Spufford, Francis - The Child That Books Built

[oyceter]

A good read just because it let me revisit reading as a child. Spufford is very good at re-invoking that devouring sort of reading that I went through as a kid, the almost physical impossibility of letting go of a good book, and how sometimes, my book was more real to me that what was going on.

He read Tolkien and Narnia and E. Nesbit, like me, but he went on to sci-fi, while I kind of glommed on fantasy.

Some great bits in here, for me, especially the parts on learning America through books and having this strange, jumbled impression of modern America mixed with a sort of America from the turn of the century or from the sixties, taken entirely from books (Boxcar children, etc.), that made living in the real America so strange. Meatloaf was one of the most foreign things I could imagine. And learning vocab from books, how gradually the blank spots of unknown words would slowly clarify into hazy definitions. I still remember I learned "enigmatic" and "annihilation" from Elfstones of Shannara ("enigmatic" in particular drove me crazy, because that was the one way Terry Brooks described Allanon).

It was just interesting seeing how much our childhood reading experiences matched up and how they didn't.

And it made me remember the sheer, almost unworldly, joy I took out of reading as a kid -- not that I don't enjoy it now (obviously), but nothing ever quite matches that period in which you've just found something and must get your hands on every single book possible. I read voraciously, without discriminating between good or bad, and over time, it gradually narrowed down so I would spend hours in a bookstore trying to make sure I bought the right book so I wouldn't have wasted that time.

Comments

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

A good read just because it let me revisit reading as a child. Spufford is very good at re-invoking that devouring sort of reading that I went through as a kid, the almost physical impossibility of letting go of a good book, and how sometimes, my book was more real to me that what was going on.

*nod* and now. I know but true. Just not any book any more.

And it made me remember the sheer, almost unworldly, joy I took out of reading as a kid -- not that I don't enjoy it now (obviously), but nothing ever quite matches that period in which you've just found something and must get your hands on every single book possible. I read voraciously, without discriminating between good or bad, and over time, it gradually narrowed down so I would spend hours in a bookstore trying to make sure I bought the right book so I wouldn't have wasted that time.

Again agreeing! Libraries are it for me and we are fortunate to have four really good ones local, and two fair used book stores. I'm actually easier with getting lots of books out and not feeling that I have to read them if I don't like.

This weekend I will probably stick to non-fiction, except that I just read this great book excerpt from a work on Tolkien's LotR which has me thinking about revisiting ME(sadly the book is Danish which I don't read just the intro was translated to English.) And this tends to be subject to change w/o notice if I find something really good!

[oyceter]

I love libraries! When we used to vacation in California, I would just get so many random books because I didn't have to pay for them, so I didn't have to worry about picking the perfect one.

Now is wonderful because I'm near three libraries and my used bookstore, which is pretty good, and the big chains, and an indie. But before, the closest English bookstore was three hours away and had a worse selection than a mall bookstore. So trips to America and the subsequent purchases had to last for a while ;).

I'm currently in the middle of Reading Lolita in Tehran (very good so far), various romances, Art Spiegelman's Maus, and partially Ombria in Shadow, Paladin of Souls and The Crimson Petal and the White. I'm such a serial reader...

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

*hug* I have round dozen from two libraries on my tables; I'll post later...and am reading Forests of Sere first (no surprise there!) I also picked up eight books for 50 cents a piece off the For Sale racks. A good problem to have... too many books!

We have four pretty decent ones here, and two good used book stores... I might have some other quibbles with living here (too much snow!) but books aren't one of them.