Where Books Have Taken Me: A Lifetime of Reading, Memories and Escape

I’ve decided to take a couple of weeks off from my travel blog and my adventures in Wales and write about some more general topics. I always planned that my blog would be about:

Midlife – Midlife Opinion – Midlife Adventure

Inspired by a post from a fellow blogger, Kari who recently wrote “ Books of my Life” I started to think about how much books have impacted me across the years. So this week I guess you could say this is about midlife and my reflections.

The Old Village Library:
When I was a child it wasn’t common for Mums and Dads to read to their children at bedtime as much as they do now so I didn’t grow up surrounded by books.

My Dad liked to read but it wasn’t something he really focused upon until he retired.

My Mum felt that education was important so from a very young age I remember being taken to the library on a weekly basis. It was around the side of the Baptist Church and was a big, old building that only opened twice a week. You could smell the old books as soon as you walked in through the double wooden doors that pinged back on really strong springs often catching my school satchel in its grip as I fought my way in!

All four walls were lined with book cases stacked several shelves high. I remember those shelves being a measurement of my growth across the years. There was no keeping track against a door post at home like parents do now., my measurement was how high can I reach in the library 😊.
The centre of the room had several islands where bookcases snuggled back to back about 3-4 shelves high. I always felt the library was arranged in this way so that the beady eyed librarians, who always seemed to have hair pulled back in buns and glasses around their necks on chains, could keep an eye on the visitors particularly us children.

My first forage into literature was definitely Enid Blyton, I devoured her books. It was my first experience of losing myself into another world. In this case the childhood mysteries of the Secret Seven, the extraordinary world of The Magical Faraway Tree and the adventures at Mallory Towers.

This is the old Baptist Church and we used to have to walk through the gap you can just about see between this building and the one next door. There was a narrow pathway and the library was along on the left.

Every year at Junior School we would have an awards ceremony at the end of the summer term. Prize winners received books and this became a huge motivation for me. If I could win an award I’d actually have my own books and not just library books that were borrowed.

Looking a little worse for wear but still a wonderful reminder of my childhood

This was the start of my book collection and I still have some of those books proudly displayed on my bookshelves here at home.
When my Dad moved out of our family home I didn’t get an opportunity to return home to retrieve my belongings so stuff got lost in his move which I have to say I found quite upsetting.
Interestingly one of my old school friends found one of my award books in an old antiques/ bric a brac store not too long ago and bought it so she could return it to me!

Senior School:
Having passed my 11+ I headed off to the local Girls Grammar School at the age of 11. This was quite an adventure having to catch the bus to school. As I’ve explained in a previous post life as a young girl from a working class background wasn’t always easy and so books often became my refuge.
I wasn’t a sporty kid so when other girls were busy practicing hockey, netball and rounders during their lunch break I would squirrel myself away in the Junior School library.

I can recall this period in my book life being very much about the classics – the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, John Fowles and of course Thomas Hardy. Tess of the D’Urbervilles was my absolute favourite book at this time and having read Far From The Madding Crowd I was convinced that if I ever had a son in the future he could be called Troy!
I also dabbled a bit in historical fiction having been recommended the books by Jean Plaidy about the Tudor era and then eventually I found Tolkien. The Hobbit remains my number one favourite book ever!

For some reason I always wanted leather bound books, it felt like an upgrade from a hardback!

Working Life:
When I left school and subsequently home to make my own way in the world I initially lived in a bedsit in Basingstoke in Hampshire.
It wasn’t particularly great, I remember the icicles on the inside of the windows in Winter for example and the lad downstairs who worked as a mental health nurse and thought nothing of bringing his mates back with him in the early hours of the morning when he’d finished a night shift and making loads of noise.
My solace became my new record player and books!
I had progressed by this point onto what I considered at the time as “naughty books”. Jilly Cooper, and Jackie Collins featured heavily. Lucky Santangelo will always be one of my favourite female heroines, such an absolute “kick-ass”.
“Chicklit” as it was known then soon became my method of escapism.

As my career progressed and I moved from retail into entertainment and gaming, books were my escape. It was around this period that I discovered that if I read before bed, regardless of the time I arrived home from work (I worked various shifts, some of which didn’t finish until around midnight) I could escape to another world and cast aside all my worries and stress.
Romance books were joined by thrillers from John Grisham, Harlan Coben and Patricia Cornwall. How did John Grisham write The Appeal way back in 2008 with the main character -Carl Trudeau who basically tries to buy himself an election result? The surname even begins with a “T’. How did he predict what would happen in US politics some 18 years later?
Books from these authors often became unputdownable. I remember getting totally distracted with a cup of tea and my breakfast in bed on a day off and losing myself completely.

This was also the era of The Literary Guild which was part of Book Club Associates (BCA)
BCA was a massive part of British reading culture from the 1970s through to the early 2000s, which operated as follows:

The Monthly Catalogues: Every month, a colorful magazine or catalogue (like Chronicle or Review) would drop through your letterbox detailing the month’s top book picks.

The “Main Choice” Rule: If you wanted the featured book of the month, you didn’t have to do anything—it would be sent to you automatically. If you wanted an alternative or to skip the month, you had to fill out a tiny paper slip.

The Postal Orders: You would tick your choices on the slip, pop it in an envelope, and post it back to their Swindon processing office. When the parcel arrived, it came with an invoice that you would pay by writing out a paper cheque and posting it back. 

Wow! Memories of a time before Amazon!

Single Mum:
Being a single Mum for thirteen years brought a life that was full of juggling balls and trying to get time to read was hard but it was also around this time that I stopped buying paperbacks and focused upon hardback books. They felt more robust and looked good on a shelf.

I remember my main “reading time” being when we went away for a two week summer holiday. It was before luggage had to be weighed and so I’d squeeze about six books into my suitcases all ready to lie back on a sun bed whilst the children played in the pool. Authors like Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell, Lucy Diamond, Jenny Colgan, Cecilia Ahern and Paige Toon spring to mind.
“PS I Love You” which subsequently got made into a film made me cry and gave me so much admiration for Cecilia Ahern. This was her debut novel at the age of 21.
Paige Toon is one of my absolute favourite women’s romance (as it is called now) writers. I discovered her when we were staying in Mousehole in Cornwall back in 2012 and someone had left her book “One Perfect Summer” on the book shelf.

We also took time abroad in February half term to explore European cities so my children learnt about history and culture. As part of that holiday I would take a book to read to them.
Reading Harry Potter whilst soaking wet clothes were hung around the shared family bedroom on the top floor of a narrow hotel in Amsterdam always springs to mind when I reflect upon this period of my life. It rained nearly every day but not going out to explore wasn’t an option!

You will maybe notice one is missing. I lent it to a friend’s son and never got it back!

Retirement:
Finally reaching this era of my life reading is a hobby that I try and make time for on a regular basis. Now I have the time I consume book after book. and have a target on my Kindle that I try and reach each year. It’s like an accolade that underlines my commitment to this part of my life and highlights how hard I worked across the years to be able to leave the world of work at 55.
Nothing much has changed in terms of the genres I read although Michael Connolly and Jeffery Deaver have joined the fold. The wonderful Prime series “Bosch” and Netflix series “Lincoln Lawyer” brought me to Connelly’s books whilst Disney+ ” Tracker” gave me a loose introduction to Deaver.
Romance writers like Sarah Morgan, Sue Moorhead and the wonderful Jo Thomas also became writers of choice. Jo has a unique way of combining her love for cookery and all things “foodie” with romantic settings throughout Europe. You never know where she will take you next.

Final Thoughts:
Looking back, I realise that books have been much more than something to read.
From those early visits to the village library and the excitement of winning a book at school, through working life, motherhood and now retirement, they have been a constant companion.
They’ve given me somewhere to escape to, characters to become invested in and, quite simply, a way to switch off from everyday life.

My tastes have changed along the way, but my love of books certainly hasn’t. I suspect that will be one part of my life that never changes!

I’d love to know about your own reading journey. Have there been books or authors that have stayed with you throughout your life, or perhaps a particular book that reminds you of a special time or place? Let me know in the comments — I’m always looking for something new to add to my reading list!

If you’ve enjoyed taking this little journey through my life in books, I’d love it if you could give the post a like and share your own book memories in the comments.