Today is World Book Day and it would also have been my mum's 97th birthday had she still been alive. Sadly she died a few weeks after her 70th but still, these two commemorations coincide nicely. My mum adored books, worked in bookshops for years and even met a man who fell in love with her - although never got to be with her - in the antiquarian bookshop which he ran. Thanks to her I grew up in a house full of reading matter of all kinds and trips to the library were a regular treat. If I was off school, in bed with some lurgy or other, she'd bring me a little pile of picture books from there and later, lovely Puffin paperbacks - Moomintrolls and Borrowers to soothe an itchy throat or aching stomach.
I still recall vividly from childhood the main bookshelves in the living room - about shoulder high to an adult - crammed full. Non-fiction publications on all manner of topics: fossils, ballet, pondlife, Henry Moore; maps, the Oxford English Dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus, plus well-known works: 'Under Milk Wood', 'The L Shaped Room' and 'Moby Dick', for instance. You can tell what kind of a house it was!
Some of the novels held a special kind of intrigue. I gathered - not quite sure how, perhaps I'd overheard a whispered conversation? - that they were a bit rude. I furtively flicked through their pages in the hope of stumbling across some titillating treasures. 'Fanny Hill' was one, and 'Women In Love' and 'Sons and Lovers' were there too - but I never did discover their saucy secrets then; I think it's simply because in my pre-adolescent innocence I really didn't know what I was looking for, or at.
At one end of the uppermost shelf was a broad glass jar, perennially filled with toffees. Sometimes just cellophane-wrapped plain caramels, sometimes the ones with a little strip of chocolate through their centres to give the exquisite pleasure of a melt-in-the-mouth cocoa reward for all that chewing. I believed for years that reading and eating toffee always had to be experienced together; I'm sure my mum already did.
At sixteen I got a holiday job in the same little bookshop where she worked and where I had to unpack the new deliveries. Ooh, the smell of fresh books! The joy of revealing what was inside those boxes - heavy tomes with shiny dustjackets and multiple copies of bestsellers-to-be, some not-so-goods too, but always interesting, and the anticipation - like a child's Christmas.
Anyway - although we should honour books every day, surely! - today's date has at least prompted this post and a few words in memory of my late mum, who instilled such a love of reading in me. I could say the same about toffee, but my teeth would never forgive me.
...What are you reading today?
Beautifully written as always, even though you have clearly nicked the plot of the first paragraph from '84 Charing Cross Road' and 'Notting Hill'.
ReplyDeleteI've just finished reading 'Frankenstein in Baghdad' by Ahmed Saadawi. Partly Mary Shelley, partly about what happens to society in the aftermath of America imposing regime change by force. A lot more topical this week than it was when I started reading it last week.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/16/frankenstein-in-baghdad-by-ahmed-saadawi-review
Oh thank you Ernie, and you've just reminded me - I really must add 84 Charing Cross Road to my reading list, very remiss of me!
DeleteThanks for the link - 'Frankenstein in Baghdad' sounds brilliantly different and original, but also incredibly disturbing, I'm not sure I could handle it - especially in these times. Whew...
I'm currently reading 'The Plague' by Camus, as found a gorgeous 1964 'Penguin Modern Classics' copy in a charity shop (3s/6d) - a lot of resonance there too with Covid times, although I know it was meant as an allegory to Nazi occupation of France - and there were buboes! I can relate to it so much more I'm sure than I would have had we not gone through the pandemic.
A terrific post that immediately transported me back to the favourite bookshop of my youth. Sadly no more, it is now a money-laundering front disguised as a shop selling tourist tat.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently reading David Mitchell's potted history of this sceptred isle's kings and queens, Unruly. So far, so good.
Thanks, Martin - and glad to hear you've been transported back to a favourite bookshop. So sorry to hear of its demise.
Delete'Unruly' sounds good - very apposite too given the state of our monarchy - and reminds me of a book from the '90s on the shelves here, 'Kings, Queens, Bones and Bastards' by David Hilliam. (What a great title!) Full of fascinating characters and facts - and all those wonderful early regal names like Edwy The Fair, Sweyn Forkbeard, Elfgifu of Northampton, etc. I think the names deserve a comeback.
Currently reading Milkman by Anna Burns.
ReplyDeleteJM
I've been checking out everyone's current reads from these comments and 'Milkman' sounds very compelling - so raw and gritty, and with the Troubles theme. I can see why it's drawn you.
DeleteMrs CC and I regularly haunt the local libraries.
ReplyDeleteMy highlight of the yer so far has been Paper Cup by Karen Campbell described (accurately ) in the Gurdian as a journey towards healing.
Long live libraries! When you think about it, it was such a great idea to even conceive to set up somewhere where you can just borrow, read and return, I hope we never live in a world without them!
DeleteI read some reviews of Paper Cup and they were glowing! Imagine you're both familiar with the locations too.
Lovely post- those 60s and 70s Penguin covers are so evocative of the time.
ReplyDeleteCurrently reading Neneh Cherry's autobiography. Review to follow at Bagging Area at some point. Before that Pig Iron by Ben Myers.
Thanks, SA and yes - those Penguin covers are fantastic, I especially love the mid-60s ones with great graphics and illustrated covers that were so of the time.
DeleteLook forward to reading your review of Neneh's autobiography - she has so many interesting connections, great that she's written it. (Not sure if I have the stomach for Pig Iron from what I've read about it!)
Lovely post for World Book Day. I was working in the charity shop today and sold a lot of books - I thought it was because of WBD but none of my customers seemed to realise. Too busy reading to have noticed maybe.
ReplyDeleteWe were donated a lot of older books today and the manager thought they looked a bit tatty so didn't want to put them out. When we checked there was a Wind In The Willows, some Enid Blyton and other classics. Funny how non-readers think it's the state of the book that's important rather than the content.
Love the sound of the bookshop both you and your mum worked in. I always have a stock of book tokens to use and love coming home with something brand new, as yet unopened to add to the pile.
Here's a book I bought with my Christmas token - Bob Mortimer's, The Hotel Avocado. Central character very Bob-like but a jolly good yarn and quirky too.
Thanks Alyson, funny that you should sell so many books in the shop yesterday, I wonder if it was something subliminal?
DeleteIt's a shame that some books are judged more on their outward tattiness than their content, when there can be such gems inside. I love a crisp, fresh, smell-the-ink new book but I also love that kind of intimate imperfection of a well-thumbed, much-loved old banger of a book with yellow pages and a creased cover!
Bob Mortimer? - Oh, he's brilliant, I must check out The Hotel Avocado, sounds as if it could be a welcome antedote to the desperate state of the world right now.
Bob's book is a crime caper so not entirely an antidote but very funny too.
DeleteAnother lovely post from an excellent writer... maybe C's got a book in her.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Lie of the Land by Kerry Hadley-Pryce. First book of hers I've read, but it won't be the last.
For World Book Day, all the hospital teachers went as their favourite Mr. Man. Guess who was Mr Grumpy?
Thanks Mr Grumpy - I mean, Rol - that's very kind! Don't you sometimes wish you had double the time, and double the energy, to get these books that are inside us out there? I know I do....
Delete'Lie of the Land' looks great, another one I ought add to my list I think, thanks.
Really interesting seeing everyone's current reads here.
Yes, I look forward to reading C's first published book when she has more time for writing. Come retirement or semi-retirement perhaps. She could also create the front cover and add illustrations throughout - how great would that be!
DeleteCurrently reading ‘In Search of the Dark Ages’ by Michael Wood. I aim to do least one non fiction book a year. All the mystery and guess work that surrounds this period is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThe next reads will be ‘In the Winter Dark’ by Tim Winton or ‘ Love ‘ by Angela Carter. Both favourite authors. We have a long train journey to Salzburg tomorrow so might finish the history.
I love a little history too - the real life stuff, so fascinating - may have to check that one out too, thanks. Enjoy the rest of it on your lovely train journey (whilst keeping your ears open for some of those strange overheard snippets of conversation!)
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