What books did you love as a child and do you ever re-read them?

c68zapdsm5i1ru · 05-02-2014 03:30PM #1

My favourite childhood author was Noel Streatfeild and I have recently bought a lot of her books on Amazon and Abe Books to re-read. I have also re read some other childhood favourites and it's amazing (and lovely) how the years disappear and it brings you right back to your childhood.

Just wondering who you enjoyed reading years ago and if you ever get out your old books for a re-read?

beano345 · 05-02-2014 03:32PM

Huckleberry Finn,still read it at least once every year.

FollatonWood · 05-02-2014 03:41PM

Enid Blyton and Ronald Dahl were 'it' for me, I basically thought I was one of the famous five.

Alf Veedersane · 05-02-2014 03:44PM

'Ann & Barry Bake A Cake'.

whiskeyman · 05-02-2014 03:44PM

Busy At Maths 4

whitewave · 05-02-2014 03:45PM

FollatonWood wrote: »

Enid Blyton and Ronald Dahl were 'it' for me, I basically thought I was one of the famous five.

We used to play the Famous Five when we were younger and, being the youngest, they always made me be Timmy (the dog) even though there were only 4 of us so I could have played a human. Only dawning on me now how lousy it was!

I adored the Narnia books, still read them from time to time.

05-02-2014 03:47PM

watership down

looksee · 05-02-2014 03:49PM

I didn't discover the Narnia and Noel Streatfield books until I was adult, but have enjoyed them. One book I read numerous times as a child was Heidi, but a more recent attempt at it left me a bit less enthusiastic.

05-02-2014 03:49PM

The Mr. Men books. I even got one this Christmas (Mr. Nobody) that I hadn't seen before. I now have all 47 of them.

I also loved the Flip & Flop books by Tony Hickey. Also enjoyed some of Don Conroy's books about owls.
Then when I was a teenager it was Harry Potter and Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, the latter of which I really must reread again at some point.

My mother has all of our childhood books on her bookshelf so they're still there if I ever feel like a nice bit of nostalgia.

Umekichi · 05-02-2014 03:53PM

Books by Roald Dahl, Jacqueline Wilson, Enid Blyton and the mr/ms men books were my staples along with Miffy when I was very young.

B0jangles · 05-02-2014 03:54PM

The Phantom Tollbooth - brilliant and funny book, especially for wordy kids.

The Dark is Rising Starts off with a fairly ordinary tale of of adventure "Over Sea, Under Stone" but gets much stronger in the later books.

The Hounds of The Morrigan - absolutely wonderful book set in Galway, both the real place and a mythic version of it.

Yeah, I've reread them all as an adult

Mince Pie · 05-02-2014 03:55PM

Loved Enid Blytons Land of Far Beyond, must get it again for a reread.
Also used to love The Happy Prince and other tales by Oscar Wilde. Didn't realise they were by Oscar Wilde till I was all grown up and in love with his other works. A lifelong love with him. It makes me happy.

cloud493 · 05-02-2014 03:55PM

Roald Dahl is brilliant. I never read his two autobiography books before I turned 18

GAAman · 05-02-2014 03:58PM

To Kill A Mockingbird, still to this day my favourite book first read it when I was 12.

dark crystal · 05-02-2014 03:59PM

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was my favourite childhood book. A few years back, I bought a beautiful edition of The Chronicles of Narnia and I read a chapter to my son every night before bed.

Reading to your kids is a great excuse to relive the books you loved from your own childhood!

Wellyd · 05-02-2014 04:00PM

A Little Princess is my always go back to book. I bought it from my world book day voucher in 1998 and I've read it nearly every year since.

drake70 · 05-02-2014 04:05PM

B0jangles wrote: »

The Dark is Rising

Loved this series, got it in one volume.

I cut my teeth on Enid Blyton's "The Secret Seven"

Then " The Hardy Boys"

weiland79 · 05-02-2014 04:06PM

One of the benefits of having childers. I'm currently reading The Enchanted wood to be followed by The magic Faraway tree and then The folk of the Faraway Tree. Enid Blyton
Loved them as a child and am loving reading them again with my daughter.

Ilyana 2.0 · 05-02-2014 04:06PM

I loved Jacqueline Wilson, she wrote about real-life themes in a way that young girls could understand.

I was constantly re-reading Harry Potter as well. Incredibly imaginative.

Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers and Terry Deary's Horrible Histories were other favourites.

Flippyfloppy · 05-02-2014 04:08PM

Children of Cherry Tree Farm, Far Away Tree, Famous Five all by Enid Blyton
Glinda of Oz

OU812 · 05-02-2014 04:09PM

HHGTTG when I was 13/14. Read all the books in sequence now every year.

The originals are held together by an elastic band now, I have an illustrates copy which is too big to carry/read & another set of them that's been in circulation for the past 9 years.

Read "Catcher in the Rye" when I was 37, have re-read it annually for the past 7 years.

05-02-2014 04:09PM

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett.

Re-read both whenever I need to deny the existence of the real world.

'Love makes you real'

TVR

05-02-2014 04:10PM

Anyone else go for the saddle club? :pac:
Went nuts for anne rice books as a kid as well, and virginia andrews
Well, not a kid kid, maybe 11-13 or so

Duggy747 · 05-02-2014 04:13PM

Besides Dahl, i never read many books but i always read every night in bed be it random magazines, Tintin, Asterix, or the massive backlog of the brother's The Beano / The Dandy collection that went back to the early 80's.

Still have the collection and they were genuinely a lot funnier than the watered down versions they are now.

In most cases, though, the character got their commupence in the form of a battering from their parents' shoe :pac:

05-02-2014 04:13PM

bluewolf wrote: »

Anyone else go for the saddle club? :pac:
Went nuts for anne rice books as a kid as well, and virginia andrews
Well, not a kid kid, maybe 11-13 or so

I devoured the Virginia Andrews books as a young teen, and the Rice ones as an older teen >15. I loved Interview and The Witching Hour, great easy reads. That might be through rose-tinted lenses though, as I never re-read them.

qwerty1991 · 05-02-2014 04:15PM

I loved Enid Blytons Malory Towers books. Literally read them 10 times over. They made me wish I went to boarding school! Still hoping that they'll be made into a tv series ir movie

username123 · 05-02-2014 04:16PM

I practically knew Alice in Wonderland by heart. I even understood the chess game in Through the Looking Glass. I read it so often that my original childhood copy fell to pieces, and I wrapped in in cling film and still re read it from time to time!!

The Chronicles of Narnia.
The Famous Five and The Secret Seven.
All of Roald Dahls books.

There was a story in these ancient encyclopedias we had about dragons, and the end of the story was basically the world was completely taken over by dragons, there was an illustration of a UK city (maybe London) with dragons on top of the spires of buildings and on roofs etc... I dont know the name of the story or the author or the encyclopedias but I sure would love to read it again.

Tokyo · 05-02-2014 04:18PM

Enid Blyton was a staple of my childhood too, thanks to the mobile library - Famous Five, secret Seven, Five Find Outers, etc. As I got older, all of the Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels, which I still re-read today from time to time.

05-02-2014 04:21PM

qwerty1991 wrote: »

I loved Enid Blytons Malory Towers books. Literally read them 10 times over. They made me wish I went to boarding school! Still hoping that they'll be made into a tv series ir movie

I read the Malory Towers books, and I went to boarding school.

I preferred the books

c68zapdsm5i1ru · 05-02-2014 04:22PM

Duggy747 wrote: »

Besides Dahl, i never read many books but i always read every night in bed be it random magazines, Tintin, Asterix, or the massive backlog of the brother's The Beano / The Dandy collection that went back to the early 80's.

Still have the collection and they were genuinely a lot funnier than the watered down versions they are now.

In most cases, though, the character got their commupence in the form of a battering from their parents' shoe :pac:

It's a shame that apart from the Beano there's no traditional type comics for children anymore. They're all just magazines based on TV characters with the children choosing them more for the 'free' gift than anything else.
I remember dying to get my pocket money so I could get that week's edition of Bunty and catch up on the Four Marys and the various serialised stories. I also remember the special Summer 'bumper' editions of Dandy and Beezer and loads of other children's comics.

05-02-2014 04:23PM

As I said in another thread I am going to re read the Walter Macken trilogy, good adventure books, nice and simple the English were the baddies and the Irish the goodies. Any one read a children book as an adult, I read under the hawthorn tree after my daughter read it as a child very sad book.

What books did you love as a child and do you ever re-read them?

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