Nostalgia (1)

I wrote a blog about a fictional book club and the way these women decided to choose books to read. Reading the story and writing the blog got me thinking about the books of my childhood. I have always loved reading, and I have been surrounded by books my entire life. Actually (confession coming), when I was a child and I needed to be disciplined, by parents would forbid me from reading. Trying to think of my favourite books is going to be hard.

In terms of early childhood, I remember a couple of favourites. One was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Voigt. I loved that story. I really felt like I could relate to Alexander. He never got anything he wanted, and he just wanted everything to go well. Wouldn't we all like to move to Australia on occasion? I was also a big fan of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Again, who hasn't wanted to just escape from our daily life and become king (or queen) of the monsters. I still enjoy reading those books.

As I got older, and began reading to myself, there were a number of favourites. As I stated in an earlier post, Nancy Drew was always a favourite. Hmmmm, as a girl I loved mystery stories and I still do; I guess some things never change. Sorry, brief moment of introspection. Along with Nancy, I also read Trixie Belden, the Bobbsey Twins, and Enid Blyton's Famous Five. Children solving mysteries was obviously something I really enjoyed. I don't know what it was about those mysteries, but I could really lose myself in all those stories.

Another set of stories in which I could get lost were the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery. Anne Shirley was such a great heroine. I just loved how spunky she was. No one ever took advantage of her. Her life wasn't easy, but she made the most of it. She may not have been the most popular, but she managed to achieve everything she wanted. As a result of my last entry about the book club, I want to re-read L.M. Montgomery's works; I also want to read her journals and the new biography that Jane Urquhart has written. There is so much more to see when looking at her work from an adult perspective. Actually, my book club has decided to read Emily's Quest as our book for next month. This means that me being me, I've bought all three of the Emily books to read - Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs and Emily's Quest. I'm sensing another blog entry for the near future.

On a slightly different note, a big part of my childhood was being read to. My mother would read to me and my brothers every night; it was a wonderful end to every day. I can't remember everything she read, but the memory of having her read to us is a wonderful one. I do remember reading The Wind in the Willows and Anne of Green Gables with my mother. I know that if and when I ever become a parent, reading together as a family will be a really important part of the day.

What are some of your favourite childhood books? These could be books you read yourself or books that were read to you.