Your first book - which did you buy?

I was prompted into thinking about this by the sad death of Patrick Moore and his books for boys. Which book did you buy with your own money?



Glyn

That was an incomplete reply out of the blue again. I should have read that I have a copy of each the Dandy and Beano of real vintage, original characters and all, stowed away safely. I have read Jennings. I am more of a Billy Bunter fan. Billy Bunter and the School Rebellion and 1967 Merlin version at 2/6, which would be one of the posthumous ones (?)

I take it you mean the Jennings. Do you still have the books?

I have

Yes, I read a lot of comics, Blyton, but a real love though was, and I still read them and laugh until I ache are the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge.

I was lucky to have parents who let me read whatever I wanted as long as I read. We were one of the few families in the neighborhood who were allowed to read comic books. My sisters and I had a box full that we used to share with the kids who weren't allowed to read anything other then school books.

For me, and I hope everyone can read it here, is that I think the whole action of reading is important. I genuinely find it upsetting if I say to someone, ‘What do you read?’ And they say, ‘I don’t read.’

Glyn

The post seemed to get mixed up!

:-) I was going to ask if that is an oxymoron? It is very difficult to "tease" when posting comments as the possibility of a misunderstanding is high!! However, I guess I have been unable to resist the temptation!!

Is there such a thing as a "good" Harlequin Romance? Answers on a postcard please.....

Think that is very true. Different books for different occasions. I always read "lighter" books when commuting to work because I found I couldn't really concentrate (in case I missed my stop!!) so it was better to read something that didn't require TOO much concentration! Also - I avoided "big" books - as they were too heavy to carry around.. I kept them to read at home! :-)

I studied TS Eliot Selected Poems during my 6th form - so I have a copy of that somewhere! Some I really enjoyed - some .... not so much! I guess that is often the case. Not only with poetry but also with books!

I wondered what had happened when Glyn replied to "Brian and Lucy" but I couldn't see your post! Glad to know what you were buying! :-)

Yes but I do think a variety of reading is important. Sometimes deep and meaningful, sometimes just for entertainment.

True, but I also enjoy a good Harlequin Romance every now and then! ;-)

Hardly trash.

Well, I enjoy horror, so Dean Koontz and John Saul. I like Fantasy/Sci Fi and couldn't really tell you a particular writer from that genre. LOVED Niffenneger's The Time Traveler's Wife. But, I also liked Room by Emma Donoghue, the story of a boy who has never left the room he was born in due to his mother being kidnapped and held captive. Then again, Great Expectations was my favorite story and right up next to it was The Secret Garden. I guess I'll read whatever!

I posted a response about five minutes after this went up. It appears to have disappeared, so I am adding it again.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, Regent Classics in Woolworths on Wimbledon Broadway about Easter 1957. I bought Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses during the summer holiday same year.

I’m interested Holly, in what you mean by trash. Which authors, in your opinion, come under that description?

Glyn

I read trash and I still read trash when I can get my hands on it. I think one of the first books I purchased was a V.C. Andrews thriller, not one of the ones where the children are locked in the attic though (my mother had already purchased those)! After that, I remember purchasing Scarlet, the supposed sequel to Gone With the Wind, both which I devoured.

Replying to Brian & Lucy, I can’ remember. I do have a memory of going to the local newsagents with my Dad and buying the Beano Annual (well I had to bring the whole intellectual standard down) but whether that was with my own money. I was fortunate that my brother and sister were 5 & 6 years older than me, so I didn’t really have to buy books. I think the first book I went out and bought was Selected Poems by TS Eliot. Then there was no stopping me!
Glyn