We all have certain books that we read as youngsters, which have left us with lasting memories.
Whilst I was still pre-reading age, my mother would always read me bedtime stories. Pookie by Ivy Wallace, and the Ameliaranne books by Margaret Gilmour soon became my real favourites. I adored all these books and would ask for them time and time again.
When a bit older I discovered two books from my parents' bookshelves, that I read several times over. The Kon-Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl, and The One that Got Away (I can't remember the author).
My other favourites, at Prep' School, when I was still reasonably young were the Bulldog Drummond detective books by Sapper (Herman McNeile). I couldn't get enough of these.
After school I didn't have much time for reading until I went to Art College, where my reading was mostly art related, and curriculum based.
Later I remember reading every one of Hardy's novels, quite a lot of W B Yates, everything by Dylan Thomas, and all of Rick Stein. Otherwise these days I grab whatever's around, Lady M's castoffs, or whatever I'd been given for Christmas.
The only books that are ALWAYS by my side are my big Oxford Etymological Dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, and my big English/Latin dictionary. Yes, I'm a sad old git.
Just for the record, my current reading is the catalogue from the 1972 Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum.
I remember reading The Kon-Tiki Expedition. Good to see you still have it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I do still have it, the illustration is thanks to Mr Google.
DeleteI remember reading 'The Epic Voyage of the Seven Little Sisters'
DeleteWilliam Willis, an American, singlehandedly sailed a raft across 6,700 miles of the Pacific from Peru to Samoa in 1954, some 2,200 mile farther.
Largely forgotten.
Ho, Tut again! Twice in one day. I also had the Thor Heyerdahl on the shelves at home, and the one on the Ra expedition. Life on the sea seemed so fascinating to me as a child, but I couldn't abide the notion now - notwithstanding I've recently embarked upon the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturins as audiobooks.
ReplyDeleteSOG? No, just sensible, in my book (haha). My less wieldy 70,000-word dictionary and Fowler's Modern English Usage live bedside, while the 162,000-word Collins and Roget & Co are on a handy bookshelf.
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DeleteWhat happened to my comment? I had said that Thor really influenced my life as a youngster. He was the ultimate hero.
DeleteI too read the Kon-Tiki Expedition but I don't think the other books you mention, although The Hardy Boys rings a bell if that was what you meant. I thought this might have been leading to a post about an English poet who has been banned from English school curriculums.
ReplyDeleteAre you referring to Ms Duffy and her poem 'I'm going to kill something'?
DeleteI think the Kon-Tiki book must have inspired millions of young people. It was such a wonderful adventure.
The Kon Tiki museum in Oslo is quite something. One thing to read about it but to see original vessels! Mind boggling.
ReplyDeleteFor most people there is always time to read...a matter of priorities
I would love to see that, I'll look to see if it's online.
DeleteI see that the museum itself is closed, but there is a wonderful photo of the raft. I think that's the first time I've seen such a clear picture of what it was like.
DeleteI'm another fan of the Kontiki Expedition . Love reading those books of travel and exploration. When I first arrived in Greece I used to to the British library in Athens, run by the embassy I think. One of my favourite authors there was Freya Stark. Quite a woman. All the books there were old hard backs. Reading English books helped keep me sane.
ReplyDeleteI know the name Freya Stark, but I don't think I've read any of her books.
Delete"The Kon Tiki Expedition" was a very special book for me. Imagine my delight when years later I saw the raft in its own little museum near Oslo. Of course Thor Heyerdahl was also a little obsessed with Easter Island and the mystery of how the moai statues were moved. Pretty much the first thing I did when I retired from teaching was to travel to Easter Island myself.
ReplyDeleteI've just had a look, online, of the raft in the Oslo museum. What an amazing idea, and what an adventure!
DeleteThe book I read over and over in my early teens was @Kurun around the world' - can't remember the author but I dreamt of going round the world myself - dreams - dreams.
ReplyDeleteTravel and adventure are the stuff of dreams when we're young. It stimulates in a way that nothing else can do.
DeleteI read the 'Kontiki Expedition' years ago and remember getting it out of Brighton Library but for me one of the most memorable books I have read has to be 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' I loved that book
ReplyDeleteBriony
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I really must read 'The Day of the Triffids' again. I believe it takes place around Storrington/Brighton. I read it before we moved to West Chiltington, so didn't previously appreciate the locations.
DeleteI recently re-read a few Wyndham’s including The Day of the Triffids. To me, they still stand the test of time.
DeleteIt's decades since I read it, but I'd love to read it again. I must have a look to see if we still have it.
DeleteHoney and lettuce sandwiches on Wednesday and two hazel-nuts for pocket-money every Saturday......I felt nostalgic for Pookie and brought a copy a couple of years ago. I had forgotten he wakes at the end of the story to another day 'full of Lettuces and Love'.
ReplyDeleteI used to cry every time my mother read Pookie to me; it overflowed with emotion.
DeleteI read Kontiki but the book that I really loved was The Voyage of the Dove. A 16 year old ~ with the blessing of his parents ~ sets off to travel around the world. There I was, trapped out in the country, with very strict parents. I used to climb to the top of a power line to look across the hills and I could see the clock tower in town Makes me smile to think that my longing for a distant horizon was no more than 12 miles. Robin Graham's parents gave him the world.
ReplyDeleteThoughts of adventure is was spurs us on when we're young. Anyone who doesn't dream of such things is the odd-one-out.
DeleteMy father read us The Kon Tiki Expedition when I was five or six. I have read it a couple of times since on my own.
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