Lyndsey's Reading Story

My Reading Story
My earliest memories of reading are in Primary school. ’Bangers and Mash’, a series of books about two monkeys, were amongst my favourites in class. We also watched educational children’s TV programs as a class such as ‘You and Me’. My mum read to me a great deal, I remember the Winnie the Pooh books as my mum would always put on funny voices, I can remember me and my brother in fits of giggles over the Horrible Heffalump! I also remember the Roald Dahl books, and the Garden Gang as well as the Mr Men and the Little Miss books. I still have my Beatrix Potter collection, which I adored, and Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairytales. I had my own bookcase in my room from quite a young age and was always after more books to fill it. I was a member of the Beano fan club and read my brother’s Dandy comics as well. I was never really interested in girls comics as I was a terrible tomboy; I preferred being outside and getting into mischief than learning to cook or trying on mum’s high heels.
As I grew older, around 7 or 8, I became interested in Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven and Famous Five, and started reading more difficult children’s books. I had a lovely copy of Kipling’s Jungle Book and also CS Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe which I still have packed away somewhere. Books have always been seen as something a bit sacred in our house, probably something to do with my mum being a Librarian (still is!), so we always had to treat them with respect. If I ever drew or wrote in them I learnt from a very young age it must always be in pencil. I still wince now when I see biro in library books! By the time I was around 10 I was reading mum’s books and borrowing ‘grown-up’ books from the library. Mum had read Tolkien and David Eddings to us as children (always leaving out any scary bits) and I remember the sense of achievement when I first read them for myself. I still like to re-read The Belgariad series now. I was also very much into TV programs at this age such as Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, Fraggle Rock, and of course all the excellent cartoons back then such as Batfink, Danger Mouse and Henry’s Cat. I also developed an interest in horses and read a huge number of books on the subject, eager to learn everything I could about horse-riding, horse-welfare and stable management. My parents had no idea about horses and neither did anyone else I knew so I had to find out about it all for myself. If ever I wanted to find out about something I would read a book about it. That is still true to this day. (Is there a ‘Teaching for Dummies’? Probably.)
In secondary school I continued to enjoy reading, and happily read pretty much anything that was put in front of me. I found that any book was enjoyable for its own reasons and it didn’t matter if the topic was something that wouldn’t usually interest me. For example I couldn’t abide my dad’s The World at War TV program he’d make us sit through and disliked History at school but have read and enjoyed many books written about the war, both fiction and non-fiction. I can’t really explain why this is but think it’s the same reason why a film is never better than your own imagination when reading the book i.e. The War of the Worlds, The Davinci Code and The Constant Gardener. At school I didn’t really take to Shakespeare, I think because I didn’t really understand it and it wasn’t until I studied it for my degree that I realised how brilliant he was. Some books need to be picked apart and interpreted a little to really appreciate them, I found, this was always true for me of poetry as well. Thanks to my course I now see the comedy and wit in Shakespeare, the politics and satire in Gulliver’s Travels and the allusions to poverty, social unrest and religious uncertainty in Victorian Literature. I really couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate subject to study at degree level! I loved it. I also studied American Fiction and it was interesting seeing the differences between that and English. It was also interesting seeing how literature has evolved through the years and how events have affected it such as wars, industrialisation, the enlightenment and so on, and how some subjects previously forbidden start to appear in more contemporary novels i.e. homosexuality, incest, atheism and so on.
So books for me have been my main source of education. What I couldn’t learn in school or from others, I learnt from books. Now I am still an avid reader and have a huge collection. I can spend hours in bookshops, especially second-hand bookshops, and will always request one or two for Christmas and birthdays. My mum and I also regularly recommend and lend books to each other, seeming to have similar tastes although she, like me, will read anything and everything. I am a huge Terry Pratchett fan (have been for a few years now), and I think he’s an absolute genius. I can’t understand how one man can know so much! I still love the classics though and am also always interested in new writers, even if they’re just new to me.
I personally believe that being read to as a child and my mum’s own love of books has been the main reason for my interest. I think that is so important, as well as the parents taking an interest in a child’s progress with reading and making as many types of literature accessible to them as possible so that they find their own favourites. It worked for me!

I agree entirely with your last paragraph. Unfortunately, no government can make it happen!