A love of books

crimson Abebooks seems to have copies of Lad, a Dog. Prices vary.

www.abebooks.com/Lad-Dog-Terhune-Albert-Payson-Adapted/4453355759/bd

www.abebooks.com/9780448022376/Lad-Dog-0448022370/plp

www.abebooks.com/Lad-Dog-Albert-Payson-Terhune-Adapter-Felix/6558469404/bd

There is a PDF of it here to download- www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38207

I read anything and everything as a child. A big favourite was Arthur Ransome and DS1 inherited that love, before he went on the Stephen King... The downstairs loo was a safe refuge where I could lock myself in with a book, much to my mother's chagrin, although she was an avid reader herself and we often had to retrieve her specs and book from the end of the bath. I had the free run of the big hardback bookcase from an early age and dad had a small bookcase full of original Penguins and Pelicans. I read most of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, John Buchan, Neville Shute - you can see where this is going! However, Jane Austen captured my heart in my teens and I've re-read her many times since. A degree in English was the perfect excuse to read and read...
My younger GD always has her head in a book; her brother prefers non-fiction; the two youngest always have a story at bedtime and the 7-year-old now reads for himself as well. Things are going nicely with the youngest generation. Thanks to their parents who also read a great deal.

GrandmaMiney thanks for your interesting post. I am just about to start reading 'State of Wonder' and am really interested in these issues, knowing someone who is pregnant in her late 40s and suffering ill-health, and having two daughters who have had IVF, and know the pitfalls that don't tend to be discussed publicly.

Are you thinking of Francesca Simon, the brilliant Horrid Henry author? My grandson is an addict and I have watched all the progammes and read some of the books to him when he was younger.

Will be back to comment on State of Wonder

Greatnan sounds just that. She has contributed helpful comments for my Walking a Marathon topic in the Exercise Forum. I can now see why she enjoys her steep walks, living in the Pyrenees must be wonderful.

I love reading and this passion has passed to my elder son and my daughter and my grandchildren. However I think we have to accept that our children and grandchildren will make their own choices--often to read books which have more resonance with their contemporary lives. That said, a grounding in the classics is always desirable. My daughter really enjoyed English Literature at school, still reads many 'classics' but also loves contemporary fiction, and was a judge in the 2011 Orange Prize for Women's Fiction. Some of her recommendations from her reading for this introduced me to wonderful new books, such as Emma Donaghue's 'Room' --a must read for any grandparent. More recently she recommended Ann Patchett's 'State of Wonder', a finalist in the 2012 Orange Prize. Again a must-read for every older woman, as it explores the possibility of fertility and childbearing being an option in one's 70s. I'd be interested in other gransnetters views on this book...
As for my grandchildren, the 10 year old loves modern fantasy fiction, as well as old favourites. I took Sam and his 8 yr old brother to a Young Friends day at the British Museum, focusing on the Olympics. They were already familiar with Greek myths and heroes, and thoroughly enjoyed acting out the stories, seeing relevant artefacts in the BM, and the associated activities of the day. I had also taken them to another BM day relating to the Lewis chessmen, with (the Horrid Henry author, whose name has temporarily disappeared into a senior moment box) telling the children how looking at the Lewis chessmen with her son, had inspired her latest book.
All rich material for readers and writers, young and old.

One of my best memories from childhood was being taken to a library with my school; couldn't believe I could just take books to read whenever I wanted to. I chose The Call of the Wild. My mum was always buying me books which seems strange [and I've only just thought of this] because she didn't own a single book of her own. But, perhaps people used libraries more in those days. I loved the Joseph E Chipperfield books about animals; Ghost Horse was my favourite [I did get that from a book search a few years ago].

I shall keep a lookout, crimson

Oh, "The Magic Faraway Tree"! I loved it so much, bought a copy for DD when she was little and she bought one for DGD. And "Shadow the Sheepdog" - does anyone remember that.

I was, and am, a very fast reader, so in the end my parents bought me five or six second hand books for Christmas, rather than one new one which I'd finish in a morning.

My first degree is in English, so the classics are part of my life, but others defining ones were by Doris Lessing - "The Golden Notebook"etc. and then Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt, Margaret Forster et al.

I'm still searching for a picture book of Lad, a Dog that my mum threw away. You can still get the 'Lad' books, but not the picture book. I can still see the pictures in my mind and would give anything to see the book again. I've tried all sorts of book searches etc but to no avail.

When I was a child in Canada my English grandparents often sent books as presents. Easier and cheaper to post. One of the books was Deep Sea Mokey by Grace Couch - it had lovely illustrations and story and was a huge favourite for years. We travelled extensively overseas and sadly my copy was lost. Two years ago, on a whim, I put in the book's title on Amazon. To my pleased amazment up it came a copy in a second hand book shop in Edinburgh. Of course I immediately sent off for it and received it a few days later. In excellent condition with the illustrations being as wonderful as they were all those years ago. It only cost £15 with pp and has given me a lot of pleasure.
Looking at the other threads to this we all seemed to have read the same books - sadly many of them no longer in print. If you long for an old favourite try Amazon [ooh free ad for them] you never know.

I loved Winnie the Pooh and still have my copy from when I was 10. Children are so fortunate to have such a wide range of books to choose from nowadays.

I read avidly as a child and loved lots of the books mentioned, Enid Blyton etc. It was a family joke that if I didn't have a book I would read the labels on the sauce bottles!
I loved The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, and bought it for my gds who are just not interested.
My absolute childhood favourite was Little Women, which I reread so often that it fell to bits!

During the Jubilee weekend I read my 5 year old GD the 'Frances' books by Russell Hoban. She absolutely adored them. 35 years ago I read them to my DS & DD and like them fell in love with these books. On a recent visit I found her mother was reading 'The Far-away Tree' by Enid Blyton to her, a series of books I too enjoyed. DD and I intend to introduce her to 'The Secret Garden', 'Little Princess' and other late Victorian children's books that we both enjoyed together when DD was a child.

My, now grown-up children and I all enjoy reading poetry, as does my DiL and we share new discoveries

Another favourite was Enid Blyton's Five Go Off To Camp. Thanks to Amazon I've been able to obtain some old (and suitably tatty) copies of these books so the DGds can add them to their bookshelves. The Pullein Thompson books were wonderful. They taught children an awful lot about riding and caring for ponies as well as being cracking good stories.

As a small child I loved books but was restricted to my reading book at school. My dad was an avid reader but no one realised I was really keen too. My next door neighbour used to take her three daughters to the library every week and I was sooooo jealous! I didn't know it was a free service and if I'd asked my mum she would have taken me too! Anyway I've made up for it since, not only by borrowing from the library, but buying hundreds of books from charity shops.

I loved those books*merlotgran*, I was also pony mad. I read all of the books by the Pullein Thompsons(don't know if the spelling is right.),anything with a horse in it. I also loved all the Noel Streatfields, and all of E. Nesbit,Iloved The Bastable family.

merlotgran, I loved those two pony books too, and still have my copies. My dgd is 8, so maybe she'll like them soon. I hope so.

I remember getting White Boots out from the local library Anagram. Loved it. Went mad on the thought of ice skating.

nellie, every Christmas morning when I was little I'd find a wrapped book on my bed, because they knew that would keep me quiet until a reasonable hour! I'll never forget the year I opened it up to find it was an exact replica of the Black Beauty book I already had - I was sooo disappointed!
I still read it again, though - for the umpteenth time.

The chalet school books where my absolute favourites,and I so wanted to go there.
The Bobsey Twins where also ggreat favourites like fatfairy.
Like joannapiano I used to comfort read ,and still do,used to love Nancy Drew,and I also read a lot of the classics when I was a child...my books where my friends.
Has anyone got a love of new books ,the smell th,e feel,the anticipation of what lies within Christmas isn't right without a new book to savour..

I loved the William books by Richmal Crompton - and I thought she was a man!

Not only did I spell her name wrongly, FeeTee but for years I thought she was a man. I was a pony mad child so my two favourite books were Wish For A Pony by Monica Edwards and We Couldn't Leave Dinah (a very exciting wartime story) by Mary Treadgold. My two older GDs have read both these and loved them. GD3 is nearly old enough. The prose is obviously very dated but that just adds to the charm.

Ooh so many things I agree with. I loved (love!) the Swallows and Amazons books, the Little House on the Prairie books, anything at all by Noel Streatfeild (even though it was only recently that I learned to spell her name correctly. It looks...wrong!) Loved Secret Garden and the What Katy Did books too. Delighted DD loved them all too and hoping DGD will follow suit. DD loved the Chalet School books too - very outdated but she didn't care at all (and still reads them now and again!)

I loved all those books! And also Secret Garden, DaddyLong Legs & The Little Princess..

Oops - just realised the book was called 'White Boots' although also known as 'Skating Shoes' - should have googled it before I posted!

Once I had read Heidi I was determined to live in the mountains, but I was 61 when I bought a house in the Pyrenees and got my dream, moving to the Alps in 2010.
I found The Little House on the Prairie series just a few years ago, having seen the TV programme, but when I was young I loved the Anne of Green Gables books, plus What Katy Did and school stories by Angela Brazil. I couldn't get any of my grand-daughters to read any of them.

I loved those books too, joanna - I think my favourite was 'Ice Skates' because I loved ice skating!