Friday, May 27, 2016

time was


The nightshirt is finished. It's the first garment - excluding teddy bear clothes - that I've made for a very long time. I used Simplicity pattern 1021. It's a bit of an odd birthday present as I'm three weeks late getting it done and, as it's made from a fine linen that should be nice to sleep in during the summer, winter is almost here. But I'm so pleased that I got it done and it turned out OK and it fits. I now feel emboldened to try something a little more complicated for myself. Maybe something simple from Lotta Jansdotter's new book, Everyday style.

I recently read Patti Smith's M train - a memoir in which she talks (among other things) about her favorite authors and books - including books from her childhood. A list of her favorite fifty books (including some children's titles) has been posted here on brain pickings.

M train got me thinking about some of my favourite childhood reading:
  • Bristle face by Zachary Ball
  • The midnight fox by Betsy Byars 
  • Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
  • Bilgewater by Jane Gardam

Patti Smith seems to often re-read books including some of her childhood favorites. Do you ever re-read your childhood favorites? Do you enjoy them all over again? Or is it disappointing, like re-watching a favorite movie can sometimes be? And, if it is disappointing, does it somehow spoil the wonderful memory that you held for that book? Well, I'm about to find out. I've borrowed a copy of Bilgewater. I'll let you know how it goes.

Reading: The party line by Sue Orr - novel  set in 1970s rural New Zealand about collective complicity

2 comments:

  1. I remember Daddy Long-legs and Stig of the dump! Loved them when I was younger! I am enjoying reading books to my daughter that I used to read as a child. Some, e.g. Mallory Towers, seem very dated now. Others, e.g. Laura Ingalls Wilder books, I am appreciating from the perspective of their parents now

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    1. It's great that some books endure and can cross generations. My daughter loved Mallory Towers and other books from that era. That's where she got the idea to call me "Mother" - which she does still does!

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So nice of you to leave a comment. I love to read them. Thanks!