UK Reader’s Digest closes after 86 years. Memories?

I submitted a story about my twin daughters, it was not printed.
Some years later my teenage daughter sent in the same story and it was printed and she received a cheque!

I always liked reading them from an early age; my Dad bought them sometimes (or they got passed on, I can't remember).

Later on my MIL subscribed so we read hers copies. She always succumbed to the book offers too. We inherited a shelf-ful!

I used to enjoy this little mag, full of interesting things. But hadn't seen or heard anything about it recently so assumed it had died. And now it has.

I enjoyed reading every article and the little jokes etc at the bottom of the page - forgotten, it’s a long time ago. It used quite thick and then they reduced the quantity of pages. Somehow, it wasn’t the same.

My favourite was Laughter is the Best Medicine .

Was there not a word quiz, with multiple choice or have I made that up? I'm sure DH and I used to do it.

That's a shame. A very useful small magazine to have in your bag for long waits in assorted waiting rooms, but I expect the sales figures had dropped over the years. I don't think I ever actually bought one so cannot claim to have kept their figures buoyant. But enjoyed reading it.

Used to love those magazines, could buy them from newsagents, if I remember, anyway had them in the house.
Bought their sewing guide, still have it, and the basics never change, even though the book is old.
The way of the world now, I'm afraid.

Didn't they also have a series of Readers Digest Condensed Novels, or something similar?

Bump

The condensed novels were always the ones donated for book sales.

We had a subscription for a number of years. I always read the jokes first. We bought several books and my favourite, a cooking book was well used and ended up with a very tatty cover.

My parents used to have the Readers Digest many years ago. When they'd finished with the latest copy it was passed around the neighbours.

My god parents used to have them and passed them onto my family. Even as I child I enjoyed reading them

Just as a matter of interest, what does it mean when someone puts Bump in a thread?

Reading it in the loo as my parents had a shelf of them there!
Must have annoyed the heck out of anybody wanting to use it as nobody we knew had the luxury of more than one lavatory.

My father used to get them and I used to look forward to reading them from cover to cover. He also used to get some of the books they did as well. There was one about DIY which was really easy to understand and was well used by DH and I when we first bought a house. The books on animals, butterflies, flowers, 6 in total are sitting on my bookshelf even now, a little faded, but still occasionally perused .

My favourite was always Humour in Uniform. There's something about military humour ......

We had The Readers Digest Complete Do It Yourself Manual. It was very well used!

All our DIY skills were learned from the RD manual. I think it is still in the shed. My hairdresser always had a well thumbed collection.

Moth62

Just as a matter of interest, what does it mean when someone puts Bump in a thread?

It's just a way of 'bumping' the thread up to the top of the list so it doesn't get lost or forgotten about.

I always loved reading these as a kid. My Dad would buy them and later had a subscription bought for his birthday each year. I have bought them recently at service stations when browsing WHSmiths. I shall miss them. I loved the word meaning quiz and the medical articles

Wow i remember going to my grandparents and them having a copy on the table. I guess it’s just a sign of the times with everything going on line, in future i think grans of the future will be saying about books being no more and them saying remember us with reading books that you actually turned a page lol

My family could not afford to buy me new books when I was a child (and my father was a very caring primary school teacher too) so I educated myself from these little magazines which my Grandpa collected. I read them from cover to cover - I especially enjoyed medical stories like "the hole in Saint Martin's stomach" (I think that's right). By the time I was 10 and went to grammar school, I had a huge general knowledge.

It's sad news that it's finally closing down. I too loved the jokes in 'Laughter is the best Medicine'. I think I probably got my love of puzzles and crosswords from reading copies of it, which must have been passed on to us, as we certainly didn't subscribe either.