I Opened a Book

The other day I found my 26th month old grandson behind the chair looking at his favourite book out of the way of his nine month brother. At home he sits 'reading' in his wardrobe (like little cave) He loves his books more than any toy I hope he always will. He falls asleep every night holding a book.

I love that poem.
I learned to read at 8 years of age and have been reading avidly ever since. I loved Enid Blyton and many others, I have been known to read ~Blyton as a grown up. DD got her MA in literature and DGD loves a story at bedtime.

I have been an avid reader since being knee-high to a grasshopper. My parents were not at all interested in reading, but each had a library ticket which I used to take out books in addition to the couple I was allowed to borrow on my own ticket. I couldn't wait to read to my children and well remember sitting on an armchair with the youngest on my knee and the other two perched on each arm of the chair listening to 'The Magic Faraway Tree' etc. They never went to bed without at least three or four demands for "Just one more chapter." I was quite disappointed when they didn't particularly share my enthusiasm for 'The Family from One End Street', 'Emile and the Detectives' and anything by Noel Streatfield, especially 'Ballet Shoes'. Perhaps they were a little outdated for my kids, although I had been enthralled by them.

I've been known to miss earthquakes because I was reading. I kid you not.

smile

Alice in Wonderland is still one of my favourite books. The humour is wonderful!

Fantastic!

I love books, I always have one on the go and several by my bedside table waiting to be read. It's the best legacy my parents ever gave me, they imbued me with a desire to read from a very early age. I grew up in a house full of them, my father had masses of history books, historical atlas' as well as ordinary ones. I can remember being fascinated by the illustrations, which I think gave me a subliminal idea of a historical time line before I ever studied the subject at school, I think I always knew where different periods slotted in and what followed on from what.

I'm always happy with a book, I rarely find a dramatisation will match the written word, which is why so often I'm disappointed with them, although conversely when I have loved a book, the first thing that springs to mind is, this story would be very filmic.

I can remember the long summer holidays in junior school where I would order my favourite Enid Blytons from the Library and would be as happy as Larry when I got the card to say my book was ready for collection.

I love to read Alice in Wonderland to my gd among other books she likes. I think this one captured her imagination as it did with me. Another favourite I want to read to her when she is a little older, my own children also loved it, is The Water Babies. I am disappointed on occasions that she has a preference for a dvd over being read to. Sadly I think screens predominate over books now.

Lona: I know what you mean about temporarily losing the ability to get lost in fiction when life's particularly stressful, and it's such a gap in my life because I too was always a bit of a bookworm - I miss it at the moment...

I've been a book lover all my life, learnt to read very young. I remember the day I joined the library, aged 5. I was only allowed 2 books. One of them I remember was a Noddy story and I can still see the picture on the first page of Noddy in his bed, such a wonderfully comfortable looking bed with a patchwork cover in poster paint colours. Oh I wanted that bed so badly!
It took me probably less than an hour to read both books, and I begged mummy to take me back for more. The librarian thought I'd brought them back because I didn't like them and wanted something different. No, I said, I've brought them back because I've read them! I remember her looking rather surprised (I don't think she believed me )
And so it continued, throughout my life. My colleagues used to laugh when I came back from a lunch break shopping trip - where they would have carriers emblazoned with the names of high street fashion shops, mine were invariably from Waterstones and other bookshops!

And I agree with you, Feetlebaum about the Kindle. What a great invention. It's particularly good for long, boring train journeys.

It's a charming poem isn't it? I have a life-long love of books. When I was a child, I would lock myself into the downstairs loo with a book. I'd read at night until I heard my mum's footstep on the stairs, though I later discovered that she knew what I was doing - she was an avid reader too as was my dad. My 13-year-old DGD is just the same, much to my delight. I will copy that poem for her, I know she would understand it.

My family were all readers... Mum and Dad used to pass their library books on to us kids before returning them, so I got to read Nero Wolfe mysteries and Damon Runyon stories of New York while still in short trousers! (Me, that is, not Damon Runyon). You could always tell who was now reading Doreen Tovey's books about her Siamese Cats by noting which bedroom the helpless laughter was coming from...

I can't bear to be anywhere where I have to wait, without a book - which is why Kindle has been such a wonderful resource. I have in my pocket, among many other things, all of Charles Dickens, EF Benson's Lucia novels and The Barchester novels of Trollope - so I'm never stuck for something to read! Apart from those, there are Terry Pratchett novels, Robert Rankin and sundry other loonies...

I was a terrible book worm when I was a child, and would go with my father to the library until I could go on my own. My own children loved and still love reading and my grandson does too. I have just started reading The Eagle of the Ninth with him - he reads a chapter to me and I read a chapter to him - and we are both enjoying it. But I have known homes where there wasn't a single book, and no culture of reading and I think that's very sad.

That was me when I was a kid.
I got an arrow in my eye on my fifth birthday and was not allowed out to play or do PE at school until I was twelve. I just had to sit in a corner and read. Fortunately I could read before I went to school so I just used to lose myself in books.
My grandson has read all the Harry Potter books, and is now going through them on his own for the second time. We are reading Lord of the Rings, so he keeps asking if Tolkien got that idea from J K Rowling, and I have to tell him it's the other way round.

Brilliant. I do like Julia Donaldson - her books are so well-crafted - the rhymes carry children along and there is usually a quirky twist in the tail. My DGC absolutely love them. How many times have I read Room on the Broom I wonder?!

That's how I used to feel, but after a lot of stressful times I've somehow lost the ability to read books the way I did.I really must try again because it is such a magical way to spend time.

Love it! That's me! When things get rough, I read fiction. Somehow getting into another world always restores a sense of perspective! Thanks Granny23

I've been reading a lot lately!!!

At home, long before I married, I opened a book. I became so engrossed in it that, although the TV was on in the same room, I missed my favourite programme. To this day, I cannot remember which book I was reading. I wish I knew as I would love to read it again.

Perfect, how lovely it is to be able to sit down and read a good story.

Excellent! I'll show that to GS. Don't you just love Julia Donaldson?

Oh I LOVE that poem!