Today in some rambling thoughts - I might have been peeling potatoes or something else mundane - I got to thinking about childhood summer days, when Mark and I would ride our bicycles the ten blocks to the public library every day. We could only check out two books at a time, so we'd have to go back every day to get new ones. I remember devouring Nancy Drew books one summer, as well as several other series books, of which the Cherry Ames series has now become something that I've collected in recent years.
I know that some kids are readers and others are outdoorsy or occupy themselves in other ways. But if you were a reader, what books, or memories of reading, do you remember from childhood?
The Laura Ingalls Wilder series was one that I read and re-read, even as an adult. (They say a good children's book is one that adults enjoy also.) Also have fond memories of Charlotte's Web, The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, The Little Princess, and others that will come to mind as soon as this post is ended.
7 comments:
I also spent a lot of time reading as I was growing up - usually propped in an arm chair with my head on one side and my legs hanging over the other side.
I read all the Bobsy Twins, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys series. Cousin Carolyn had all the Nancy Drew books and I rode my bike to her house to get one at a time until I read them all.
I still like to read fiction and like a light romance or mystery. Occasionally I read something with more "substance".
Speaking for my husband - I don't think he ever read a book for enjoyment until he retired and now he's a real "bookworm"! Of course, his job required a lot of reading to keep up on legalities, etc. but now he can read for enjoyment.
I liked the Little House on the Prairie books, the Grandma's Attic series, Beverly Cleary's Ramona series, and the Anne of Green Gables series.
I enjoy reading but haven't read in a long time (other than parenting books or devotional-type books). I decided just a few weeks ago to make time for reading for enjoyment. I started with Jane Austen novels. I don't remember reading any of them growing up, but I am enjoying them now.
I also enjoyed Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, Grandma's Attic, and Little House. I really love fantasy (I know not everyone does) and have read the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings series almost every year since Jr. High. I also really enjoy Harry Potter. I haven't been able to read in months, though I did get a lot in while on bedrest, but recently started the Narnia books for probably the 15th time.
I too read the Little House books over and over and remember being very mad at a librarian who said those books were for older readers and I needed to get books from the young readers area. Mary, who must have been about 8, looked at herand said, "She's a very good reader" so I got to check it out.
I liked Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, and the Trixie Belden books. I didn't read Anne of Green Gables until an adult but I've read some of them several times.
In jr. high I read One Saint and Seven Sinners when visiting our great aunts on Mom's side of the family and laughed and laughed and laughed. Aunt Louise couldn't believe a book could be so funny.
Shelley, I also have a recent Jane Austen "fling." I am halfway through Northanger Abbey and have read most of the others. I loved to read as a child, but rarely took the time after we had children. Now I read on the airplane to Oregon and on the train to KC.
I admire you, Shelley and Carol, for reading Jane Austen. I love the two videos, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and the A&E production of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, but reading the books. . .just don't have the patience needed.
Mary Lee loved the Grandma's Attic series, even though for the most part she is not an avid reader.
I remember reading Nancy Drew, but apparently I wasn't much of a reader, or my memory fails me. Now I love looking at books and owning lots of books, but still not doing a lot of book reading. Most of my reading now is on the internet, blogs and web searches.
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