Day 3 of Ali’s latest class at BPC ~ 31 Things. Ali describes the class thus: 31 Things is about capturing life right now but will be much more in-depth on a single daily subject than the documentation you might be used to with projects like Week in the Life or Project Life. This workshop is an opportunity to get specific pieces of your story told with the simple goal of telling more.
Day 3| Books:
I am a reader. I’ve always been a reader. I can’t remember not being able to read. In fact, my very first school report, when I was five years and two months old, said, “… has started reading now and is very interested in this.” I don’t recall being read to as a child, but Mum assures that we were and that a particular favourite was Charlotte’s Web. We all cried when Charlotte died, apparently.
I discovered Enid Blyton after Mum brought home a selection of second-hand books from my brother’s school fair. The Famous Five, the Mallory Towers series, the Twins at St. Clare’s series. I devoured them all, often reading late at night, using a torch under the covers. I started on historical fiction ~ Royal Road to Fotheringay by Jean Plaidy; I dabbled in Mills & Boon {such rubbish, how do they get printed?} in my early teens before moving on to Jilly Cooper in my twenties. At 14, I tackled Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. The Zion Covenant series became a family favourite in the early 1990s, with even Dad reading them. My sister lent me her copies of books 3 to 6 over Christmas 1992 when I was recovering from pneumonia. I completed my own set, and mum’s, when visiting Boston in 1993.
These days, my reading taste is fairly eclectic; I’ll have a go at most things. However, I do still have a preference for the WW2 era, either fact or fiction.
My favourite book of all time? Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice. What you might call an old school soaring epic of love and war. At 14, I wanted to be Jean Paget, not for the horrors she both witnessed and endured, but because of the love Joe Harman had for her.
This West London Life 
I remember reading those Jean Plaidy books – the Fortheringay one was a favourite with me too. I bet if I looked on my Mum's bookshelves I could find it..
LikeLike
I could be reading my childhood from the Enid Blyton to the Jilly Cooper. Gone a different route from there but so spookily similar :0)
LikeLike
I loved Enid Blyton too…did you read the 'Chalet School' series by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer?..and I'd forgotten about 'A Town Called Alice'- I think I did that for O'Level English!
Alison xx
LikeLike
Like you, I don't remember not being able to read. Blyton yes, but then I went onto Agatha Christie – never could bear Jilly Cooper. My fave of all time? Wuthering Heights. First read for A level, the subject of my English degree dissertation and then read numerous times since
LikeLike
I can remember learning to read because my Dad would miss bits out of the stories when he read to me and I simply had to know what he left out. I could read when I started school and this caused the teachers a lot of trouble apparently. My reading followed your list although I had to wait for a lot of the Enid blyton ones to come out – I remember being bored by the hobbit and the lord of the rings and I never got beyond the first 20 pages – I have tried several times since and never succeeded. I still read everyday and usually complete about five books a week.
LikeLike
I am so enjoying reading about you, Ruth! I put A Town Like Alice on hold at my library. 🙂
LikeLike
I had quite forgotten how much I loved A Town Like Alice until you reminded me. Then I remembered To Kill a Mocking Bird – another of my favourite books and will now have to go onto Amazon to buy them for Gracia when she is home for the summer. Thank you Ruth x
LikeLike
Jean Plaidy was the first historic fiction I read as well
LikeLike
I've read and enjoyed so many of the books you have mentioned and love both the book and film of A Town like Alice, it's also my mum's favourite, thanks for reminding me x
LikeLike