Tourist Information Centre, by the way. You look great. :)
ReplyDelete