My mother loved to read as much as I do, but she certainly had much less time to devote to it. She was aware that it was very hard to stop after she began, and I think she disciplined herself not to read as much as she would have otherwise. We didn't have many books or a library available and subscribed to some magazines for reading material--Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, etc. I got Calling All Girls and another I can't remember the name of right now.

As a farm wife, my mother had many of the same duties as your grandmother except for helping with harvests, but she did raise a big garden and canned much of our winter food. A hot kitchen in a Kentucky July is not fun! My particular job during the canning, besides stringing beans and such, was to wash all the jars because my hands were small enough to fit inside them. We once had a battery radio that must have needed a new one because it played very softly unless you put your hand on it, and another of my jobs was to sit with my hand on the radio during the morning soap operas so Mama could listen to her stories while she cooked the noon meal, which we called dinner. I remember them, still--Helen Trent, Ma Perkins, Our Gal Sunday (the story that asks the question, "Can a girl from a little mining town in the West find happiness with a wealthy and titled Englishman?") Her all-time favorite book was Gone With the Wind, and it is mine, too.

My younger sister and I did the supper dishes, and I can still hear the voice from the kitchen saying, "Find a stopping place and come do the dishes." After I went away to college, there were only our younger brothers left to help. The older one got drafted to dry the dishes, but he extracted a promise from Sis that she wouldn't tell anyone.

Now, I'm retired, I have someone who cleans for me, I have the public library, local bookstores, and Amazon, I watch very little television, and other than playing here on the computer I can read to my heart's content. Well, there are those pesky chores like cooking, washing, ironing . . .

I lived for a number of years with my maternal grandmother. She was a busy houseproud woman but she did enjoy reading a weekly magazine with short stories and the Sunday newspaper. She rather disapproved of reading books (time wasting!) but realised that, as part of my work at a subscription library, I had to, so that I could advise the paying customers about them.
My mother, who wasn't a keen housewife, read a lot. None of us owned many books, which were too expensive for us to buy new and were mainly gifts but my family were public library members. I was given a junior ticket when very young. My mother assured the Librarian that I would be careful with the books.
Growing up in wartime and post war Britain, books were not very plentiful. The old prewar children's Annuals and stories with thick paper and hard covers were handed down and treated like precious objects!

Difficult to say 'way back' if my family were readers, in fact I would doubt that some of my Father's were able to read as they came from poor backgrounds of nail-makers, later slightly better-off coal merchants and finally as licenced victuallers ie.hotel/inn/ pub owners. People of my Great Grandfather's generation realised that the ability to be able to read was necessary, enabling you to deal with documents, bill, accounts and so on but reading for pleasure . . . I don't think so. And there is little time for any leisure when running a busy hotel . . although I think the women did most of the work!
All the adults read the newspapers very thoroughly everyday, though my Grandfather and Father probably started at the back (the sport). Mother too read the papers (these were the 'quality' broadsheets) and always attempted the crossword. She has a large collection of 'classics' and travel books which she brought to the family home after marriage and had to buy a bookcase and then have one made in the dining room chimney alcove as the only books in the house were a nasty, cheap collection of 'The History of the Great War' which someone had picked up in a sale!
On my US 'side' of the family I have little idea except that Grandfather was clever at engineering subjects, my English G'mother finding herself 'stuck' in the US during WWII knocked ten years off her age and got a job in a book store/subscription library and sent me many 'Little Golden Books' and copies to my Mother of the then popular adult stuff eg The Robe, Gone with the Wind.
As annpan says children's books were in short supply then and my Grandfather became my reader-of-choice of my much thumbed copies.
In this generation I am the only reader, although John reads technical stuff; never novels. I think DD reads but has little time with demands of work. And yes, I suppose I do have more time to read than earlier family members but I still have plenty to do about the house/garden (and don't do as much as I should) and I never read in the morning, try and fit in an hour in the afternoon.

Just to give RPers an idea of the shortage of books during WW2, when I was seven, only the teacher at my school had a copy of the age level history book, which she read to us. When we moved away from the London district, I attended another school where we had this book between three children. I thought this was luxury but the teachers weren't happy with us having to sit in a group to share!

I haven't found a good reading spot in the place I moved to some months ago , other than in bed. So that is where I read in the afternoon after lunch and at bedtime mainly. I used to read more when I had a better well lit place to sit.

Regarding leisure from times past, I was checking on the Ancestry UK site where the reports from the Government Inspectors on work-place conditions dating back to the early 1840's can be viewed.
The Inspectors questioned workers including women, children and employers to check on hours, conditions and so on . . . this was in a time when children as young as five were sent down mines, up chimneys and under factory machinery . . .
The nail-makers of the West Midlands were interviewed and a woman is asked something like
"After your days work what do you do by way of entertainment my good woman?" to which the woman replies "Sir, when we'em not working, we'em sleeping." Summed it up nicely I thought.

one thing not mentioned is that people were often read "to" while doing chores or in the evening; like a primitive audio book. Think of the scene in Gone With the Wind where the ladies were waiting on the men (when Ashley was shot). So, fitting in more "reading" that way.

I hope I am not being redundant when I describe my family background. I seem to come from two lines that valued books, education, and writing. My maternal grandfather was a farmer/schoolmaster in NC. His wife, my grandmother, raised 11 children and helped with the farm, so there was little time for reading. My mother was her youngest, and described how she made their clothes, did all the washing, the canning, cared for the farm animals, kept a garden, and even made some of the children's toys. Mother told me when there was a little leisure, she played a parlour organ. My grandfather had a collection of books, most of which he left to my mother in his will. He also kept journals, one of which I have, along with a few of his school books.

My paternal grandfather was a minister, so obviously, literacy was important. Before that, he was a schoolmaster. His wife, my grandmother, adored books, and gave me works by Milne, R.S. Stevenson, and other childhood favorites. Her daughter, my aunt, managed to finish college and became a librarian within the Atlanta system. (For most of my life, I've worked in libraries as well-- all sorts). When I was growing up, my father collected books, some classics, and had kept an early encyclopedia that had belonged to his father, as well as 2 Masonic texts. My mother belonged to a "book club" in Atlanta. I still recall her praising DuMaurier's "My Cousin Rachel."

As an "only child", I grew up surrounded by books, a constant reader, as we had no television until my teen-age years. I married a historian, journalist and writer, who also collected books, so our libraries were combined, and it was a joy to share these. In some sense, my entire life has been about books, as I am constantly surrounded by them. As I write this, I am enjoying the nearby college library, which I visit daily. Most of my leisure reading takes place at night, as I have chronic insomnia.

Carolyn, your mother's self-discipline in not reading too much because it was very hard to stop after she began is something I noted in the attitudes of my mother, grandmother, and other older female relatives, as well. I marveled at their self-control, because I always had a tendency to give in to the impulse to let everything else go to pot -- particularly housework -- so that I could read one more chapter or, heck, finish an interesting book. However, I never had as many household responsibilities or as high standards as they had. When I was single between marriages and working abroad, it wasn't unusual for me to spend an entire weekend reading, when I wasn't asleep. I read when I ate in my room, I read in the bath, and I even read in the lounge when my fellow lodgers had the TV on. I got accused of being unsociable, so I eventually had to break that habit.

Annpan, was there also a shortage of writing paper for the students in your schools during the war? I recall reading in memoirs of that time accounts of pupils being given paper bags and brown wrapping paper to do their classwork.

Violet, I can remember the ladies gathering to finish quilts on those quilting frames suspended from the ceiling. The women doing the sewing sat on chairs round the frame just like it was a table and off to one side was a designated reader, preferably someone with a strong voice, to keep everyone entertained instead of babbling and arguing between themselves. My mother says they always did the best quilting when the book and reader were especially good. I recall that scene in Gone With the Wind -- in the film Melanie read out loud David Copperfield, but in the book she read Les Miserables. I still wonder why it was changed.

I must have read the Little Golden Book Poky Little Puppy to my daughter 500 times. Later she named a puppy Inky, the puppy that was always in trouble.

Strangely, I don't remember seeing my mother actually sitting down and reading very often. But there were always a lot of magazines and books stacked on the table next to her chair. Maybe she spent some time during the day when chores were done, Dad was working and we were in school?

My dad (who like freidag's father worked hard, long hours) always read the newspaper after dinner. I do remember sitting on his lap and we would read the paper together. We would read books and magazines together, too. With my sister being much older and playing "School" a lot, I guess that's how I learned to read way before I went to school. Actually I can't remember not being able to read.

My parents weren't well off, but they did make sure we had lots of reference books in the house. We always had a dictionary ("You know where the dictionary is - go look it up...), the current year's World Almanac and a set of encyclopedias. I still have a mid-1960's set. It's fun (my version of time-travel :-) to thumb through them.

They also bought the Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Those did introduce me to a lot of books and authors I probably wouldn't have discovered any other way.

Friedag, I don't recall a writing paper shortage at school but I have a vague memory of using Q&A books where the answer had to be in pencil and then they were rubbed out for re-use.
How is reading not a passive activity? Unless one is acting from a book or script before learning the lines and "walking through" the scene? Or did you mean being read to while engaging in an activity?
Few men in my family, other than my late husband, seem to read anything more than study books or manuals. Or messages on their computers of course!

I read a lot as a child. Then I got busy, and over the years read less. One of the blessings of retirement is all the time I have to read, and I have been using it.

Frieda, you ask why I took to reading late. The main reason is I couldn't read until I was about seven - eight years old. As my grandfather was the person who read to me, it honestly never occurred to me to 'try it for myself', neither did my parents notice that I couldn't/didn't read. Both my younger brothers were slow/late readers and as we managed to grow up with most of our brain-functions intact perhaps our little dame school was to blame rather than our lack of grey-matter. The headmistress had progressive ideas . . . lots of model-making, music, craft etc so maybe we were meant to assimilate the written word, as happened a generation later with so-called Modern Maths!

Nor did our family visit the local library regularly. I was about nine when my Mother took me on a very hurried visit to sign up for a Junior card. After that I was in the place practically every day and remember once taking a book out in the morning and returning it the same afternoon thereby complicating the 'card system'.

On the 'being read aloud to' theme. While locked away in the Convent boarding school the nuns were quite keen on 'readings' during some meal times . . . I suppose because it is what happened during their own meals. Of course the books read to us were of a religious nature or rather slushy affairs about little donkeys that carried Jesus, but it was all very soothing and, no doubt made for a much quieter meal-time than the usual inane school-girl chatter!

Other than that the nuns seemed to place almost no importance on reading for pleasure. The 'main' school library was only available to the 6th forms (two top years) and the small library used by the boarders was unlocked on Saturday afternoons. It contained sets of dust covered 'bound editions' of the classics and a few 'Lives of the Saints'; all totally uninspiring. Books from home were not allowed and were confiscated, in case your family had sent you a copy of Lady Chatterley or the Karma Sutraa. It was a truly unenlightened regime. ;-(

Malna, I loved playing school with my two older brothers and my young aunt (my mother's baby sister, 21 years younger than her and the same age as my first brother). My aunt and #1 brother were born pedagogues. I think, in some ways, they were tougher on my other brother and me, as their pupils, than our teachers in 'real school' were.

I always loved the reference books my family had, too. I thought of each as a 'book of games'. When my brother acquired his first Guinness Book of World Records (probably in the late 1950s), he regaled everyone with bizarre statistics for weeks.

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Unless one is acting from a book or script before learning the lines and "walking through" the scene? Or did you mean being read to while engaging in an activity?

Annpan, your examples would certainly be active reading, but of a different sort than what I was thinking. Engaging my brain while reading never seemed passive to me. Oh sure, I've done a lot of passive reading of the no-mind-required variety, but when I'm actively reading it's quite possible that I will forget temporarily an ache or pain bothering me or have the time go so quickly that I'm surprised when I start a book at bedtime and the next thing I know dawn is breaking. My younger son has never been able to so actively engage in reading that he could overlook his twitching leg muscles, thus he's doubtful that such a thing is possible. Active readers know it's true, though.

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cacocobird, I've been retired or semi-retired for many years now. I had all these plans to read everything that I ever wanted to read and somehow missed. It really hasn't worked out that way for me, however, because so much of what I wanted to read before no longer really interests me very much. Instead, I have a whole new set of interests.

I'm going to let Middlemarch go, although it is considered by many to be in the Top 10 of the finest novels in the English language. I've tried to read it three or four times. That's enough. Carolyn, I noted with admiration that you finished Middlemarch. Your stamina and determination are greater than mine.

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Vee, surely there was some particular book or books that made you a reader, that made you say to yourself, "I like reading. What can I read next?" You obviously must have sought out books despite what seems, to me, to have been the mostly uninspiring material available to you at school, etc. But saying that, I don't really know what made me a reader either. I suspect it might have been one of those Little Golden Books you mentioned. :-)

Friedag,
The "home schooling" was a lot harder than the real deal, wasn't it? :-) I still love trivia and bizarre statistics (the Book of Lists was another fun addition to the home library years ago) , and I'm addicted to the quizzes on Mental Floss.

Frieda, I don't think the Little Golden Books would have inspired me to read myself; they were just nice to listen to. Another excellent series was
Ladybird Books small with a coloured plate on each page and inexpensive. They went on to produce hundred of titles.
At school (where I didn't learn to read) what I enjoyed were the times the teacher read to us; usually a few minutes at the end of the afternoon before 'home time'. These were proper literature. Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, Kipling, tales of the Greek heroes; nothing wishy-washy about fairies and kittens told in baby-language, not that I could have put those sensibilities into words!
The first proper books I attempted to read were a cheap edition of 'classics' (from Woolworth's on terrible yellow paper) Children of the New Forest Robinson Crusoe Gulliver's Travels, allquite difficult with 'big words'.
I was lucky to be of the right age for the 'new' Puffin Books the off-shoot of Penguin with some excellent titles by first rate authors, although I did read the odd Enid Blyton and the various works of Arthur Ransom, Richmal Crompton , Monica Edwards, Malcolm Saville, Noel Streatfeild. The mid-50's onwards was a remarkable time for children's literature in the UK.
Who were the quality authors for children in the US as this time?

Vee, the Ladybird Books are interesting cultural artifacts, I think, of the UK getting back to 'normal' and being hopeful after the war and rationing years. I don't know of anything equivalent in the U.S. except maybe the Fun with Dick and Jane books that were used to teach multitudes of U.S. schoolchildren to read in elementary school. The illustrations are quite similar (e.g., mother going shopping wearing a suit, hat, and gloves) as are the situations of doing 'ordinary' family things. Suburbia was such a nice, clean, sunshiny place.

We had children's editions of the classics, too, probably similar to the Woolworth's ones. Ours had shiny laminated covers that tended to crack and peel. Finding one of those books with an intact cover indicates it was probably never read or read only by a 'Little Miss Fastidious' who had no brothers. Those that I recall reading included Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge, Little Women, Tom Sawyer, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Five Little Peppers, as well as Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe. I don't remember Children of the New Forest, but we read many of the same UK authors you listed, as well as U.S. and Canadian writers and some books that were translations -- Scandinavian children's books were especially popular.

I think nearly all of the Newbery Medal winners would be considered quality authors. The subject matter has changed a lot over the years, though. Some of the winners then probably would not even be considered nowadays because of political correctness; e.g., The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare, The Matchlock Gun, and Rifles for Watie.

I wonder if it was the Nancy Drew Mysteries that early on made be such a voracious reader. They were given away as prizes in school for whomever had read the most books over the summer. I really was hooked on them.

In addition, I had relatives and a neighbor who kept me well stocked with classics: Robin Hood, King Arthur, Ivanhoe were household names when I was growing up. I also devoured "Myths of the Golden Age" and "Little Women", as well as Anderson's and Grimm's Fairy Tales.

My favorite Newbery Medal book was Caddie Woodlawn. I have two others, Rabbit Hill and Roller Skates, but neither of them struck my fancy. RS was set in New York City, so I totally could not identify with that.

Woodnymph, did you do the summer reading program at your local library? I did from 1956 (age 6) until I was about 14 which would've been at the end of the summer of 1964. I still have the certificates from most of those summer programs, and I won 'Most Books Read' medals three times and once even got my picture in the local paper for it. I did the in-school reading programs, too, and won some books but I wasn't lucky enough to get Nancy Drews. I loved Nancy, too, but I think I was already an insatiable reader by the time I found her. I happen to remember which Nancy Drew I read first, The Scarlet Slipper Mystery, but it was not my favorite. The Mystery of the Tolling Bell was. As we talked about in another thread, I liked the older versions best. I quit reading them when they were reissued: Nancy's beloved blue roadster became a convertible; her hair was described as 'titian' instead of blonde; and she quit going to tea rooms, among other changes. Do you remember the first one you read, and did you have a favorite?

Well, good grief! I've been reading about the Newbery Medal awards, and recently it seems that some children's librarians and reading teachers in schools think that the Newbery winners are too difficult for most young readers and "have probably turned off more potential readers than they have turned on."

I know that the Newbery winners and 'honor books' actually cover a fairly wide reading age range: Ginger Pye (1952 winner) is appropriate for young readers, perhaps about eight years old; some of the others such as The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1959 winner) appeal to teens, even late teens and into adulthood. Most of the books are said to be most appealing to readers on either side of twelve years old.

That sounds about right to me from what I remember of the books I read, those that were awarded from 1922 through 1966. I took up reading them again when my sons were young. Those were published from 1967 through the late 1990s when I again stopped because the boys had outgrown them. I haven't liked every one of the Newbery books, but as a whole I always thought they were pretty wonderful. A few of them are on my All-Time Favorites lists (not just Newbery favorites). Carolyn, I also loved Caddie Woodlawn, but she would be a toss-up for me with The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I also loved, and can still read these with pleasure: Island of the Blue Dolphins and The Bronze Bow. I've been adding hardbound copies to my collection so that I can give them to my granddaughter (age 4) whenever she's ready for them. She's already showing signs of becoming a book lover and reader.

Children's books content has changed so much. I was going to get my seven year old Great-grandson a recommended book for a gift but when I borrowed a library copy to check it out, I was horrified. The books seem so vulgar now. Even the titles put me off! Lavatorial humour has never amused me.

I loved The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and I know I had a copy of Caddie Woodlawn, but I can't for the life of me remember if I actually read it or not. I must have, though. The best part of elementary school was when the Scholastic newsletter (or whatever exactly it was called) was handed out monthly and we could order books. Absolute bliss! It was sweet agony trying to decide among the books described in the newsletter since I was only allowed one or two, and then enduring the seemingly endless wait for delivery a few weeks later -- no wonder I'm a book addict (my husband says my favorite words in the English language are "your Amazon order has shipped" ;))

I was also an avid Nancy Drew reader, though I preferred The Dana Girls series. I was lucky enough to inherit older copies (1940s?) of both Nancy and the Dana Girls. Reading them in the early 1970's, I loved how out of time they were. It was like visiting another, more elegant, country, and I was hooked. When my DD (now 20) read them, the time and setting didn't make much of an impression on her, but she informed me that Nancy was just too perfect, and Louise and Jean Dana were much more likable. She then moved on to Harry Potter and all things dystopian, and that was the end of Nancy Drew at my house.

I also loved The Swiss Family Robinson, and re-read that probably a dozen times as a kid -- I wanted to live in that tree house so badly! When I read it aloud to my kids we were struck silly by how often the father and boys would find some glorious new animal on the island and their first response was always, "let's kill it and put it in our museum!" It became an ongoing joke, but they did enjoy the story.

Frieda, I think my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries were: "the Secret at Red Gate Farm", "The Clue of the Leaning Chimney", and "The Mystery at Larkspur Lane." (what picturesque titles!) Yes, I remember all the changes re terminology and I never liked them. I will admit Nancy was a bit too perfect.

Sheri, I also read The Dana Girls, and their boyish equivalent: The Hardy Boys series. I also read the Little Colonel series, from an older time, set in Kentucky, in the Jim Crow days. I bet Carolyn remembers these.

My favorite series were the works of Elizabeth Kyle. Set in Scotland, some titles were "The Provost's Jewel", "The Mystery of Castle Doone", and "Lost Karen." I loved learning the British terminology. Did anyone else here read these?

Yes, Mary, I remember. I only had the first book, The Little Colonel of Kentucky, but we got all of them over time for my daughter, and she still has them. There was a woman who lived in Pewee Valley and sold used (well, by then they were all used) copies of the series. The ones we acquired were of different issues and some of them were not in very good condition, but we took many a drive out to the Valley for a special occasion book buying trip. I used to quote to her the advice that Lloyd's father gave her about choosing a husband in The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding.

I only had a few Nancy Drew books, so I never got tired of them and think they began my love of mysteries. My daughter liked the Cherry Ames nursing books and had quite a few of them, and I introduced her to Sue Barton which I had read and loved from the library in high school. She is now a nurse.

Sheri, I remember those Scholastic book orders, too! I actually still have some of the books, maybe ten or twelve, that I ordered in elementary school and junior high. One is titled Strangely Enough that told creepy, purported-to-be-true tales such as 'The Barbados Vault' (coffins moved around on their own inside it). Another was a nifty little mystery called Sea View Secret about some lost family jewels, a ship's model, and a pet monkey. Then I graduated to what would be called YA books nowadays. The Unchosen by Nan Gilbert was of that type, about three outcast high school girls that Janis Ian later nailed in her song 'At Seventeen'. I read it literally to pieces and for years sought a replacement. I finally found one and surprisingly the story has held up well although it is not especially dramatic -- no drugs, date rape, nor unplanned pregnancy, etc. that were in teen books for girls after my time.

What sort of books did you all graduate to after Nancy Drew? Around age eleven or twelve I discovered gothics and romantic suspense. My mother loved them as much as I did, and we would flip a coin to see who got to read, say, the new Mary Stewart or Victoria Holt book first. I hated when an aunt by marriage wanted to read them too, and I had to wait for her to finish to get my turn. It seemed to me that she took months to read a book that mother and I could read in one day.

Mary, I recall a book called The Mirrors of Castle Doone that was set in Scotland, but I don't know if it was by the same author of the series you mentioned.

Friedag, we had a good school library when I went to Grammar School, aged 11. I remember reading Heyer and a British author Dornford Yates who wrote an amusing series about a group of people in the 1930s. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud reading these books in the library but it was a matter of taste. My BF read the passage I was enjoying and didn't even crack a smile.
We did both love the Heyer books and pooled our pocket money to buy a copy of "These Old Shades" to have for ourselves.
I am sure I read many other books but can't recall them now after 60+ years!

I can remember several books I ordered and then read and re-read to tatters: The Girl Who Ran Away by Joan G. Robinson (amazingly, I found it on Amazon with same cover I remembered), Hurricane Luck by Carl Lamson Carmer, Miss Osborne the Mop by Wilson Gage, Me and Fat Glenda by Lila Perl, and The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danzinger. I was very surprised to find the Danzinger book still in circulation when I volunteered at my kids' elementary school library six or seven years ago.

Annpan, I love the Heyer books, but only discovered them as an adult when they were recommended here.

Frieda, I also gravitated to gothics and romantic suspense. I read all the Phyllis A. Whitney, Victoria Holt, and Mary Stewart books, as well as whatever early Harlequin romances I could get my hands on. Then I read The Lord of the Rings and my entire reading direction changed to fantasy and science fiction.

My Dad was an avid sci-fi reader (I can only recall my mother reading magazines, but she was quite busy with three kids and working part time) and eventually his interests rubbed off. I read a lot of Azimov, Ben Bova, and Robert Heinlein because of him. But LOTR was the game changer.

Frieda, yes, that is correct: it is "The Mirrors of Castle Doone" by Elizabeth Kyle. Recently, I re-read "The Provost's Jewell" and it had stood the test of time.

Another favorite was "The Secret of the Bog." It was about a lost village in Ireland that centuries ago, had sunk into the bog. I've always been fascinated by "lost or sunken" anything: e.g. Atlantis, etc.

Sheri, I love it when I can find old books with the cover art I remember. I think sometimes I was more attached to the covers than the contents, because I've reread the same content in books with different covers and they just didn't seem right. I don't know why that should be, but it is.

I remember reading a few of Heyer's Regency romances when I was a teenager, but they were not commonly available at the time -- I probably just happened onto them in the collections of my friends' mothers. Like Sheri, I picked up on the RP recommendations and read several of Heyer's Regencies after 2000 -- The Grand Sophy is the one I liked best, I think -- and three or four of her mysteries, e.g., Envious Casca. While I liked all I read well enough, I think I probably would have liked them much more if I had read them when I was younger and I could look back on them fondly.

Sheri, my mother was disappointed when her love of sci-fi didn't rub off on me. I would read Asimov when he wrote about Shakespeare or The Bible or straight science topics, but I couldn't relate to science fiction. You said your daughter turned after Nancy Drew and the Dana Girls to Harry Potter and all things dystopian. I can understand HP, but why dystopias? I've noticed a lot of teens and under-30s (including my son and niece) really relish this sort of literature which to me has always been depressing. I've tried to get them to explain the appeal, but about all I can get out of them is "I just like that sort of thing." Fair enough, we all just like certain sorts of things. But I suspect there's more to it than that, and perhaps it's a generational thing although I realize dystopian writing has been around for a couple of hundred years at least. Do you have insight you can share with me, please? :-)

Friedag,I wonder if people read depressing books or want to have depressing experiences (think of holidays in mock POW camps or former prisons etc) when they haven't experienced the real thing.
I don't like reading WW2 reminiscences or watch TV shows about unhappy times but some people relish them!

Ann, think of the mystery/murder/whodunnit books you enjoy! Isn't that a similar thing? And what about the people who lap-up the true murder stuff with all the gory details plus photos? Or, to me, even more strange, those books detailing hospital operations. Apparently there are magazines in Germany (and probably elsewhere) that pay good money to punters who write in with the details of a 'medical procedure' they have undergone. Of course one might wonder what they can remember while they were 'under the knife' but perhaps their imaginations come into play or they see themselves floating above the operating table and looking down into their own innards.

Vee, I only read cosy genre murders! I never read police procedurals, forensic detective ones etc. I really go for the puzzle involved so I don't see them as horrors, if that was what you meant?
Actually I have been reading rather differently, "brain candy" books! I haven't been too well since before Christmas with a succession of a bad sore throat, shingles and other nuisances and find something light suits me better when I am feeling below par!

Ann I hope you pick-up soon, shingles is a particularly debilitating illness and can leave one feeling very low. Over here the NHS offers jabs/shots/vaccinations against the condition for older people. Apparently it should 'work' even if you have already had it.
NHS Shingles

Have you read Bill Bryson's Small Island? It might cheer you up!

Frieda, I asked my daughter what appealed to her about the dystopian genre and while she couldn't clearly articulate what drew her to it, I think it has to do with teenage heroines/heroes righting the wrongs of the generation before them. As teens they feel they have no power or say in how the world is run and/or they're just coming to realize that the adult world is -- frighteningly, inescapably -- so completely not fair. So reading about a teenager (whether it's Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen) taking on and triumphing over the (horrible, poisoned, zombie-ridden or whatever) adult world is meaningful and encouraging rather than sad and scary. Just my read on our conversation.

Annpan, shingles are awful, I remember when my FIL had them, he was miserable. I hope you're feeling better quickly!

Vee, the doctor told me that the vaccine he has only works in the first 24 hours and I didn't know I had shingles on my back for a week or more. I thought it was heat rash and quite normal for summer until I felt it seemed different. It is a very debilitating thing to have and does indeed make you feel very wretched. The first outbreak cleared up and then I got a second one! At least I knew what was going on that time but still too late for a jab!
Luckily the second outbreak was not so bad and I was able to get out and about. The first time I cancelled all my social engagements and stayed home.
When I told the doctor, he said I had been too cautious but I thought they might be catching. Apparently not unless there is direct contact with the rash.

Yes, I have read "Small Island" and enjoyed it very much, thank you.

Sheri, thanks to you and your daughter! That's the best explanation I've heard/read. It makes sense to me although I'm long past 'the window of opportunity' for most appreciating that sort of literature. Come to think of it, though, dystopian novels are 'popular' with many older readers as well -- I'm thinking about McCarthy's The Road, Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. It seems the bleaker, the better for those readers who perhaps share with the younger cohort some of the same feelings of impotence.

Whoa! Holidays in POW camps, etc. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that, but I have to admit going on 'murder tours' of the East End, for example, so perhaps I'm just as perverse in my way...although I seem to have a lot of company.

Vee, those medical crises articles and books are perennially popular. We reporters used to joke about getting 'Disease of the Month' assignments, as I'm sure reporters still do. It seems to be natural to develop hypochondria even if one has never experienced it before.

Annpan, my empathy and sympathy. I mistook shingles for a psoriasis flare-up until, like you, I sensed this was something different. Shingles be gone and don't come back!

Sorry to hear about your shingles, Annpan. My Dad had it some years ago and was in the hospital for several days, so I know it can be nasty. As soon as I became eligible for the shot I had it. I don't like needles but I didn't want what he went through. Wishing you no more attacks.

Thanks for the good wishes, I haven't needed hospitalising but at least I know from the first attack what to expect. I shall have to be patient and try to keep cheerful!

I am reading light novels by mainly Irish writers, to be sure!

I find myself thinking in Irish idioms, now! As I have been there a few times it is easy to imagine the locations too.

The original post makes a good point. People in times past who didn't have servants, and even some who had one or two, worked almost all their working hours, men and women both. Even what we consider downtime was expected to be productive. That is why most women did so much needlework. Sewing, knitting, and quilt making were enjoyable and creative activities that could be done in the evening, but they were also useful. Other than the upper classes, where people were literate that was seen as a useful skill as well. Literacy was valuable because it gave people the ability to read the bible, know what a contract said, write a letter, or find employment where the ability to read was necessary. It was only those who had the luxury of leisure who could read for pleasure rather than self-improvement.

hello everyone!

https://wordpress.com/page/90626581/19

is an attempt at online writing my very first novel while taking into account your comments and suggestions. The process is ongoing so make yourselves heard :). Share thestoryofmaya and make it yours. Plots unfortunately won't change because that's the whole fun in a book :). However, I will appreciate a lot any feedback on the story line or characters. So let's dig into reading and writing!!! Start with the Prologue and continue with Chapter 1- Part 1. Every day a continuation will be posted so be on the look out for that and let me know if thestoryofmaya has caught your eye or still has a loooong way to go (I hope not:))

All the best,

Maria

Not the purpose of this forum!