My good friends Nan and Les both recently talked about some 'old' books on their blogs. Nan had received a box of books from a sister-in-law and she shared about it here. She had pictures of her 'new to her' treasures and they looked like treasure indeed. Les recently reread her old copy of Anne of Green Gables and shared that experience here. She also talked about what a treasure that book was to her, how she had moved over and over and included the book each time and had owned it for 50 years. Such wonderful stories and pictures.
It made me think about my own shelves and the books that have traveled with me from house to house. I've collected a number of old copies of books that I enjoyed as a young girl and teen, However, what I'll share today are the 9 books that I've owned for over 50 years - each of them gifted to me by someone special - a relative, a neighbor, a friend from school.
First of all, I'll talk a little about my wonderful parents - neither of whom were readers at all. At all. They both were great and very proud of my love of reading, but....they didn't understand why I needed, craved, wished for books that were my very own. I did not grow up in a house that had a lot of books. We visited the library frequently in my early days, but my folks never considered buying me a book. Never. They were thrifty and frugal and said why would you buy something that you could get for free - even if you had to give it back at the end of the check-out period. So, when I was gifted these books, I read them again and again. I wasn't quite like Gollum in Lord of the Rings, but almost...ha! My precious....
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
I also bought the sequel to Eight Cousins with my own money probably when I was about 11 or so. It's called Rose in Bloom and I still have that one too. I just discovered when I was looking for a link to the Five Little Peppers - there were 12 books in the Peppers series. I had no idea.
The Charmed Circle by Dorothea J. Snow
Donna Parker On Her Own by Marcia Martin
That Certain Girl by Dorothea J. Snow
These were all teenage girl romance-type books. The Donna Parker series had 7 books, I think. I own 3 of them. I also loved the books by Rosamond du Jardin and Janet Lambert. Both of those authors wrote lots of teen girl growing up stories.
Trixie Belden and the Mystery on the Mississippi by Kathryn Kenny
The Hidden Window Mystery by Carolyn Keene
Robin Kane - The Mystery of Glengary Castle - by Eileen Hill
I'm not sure how many Trixie Belden books there were eventually. I read a bunch of them. And Nancy Drew - I read a lot of those too. I only own a couple of additional Nancy Drew books, but at one point I thought about buying the whole set. I loved Robin Kane too, but I don't think those books were quite as well known. There were only 6 and I own all of them. I've picked them up at various places selling older books.
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So, there you go. My oldest books. Thanks for joining me on my trip down memory lane. What are your oldest books and what did you like to read as a kid? I'd love to know.
Ohmygoodness, I love your collection, Kay! I recognize the Nancy Drew (of course!) Trixie Belden and "The Five Little Pappers" which were all part of my collection at one point. Thanks for posting these--a fun walk down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteGlad you recognized some, J.P.!
DeleteI read Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom and several other books from the same era (by Alcott and others) upon finding them at my grandmother's house when I was a child. And Nancy Drew books read when visiting my cousins and then from the library. I love your collection!
ReplyDeleteHow nice to find them at your grandmother's, Jenclair.
DeleteKay, I loved this post, it brought back memories of my early love of books. Neither of my parents were readers either but I always bought books with my allowance. I was never sentimental about them once I read them so usually traded them for other books at a used book store:(
ReplyDeleteKay, I see you use blogger as do I and, was wondering if you knew why I can't comment on your blog from my iPhone? I can on other blogs or, at least I could. If you have an iPhone, can you comment on my posts using it? It's frustrating as I have to go to the MAC to comment.
I'm not so sentimental about my books now, Diane. However, those first ones were precious. I spent a bunch of my babysitting money on books. :-)
DeleteI had many Trixie Belden books. Probably got passed down to my sisters...Have you ever seen the Five Little Peppers movies? Old black and white. Really good.
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't seen the Five Little Peppers movies. Didn't know they existed. I'll have to watch for them.
DeleteHow fun! Those old books are true treasures.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are both big readers, but they didn't buy a lot of books either. I lived at the library when I was growing up :) When I left home for college, I don't think I took any books except for my scriptures (which I still have), so I don't have any fun old books. I wonder which of mine I'll still have in 50 years??
You just never know, Susan. ;-)
DeleteMy dad is one of the most brilliant men I've ever known but he's dyslexic and as a kid he really struggled with reading. Thankfully one of the nuns who was working with him at school had read something about dyslexia and was able to help him but even with that support reading was never a subject he was confident in. Because of that he was so encouraging of my love and abilities when it came to reading. I got in trouble once for reading in class and the teacher took my book away. As soon as he got home from work and heard about it he took me straight to the library and helped me find the book so I could finish it. Sorry for the tangent! I adored Eight Cousins (never a big Little Women fan) and was so excited to discover Rose in Bloom but the way everything worked out made me so mad at the time. Now of course I see who Charlie really was but at the time I thought he seemed dreamy. I only have one book that was mine as a kid - The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright - and I love it. What a wonderful post that obviously sent me on quite the stroll down memory lane!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to take a look at The Four Story Mistake, Katherine. And I love that story about your Dad. :-)
DeleteMy parents snatched up a dozen Little Maid books (by Alice Turner Curtis) at a library sale when I was growing up. I still have most of them. They're probably the oldest books I own. I read Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew, too, just in paperback versions. And I also loved the Oz books. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'm familiar with Alice Turner Curtis, Lark. I'll have to do a little research. :-)
DeleteI think that attitude of not owning books was common back in those days. My family was not a reading family and I only had a few like you. But my husband's family 'were' readers but they, I think, had none. They went to the library and my husband, although a big reader, still has that same attitude. Nearly all the books in the house are mine. Isn't it strange?
ReplyDeleteCath, I suspect you are right about the earlier attitude. My folks were raised in the Depression time here and they grew up with little money. They learned to save and recycle everything.
DeleteWhat a fun collection, Kay! Thank you for sharing! When I was much younger, I used to read a lot of Nancy Drew books, too. They were my aunts' copies from when they were girls!
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of us had Nancy Drew as a pal when we were young readers. :-)
DeleteHow lovely, Kay. I don't have any books that I have owned that long. Unless some of my old Rex Stout paperbacks were given to me by my grandmother, I cannot remember. My parents never bought books for us either, we really did not have money for that. We had some in my home that had been my grandmother's books (on the the other side). I was never in the habit of owning books until I met my current husband (of 39 years). My first husband and I owned a few paperbacks and I always used the library, but Glen always wanted to own the books. So gradually I switched to that preference too. We have a ton of books as you can imagine.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can certainly imagine your home with so many lovely books, Tracy. :-)
DeleteThis is such a sweet post. I had a lot of childhood books that I either picked up on my own or were gifted to me but living the life I lived we barely had a place to live much less a place to keep these things so I always had to let them go. I repurchased my faves like Nancy Drew but it's not the same.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Ti. I'm sorry that you weren't able to keep your treasured books. And I do understand that even when you get them again later, it's not the same.
DeleteI love hearing how other book lovers discovered books as children. This was such a fun post and I may have to borrow the idea and talk about some of my first books too. And, of course, I loved Trixie Belden too!
ReplyDeleteI hope you do talk about your books, Iliana. I'd love to know about your treasured ones.
DeleteThat is a lovely collection! I've had a Scholastic paperback set of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books for 40 years. My mom & I read them together. ♥
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, my daughter had one of those and we read it together too.
DeleteI have those first three as well!
ReplyDeleteThat's nice to know, Lisa!
DeleteBoth of my parents were voracious readers (my mom still is!), but we didn't own a lot of books. Library visits were a part of our routine and I remember the thrill of discovering a new series (The Happy Holisters to name one) after reading all of my Little House books (which I did own, having received them for either my birthday or Christmas). I loved The Five Little Peppers and am sure I had the same copy as you, but no longer have it. I must confess that our most recent move had me re-evaluating the need to keep all my childhood books and I wound up giving a boxful to a cousin's daughter and I sold a few at our garage sale. I only kept a few of my absolute favorites and I don't have any regrets. If I have another grandchild, I will be happy to buy those special books of my childhood so that they might enjoy them as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out. :)
I had forgotten about the Happy Hollisters - didn't read as many of those, but did read some. And, of course, the Little House books. I may not keep mind forever, but I like to see them on the shelf.
DeleteOh, Trixie and Nancy how I miss you! It was hard for me to get rid of books that have been with me forever :( I did box up all of my signed books and put them in the garage. A few years from now I can see what shape they're in and whether I can keep them.
ReplyDeleteI feel so badly for you Stacy! I'm sorry that your books were affected by your house woes. That happens here too. It was mold or mildew wasn't it? Sigh.
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