This
week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph features a woman seated at the front of an aeroplane engrossed in a good book. My theme this week - the pleasure of reading - and being a librarian.
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 colourful cover picture of the young Queen Elizabeth 1 In all her
16th century finery.
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.
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.
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.
It was at the Heritage Hub that I was first introduced to the idea of blogging - and here I am in my twelfth year of 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 colourful cover picture of the young Queen Elizabeth 1 In all her
16th century finery.
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 when they touched on the darker side of life.
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.
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 dramas 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, and Maeve Binchy.
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! We laughed together. 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 till, no uniform, just a name badge.
The Heritage Hub, Hawick, Home of the Scottish Borders Archive Service
where I dealt primarily with family history enquiries.
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 in my twelfth year of my own blog.
Note - the cartoon character is courtesy of Pixabay
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I hadn't thought of going with the reading/book theme. Clever.
ReplyDeleteAaah now you’re talking my language! Books! My mom read to us every night from a chapter book. It was my favourite time of day. We had a mobile library come to our village. I loved The Bobbsey Twins and The Five Little Peppers. Plus the classics. When I started reading my brother’s Hardy Boys my aunts started giving me Nancy Drew for Christmas. As a teen my friend got me reading Victoria Holt books. Reading The Key to Rebecca started me into the world of spies, and Shogun into the world of adventure. One that opened my eyes to other types of books was The Minds of Billy Milligan. Books I read many times over are those of Leon Uris, James Clavell and Barbara Wood (Domina is my favourite). Crime, mystery, spydom and action are my go to.
ReplyDeleteWhile it’s true that opening a brand new book is heaven… the feel, the smell, the anticipation… because of some issues I’ve had the last several years, ebooks have been my savior.
I always loved books, too. The Famous Five (in Swedish translation) were among my favourites in my pre-teens, and I think an Agatha Christie novel was one of first books I read in English in my early teens (can't remember which one though). And also Oliver Twist, because my mum happened to have that one in English. I thought of becoming a librarian in my teens but was discouraged by a student counsellor (the job market not looking good at the time). Became a secretary instead. Also studied English at the university and love English classics. Since many years now reading mostly on Kindle, partly because of a combination of neck and eye problems and partly because of all the access that way to free English classics (and also other cheap deals). The printed books I buy are mostly Swedish ones. My district library closed (moved away from my part of town) before the pandemic and since then I've not borrowed any physical books from the library. Just read the other day that the district library will be moving back to my neighbourhood again, though. So my habits may change again :)
ReplyDeleteI just recently discovered Camilla Läckberg and have read all her Fjällbacka books in English.
DeleteYes to reading early...and my first books I remember were the Golden Books...nice pictures and simple words. Then Disney came through. But Nancy Drew had her place. I had a complete classics library that my folks had bought with encyclopedias. I preferred the encyclopedias, though they were very out of date by the time I was writing themes in high school. I may have been given books as gifts, but the library has always been my main source. I love ebooks and audio books. Right now I'm holding Blue Zones Challenge and Blue Zones Cooking...hard copy and very heavy. Will I take the challenge? One friend is interested...
ReplyDeleteYour book theme has us all thinking about the books we love. I am unfamiliar with the books you read as a child. I may have to go and look them up. I recently re-read several Nancy Drew to see how they hold up today. Not bad ...
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young I remember having favorite Little Golden Book stories read to me - The Little Engine That Could, Tuggy the Tugboat, The Lively Little Rabbit, & so many more, plus all the well-known fairytales. After a while, of course, I could read them on my own. From there I graduated to books about dogs, then horses - written from the animals' point of view. When I was introduced to the game of football for a while I only wanted to read about football and football players. In my teens I became interested in adventure stories. Funny thing, I didn't become interested in romance novels - mostly historical romance - until well after I was married. For a while, when my children were young, of course, I was back to reading all my favorite Little Golden Books and fairytale stories to them. I didn't have a whole lot of time for reading otherwise when they were growing up. It wasn't until they were in their teens that I began reading the romance stories, and now they are pretty much my staple - both to read and write. :)
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful take on the theme image. I also love reading and books and I suspect that is one of the traits shared by all bloggers. In my early years when my dad was in the army, I was introduced to the world of books through his military post libraries. Since the army librarians catered to mostly young soldiers, all men back then, the books were on subjects that had immediate appeal for me. I can still remember the thrill of thumbing through the card catalog drawers kept in those old oak cabinets and discovering a new book or author. My dad also had a subscription to the book of the month club so we always had lots of current new titles. And my mother was fond of books too, especially encyclopedia series which she used to pick up for me at supermarket where they were offered as premium for customers. Of course now Google has replaced the card catalog, Wikipedia is my encyclopedia, and almost all my reading is on a Kindle that probably has a virtual book shelf of a thousand titles.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your kind comments and especially for sharing your own love of books and memories of libraries. Yes, Mike, I remember those card catalogue drawers. I suppose every job has its boring tasks, and for me it was filing those cards. As the only UK respondent, my childhood reading was very different from the American experience, though I remember my daughter, a generation later reading the Nancy Drew stories. Monica, I was so struck by the fact Enid Blyton books were translated into Swedish! I reckon today the Harry Potter books would come head of the popularity lists.
ReplyDelete