Page Turner

Today

Proving that he does pick up on my heavy-handed hints, Paul bought me an E-reader for Christmas. I've located a few good download sites and have had some fun copying books. One of the good things is that I've been able to locate books that I read in my childhood and haven't been able to find since.

One of my favourites was "Daddy Long-Legs" by Jean Webster. Reading it again has been very informative. It's still a jolly good read, but I can now see clearly how Webster used the book to express her views on the emancipation of women ("The only way I can ever repay you is by turning out a Very Useful Citizen (Are women citizens? I don't suppose they are.") ) and sexual equality. I can also see how angry a person the protagonist, Jerusha Abbot, is. When I was a child I could only see her exuberant warmth.

Discussing books with my sister-in-law recently, she told me that she rarely re-reads books.

In My Day

I suppose I was what used to be described as a "bookworm" when I was a child. I generally had several books on the go and my imagination was fired with images from my fairy stories. Mamma used to read stories at bedtime and sometimes the only way I could get through the night was to read until I dropped off to sleep.

And I re-read my books until I knew them by heart. Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, AA Milne, Enid Blyton, E Nesbit, Richmal Crompton, Louisa May Allcot, Arthur Ransome, Rudyard Kipling. The house was full of books and I don't remember there being any restrictions placed on what we could read. I read Dickens at an early age. Daddy used to try to read us "A Christmas Carol" before Christmas, but I don't think he ever managed to finish it, for two reasons. Firstly, he never allowed enough time and secondly, he usually broke down in tears at some point and had to leave off.

We read comics as well, there being little intellectual snobbery in our household. In fact I sometimes had to prise "Bunty" out of Mamma's hands as she grabbed it first. I had "Girl" or "Bunty" annuals at Christmas and read them over and over again, especially "Girl". I belonged to the library and went through a lengthy phase of loving horsey books - "Jill's Gymkhana" and Pony Club books although I didn't ride and was rather inclined to be frightened of horses. There were plenty of stories involving girls in boarding schools which led me at one point to ask if I could go to boarding school, a request that Mamma took seriously.

There were some gaps - "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" I didn't read till I was sixteen or so and I never got into books such as "Treasure Island" or "Kidnapped".

If a book had beautiful illustrations I was even happier - my HCA book had illustrations by Heath Robinson (I found an edition of these to give to Lizzie when she was a child) and I remember being entranced by the colours used to show the heavens opening to receive Christian in my copy of "Pilgrim's Progress.

Most of them I have re-read as an adult. Some I can see are poorly written rubbish - my much more discerning daughter Becky refused to read Enid Blyton books on the grounds of their childishly short sentences and two-dimensional characterisation - but others repay adult reading and square the circle of understanding, so to speak. And I still cry at that moment when Heidi runs back into her Grandad's arms.

When I was extolling the virtues (especially its huge capacity) of my E-reader to a friend she said "But you can only read one book at a time!". True, but it'll be a lot lighter in my hand luggage. One thing is clear, however, I won't be able to describe an E-book as a "page turner".