The Magic of Childhood Books

[donnaimmaculata]

Some of you might have already known about it for a long time, but I discovered it only very recently: An Internet platform, where you can find well-loved, yet long-lost books you've read (or been read to) as a child. The Advanced Book Exchange provides an excellent service on its BookSleuth forum, where users can post more or less vague descriptions of the books they're after. The descriptions sometimes include only a picture that stuck to mind, or one single scene, or the name of the character's favourite pet, and, incredibly, there are people who are able to recognise the book described and supply the title. I am delighted. (Especially since I have indeed been looking for a favourite childhood book for ages.)

I found this website after reading an article about it some weeks ago, and said article triggered something in me. The author elaborates how children perceive books as very physical objects, and years later, all that one remembers is a certain picture, the texture and colour of the cover, or maybe a certain location which is mentioned in the book and which the child is familiar with in real life. Memories of the books are strongly connected to certain feelings (I remember the feeling of vague horror connected to one of the stories in the book I'm looking for, though I don't remember any details of the story) or situations.

So, because I'm curious: is there anybody out there who remebers only odd details of a book they used to love as a child? The scent of the book, or a single occasion when it was read, or some pictures that has haunted their dreams for years?



I have the very distinct memory of the stories of 1000 and One Nights being read to me when I was ill, although I don't remember whether it was on one single occasion or whether it was the regular book my parents would choose when I was ill. I don't remember anything about the stories as such, apart from this vague feeling of apprehension (it seems to me that they didn't have any real happy endings), but I remember feeling hot (um, because of the fever; I'm sure my parents would read the censored versions of the stories) and the small bits of apples my parents would feed me with to keep my sore throat moistened. (In Poland of the late 70s, cough drops were unheard of.) I even remember the fever dreams I used to have, which feature an earth worm. No details of the earth worm here, but in my sick mind, it has ever since been connected to Sindbad.

It occurs to me that this would have been an excellent question for the "five truths - one lie" meme: Ever since my childhood, Sindbad has been inevitably associated with an earth worm. True or false?

I think the truth-and-lie meme will come soon... Before it's hopelessly outdated and so last week.

Comments

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a great resource for people hunting down old favorites. Thanks so much for posting it- I hadn't heard of it before.

It's so neat, too, to see described the rich sensations that children experience in response to books. It's certainly true for me, and in a very earthworm/Sinbad way. (Being feverish and reading is a sure-fire recipe for melding two disparate themes in the mind forever, isn't it?)

A few weeks ago, I pointed out a cluster of three balloons- red, yellow, and green- to my sister and asked, "What does that remind you of?" Immediately, she answered, "The lollipops that that kitten brought home for his grandparents in the Tiny Nonsense Stories!" Our grandmother had read those stories too us repeatedly when we were little, and 25 years later, the images and impressions still stick.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I had a look last night, and it's brilliant! Although I haven't heard of, say, 99.5% of all the books that are mentioned, it is very nice to read the descriptions people post. They are most often very atmospheric, because, obviously, it is the atmosphere of a book that children remember.

I remember reading in one of your posts about Brooke threatening Zoe with the basilisk arising from the toilet and claiming someone's eyes and soul... I wonder how children perceive Harry Potter, because these novels are certainly rich in images that stick to the mind forever. Do you know which aspects of Harry Potter your children find especially intriguing? Because I also wonder how parents - my parents - have perceived their children's obsession with single aspects of a book or a character. (My mother keeps reminding me of my infatuation with a toy soldier from one of my earliest books every now and again.) They must think it's a bit odd sometimes.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

(In Poland of the late 70s, cough drops were unheard of.)

If you ever feel like making a LJ post, but can't come up with a subject, I'd love to hear more about what living in Poland was like. (I don't have some special obsession with Poland, but I like hearing about place that I'll likely never visit in my lifetime.)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for your interest! I'll bear that in mind. Mind you, I left Poland when I was still at primary school, so my perception of life was not exactly objective. (Not that it ever is, but in this case even less so.)

[mimine.livejournal.com]

Excellent post!

The problem with me is that I was a bookworm as a kid (still am) but didn't read just kiddie books, I'd read everything I got my hands on. I read Camus' the Plague at 12 and that was probably not a very good idea...

There's one book that's haunting me and I wish so much I could find it once... It was a sci-fi book about some sort of clinic where people would get to be reborn. What it was essentially was that human beings were basically broken into barcodes, recipes from which they could be duplicated. Our hero was from the 20th century but had found himself there. People of the time had this thing with becoming part man part machine so it was strange to find someone who was normal, like our hero.

From then on my memory gets a little sketchy... I do remember that there was this girl who was also from the 20th century and who didn't want to be reborn and would kill herself over and over but the people who ran the clinic had her barcode so they would simply regenerate her. And there was also another girl who belonged to that time and she was invisible because she had added so many machines to her body that she was hideously ugly. And she fell in love with our hero and helped him escape the clinic.

Or something... I really don't remember. My mother had also read it and she would tell me stuff about it. A strange bedtime story, for sure.

Do the four truths and a lie meme whenever... There are no rules about these things, just because you discovered it a little late it doesn't mean you shouldn't post it.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I can't help you at all with the book you're looking for. Doesn't sound very much like a children story to me...

I used to read adult novels as well as a child, and in some cases I only much later realised what exactly I have been reading about. On the other hand - this can well happen with proper children books. Imagine all the kids who read Harry Potter now, and will return to the books in 15 years time, and then they'll cry out: Oh my God! They so fuck! How come I've never seen it before?