I am a reader but my family aren't

I was watching a programme about Billy Connelly the other evening and he talked about a book which he'd gifted to many friends - A Conspiracy of Dunces. YESS!! Always knew we had a connection

Mollygo, when I Googled Sunny Stories, I found lots of Sunny Stories Annuals on offer, one of which had an introduction by Crawfie, the Princesses' governess. When I also Googled Playways Annual, the stories there were by Enid Blyton 'and others'. I expect I had either or both of these annuals. If only I had kept them, they'd be worth a bit, but not as much as Rupert Bear!

Annodomini I don’t actually know whether Enid Blyton owned it, but thinking back to the content it certainly seemed to be full of stories like hers. This called up such lovely memories of my Grandma.

Mollygo, yes, Sunny Stories! I was delighted when it arrived each month (I think it was monthly) and simply devoured the stories. Was that the magazine that was owned by Enid Blyton? It might have been the other one which I think was called 'Playways'. I've always loved stories and still do - have no time for the kind of authors who sometimes seem to win critical acclaim and even prizes for novels with little apparent story!

I have a kindle but don’t like reading on it! I love books and much prefer to pick up a real book. I enjoy reading but don’t seem to have the time - even in lockdown - that’s a long story!! My DH doesn’t read books only the occasional magazine, I don’t even get round to these! I think I must get more organised and make people round me do things for themselves then I can read! My children were avid readers, especially my oldest daughter, she loves books too. I have shelves of books that were ready for retirement reading, still untouched but I will read them.

annodomini did you have Sunny Stories magazine when you were little? I was another early reader and I remember my Grandma reading that to me and then letting me read it to her.
Aveline, I remember being told to get my head out of that book and go and play.
Were you also told that you’d hurt your eyes by reading so much?
We didn’t have a TV but watched it at my Grandma’s. Then then it was ‘watching too much TV will hurt your eyes’.
Now it’s ‘too much screen time will damage your eyes!’
But here we all are, still reading.
My children both love to read and my grandchildren too, not all to the same extent. The lure of the screen is strong for one GS, but he asked for a Kindle for Christmas 2019 and that goes with him most of the time.

There has never been a time since I learnt to read (I was 4) when I've been without a book on the go - sometimes more than one. My grandparents subscribed to two children's periodical story magazines and sent me book tallies (I thing that was the name) towards the cost of a book I could choose for myself. I read every night to the boys when they were young and they became voracious readers - one of them read all the parts of The Lord of the Rings when he was seven and the other, in his teens was hooked on Stephen King. I was a bit shocked when my father handed a copy of a Jackie Collins book to him when he was 16! Nowadays they are busy men without so much time for books and it seems that the small screen has taken over their leisure time.

I was and remain the archetypal bookworm. I was taught to read at 3 and have been reading voraciously ever since. I used to get so fed up at being told to put my book away and go out to play. When I had my own children I decided I'd never do that. They'd be allowed to read as much as they wanted.
Funny thing life. Neither of them ever liked reading and always preferred to go out to play!!

That is why I asked cornishpasty.

I think you had your tongue in your cheek when you wrote what you did, wondering how people would respond to an admission of so few books in the house and on your Kindle. It it recently acquired.

M0nica, I live in a very small cottage and reading 3 books a week do not have the space to keep any.

Reference books are soon out of date so prefer to research using the internet and prefer a kindle for fiction.

This why I try not to jump to conclusions about those who read very little and the pointless argument between books and Kindles.

Both have their place and that place is as variable from person to person as reading tastes and circumstances are.

M0nica my sister, an avid reader (husband is not) has very few books in the house because they look untidy! ?
She describes her Kindle as the most wonderful present she’s ever been given!

Cornishpasty Is there a reason why you have so few books? Usually when someone makes a statement like yours they either get all their books from the library or are dyslexic or do not read for some other good reason.

I read 3 books a week on my kindle. I only have 2 actual books in the house, both antique that I have never read.

I never saw either of my parents reading a book of any description, but once at school I devoured anything that I could get my hands on book wise. I was given a gift of Treasure Island to read by my primary school teacher and remember trying to read it from the light of the street lamp outside my bedroom window when my parents thought I was sleeping! I know we don't have too many old fashioned book shops nowadays, but if in the past I've been on holiday and stumbled across one, I've loved to go in first to smell those lovely paperbacks and then to buy one.

My parents imbued me with a love of books, we had loads in the house, lots of history books in particular, history was my father's passion. I think I absorbed a lot sometimes, just flicking through them when I was quite young and possibly through osmosis seeing a time line pan out, I also liked looking at atlases which is something my grand daughter likes too. My mother took us to the library most weeks, I loved the thrill of choosing books. I adored getting brand new ones at birthdays and Christmas.

I think all that was hard wired into me, I've always read and had a book on the go from a very early age, but there was little in the way of entertainment when my generation was growing up so books assumed more importance than they do with the children of today. Bookshops are definitely my happy place, much more so than say clothes shops which I do in short bursts, but if I spend too long in them I'm bored. I could be locked in for the night in Waterstones or even better Daunts in Marylebone and be quite happy. I'm missing the browsing experience at the moment. I have to have regular sort outs and trips to charity shops with books I've read, also my husband devours crime and gets through a book every couple of days, or so it seems We've bought a lot during lock down. If I really love a book I wont part with it, so my bookshelves are creaking somewhat. Maybe a Kindle would be the answer, but I love the feel of a new book it's something special to me.

As for my children, one is an avid reader, my other one doesn't read hardly ever now. Probably the last books he read with any enthusiasm were the Harry Potters. I think my 10 year old grand daughter does always have a book on the go, usually the latest David Walliams or something like that and my younger grand child aged 6 is not too enthusiastic apart from a few favourites like "Stick Man" which he couldn't get enough of a couple of years ago, but they are children of their time and often all manner of screens have more of a draw for them. I'm sad about that, but I am not the main influencer in their lives, but they often like going through many of the children's books I've kept when they stay at ours.

Books v Kindle are not an either/or, it is horses for courses.

I carry my Kindle in my handbag, it is small and light. I can read it standing on a crowded train, standing on the platform waiting for a train, in any of the endless queues one gets stuck in these days, I can read it in the dark in bed so that I do not disturb DH.

I can remember being in hospital, before KIndles. went in for a day, stayed 3. I took 2 books with me, but they were quickly read, then it was a question of waiting for DH to bring more, worrying he would bring the right one. If only KIndles had existed.

The biggest disadvantage of Kindles is they are only good for novels, or similar texts. They are useless for any book where you might want to leaf back and forward, where there are pictures, maps, graphs, tables, that need to be referred to, while you read, which is why there is a book by my bed, several in the living room and another on the Kitchen table. and three heaps of books awaiting my attention.

I have been tempted by a £17.50 huge mystery box of books on EBay. Apparently they are in varying states from Acceptable to Very Good. I haven’t succumbed yet ...

I grew up with lots of books and frequented the library. The four walls of the sitting room are covered with bookshelves. But my adult children dont read that much, so far as I know. My dil is a writer and we discuss books and swap them, so I imagine something was transferred from my children's home life to their adult choices!
Or it could just be luck

My house is full of books-I really ought to get rid of some but I like to reread them.
I also read on my Kindle, and I always have a book downloaded on my iPhone in case I have to wait somewhere unexpectedly. It syncs with my Kindle so I don’t have to remember which page I’m on.

Soos
I’m with you there, a kindle would never work for me, I love reading but I also love books, I love having bookshelves full of books all over the house, and I love bookshops. I can see some advantages, but definitely not for me.

I love reading and much prefer to hold a book in my hand than a Kindle. I have a large selection of books at home and always take a stack of books away on holiday (if not flying!!).
My children were never great readers but in the past year my DD (almost 30) has become an avid reader, which makes my heart sing

I read every day. I have read 26 books so far this year

I was such a bookworm loved reading, would read under the blankets night and morning, as an only child often ate alone and would have a book on the table, always took my book to the loo with me, worked for some years in a library Now in the last few years have lost my concentration, eyes aren’t good either it’s just become such hard work, I keep trying but only manage a few pages then it’s back on the shelf
My two daughters were readers but not so much now, my son I could never get into reading, I have seven grandkids who all had loads of books as children but now NONE are readers

Have always been a reader, but the only one in my family. My mother was poorly educated and struggled with reading, my father was was such a busy man who saw sitting with a book as an indulgence. However they encouraged us and we had a bookshelf provided, and books purchased for us. I loved those books, and sitting on the floor of the dining room as the sun came in! Fond memories. I think Black Beauty was my favourite.

Once again, I am the only reader in my family. DH will read very rarely, and the children didn't often read for entertainment, only required reading for school. A few popular series grabbed their attention, like Harry Potter. My DD now has developed a love of reading which makes me happy and she is very good with reading to the Gchildren.

I don't tend to keep books, but have a small rotating pile that I pass along, and a small collection of books for the visiting GC. Wonky Donkey, anyone?