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| Gross. |
So, what with being in the Christmas
spirit and all, that’s what I think I’m going to do with you all today –
remember. I want to take a little trip down memory lane of some of the most
important books to me growing up and just celebrate the fact that they existed,
because without them I probably wouldn’t be here writing this blog now. Let’s
get right down to it!
Where should we start..? I think we
ought to go right back to the very beginning and talk about one of my absolute
favourite picture books – ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ by Roald Dahl. For those of
you who don’t know, ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ is a book about a very boastful
crocodile (obviously… It wasn’t going to be a giraffe, was it?) who absolutely
loves to eat children. The story follows all his attempts at doing just that.
As a kid, I never
realised just how weird and twisted ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ really was, I was
just happy to be read a story with such great illustrations. When I was five my
oldest sister (and main babysitter) was nineteen and she had a love for creepy
things, which is why she always read me this book in particular. I remember
quite vividly that every time she read the book to me in bed, she would make
little innocent baby me put on my creepiest, most disturbing voice and read the
line: “if you listen carefully, you can hear their bones go munch and crunch”…
Sister, I blame you for any strange child-eating behaviour I may develop as an
adult! Than you very much.
As I grew up a little bit and became
much too mature and sophisticated for picture books and Quentin Blake
illustrations (Though, I never did truly outgrow his wonderful pictures…) I
suddenly decided that I wanted to read all sorts of ‘classic’ books - the
older, the better. My lovely Mum took it upon herself to go rooting through our
most ancient belongings to find me her copy of ‘Nancy and Plum’. Yes, it was
beaten and brown with age, but it had been my Mum’s favourite when she was a
kid and that was enough to launch eight-year-old me into the first chapter. It
truly is a gorgeously sweet book, following the story of two orphan sisters,
Nancy and Plum, at Mrs Monday’s wretched boarding school. The story starts in a
barn on a snowy Christmas Eve (the most charming setting I think I’ve ever
read) and every time I read it, it just makes my heart swell. Ever since I
first picked it up, I have read it at least once per year at Christmas time and
the book holds so much nostalgia for me now that I can’t help but cry when
reading its festive goodness!
It wasn’t too long after that that I
came across my first ever ‘banned’ book. It was my older brother who told me
that I wasn’t allowed to read ‘Angela and Diabola’ by Lynne Reid-Banks.
Apparently, the story was horrifically, inappropriately disturbing – especially
for a tiny ginger-haired kid like me – and I was not, under any circumstances,
to read it. He practically gave it the kiss of death. Of course, as soon as he
seemed to have finished with it, I snuck into his room and stole it from his bedside
table.
I read secretly for
the next two days, devouring the words with a mischievous smile on my face. It was
a children’s book, but in truth it was
dark! It was all about a young couple and their difficulty bringing up their
two twin girls – one was the most perfect girl in the world, and one the most
evil. The book certainly was a change from my usual sunshine fairies and ice
princesses and I loved every single bit of it. I went on to read it a countless
number of times, happily rereading it between every other book. It may have
been just to spite my older brother, but I know for a fact that if he hadn’t forbidden
me from reading ‘Angela and Diabola’, I never would have read it.
Those were three of the most
important books of my childhood, the ones that even now when I read them I feel
that same familiar burst of excitement that I did when I was younger. These
books have helped shape my personality and my reading tastes and I just love
each one of them so much. I know that when I am an adult, and I have munchkins
of my own, that I will read them these books and maybe they’ll like them just
as much as I did. Either way, there’s something about these books that just
makes me feel so nostalgic and Christmassy that it’s all I can do not to have a
little bit of a weepy moment.
Anyway! I’m getting all emotional
now, so I best go find something a bit cheerier to do, sip eggnog or roll around in some tinsel or somethin… But, I’d love continue
this conversation down in the comments! I want to hear all about your nostalgic books! Which books hold
the most memories for you? Tweet me, facebook me – I’d love to know.
And to all the rest of you – Have a
very merry Christmas!
