Childhood books you can't part with?

gogo

Was upstairs having an old clean out, when I decided to tackle my book situation - i.e, more books than space. I came across some old favourites that I couldn't bear to part with like:
I am David,
Summer of my german Solider,
The great Gilly Hopkins,
A complete collection of Christopher Pike books (these were also my first ever internet purchase:o)
Across the Barricades, the forth of july, etc, by Joan Lingard.
Watership Down - still a favourite.

Anything on your book shelf from years ago that you can't part with?

stabu

I am David, yep that was stunning. I often wonder what effect that one had on my personality, cos the impact was huge I remember.

I know it was a schoolbook, probably still is, but I think it was my sister who had it, not me.

I don't know why I had to say that ... so what if I did it at school?

At the same time, I also read the Story of Njal .. an iceland folktale. That was also greeat! Unusual, to get two amazing books together.

I tried to get I am David in other languages. I found it in German, but my German is quite rusty now ( i used to be quite good at it).

Couldn't find it in French .. though I was in FNAC in Paris. I'm better at reading French.

Thanks gogo, for the other suggestions. Though I think to read them first time, you have to be at that age, or?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

When I was a kid, I wouldn't go anywhere without at least three Mr. Men books. Alas, all now gone... :-(

raah!

Heh, yeah still have a grey tattered copy of watership down in my room. And even though I've moved room like five times, I take the book each time and put it on the windowsill. Good stuff

stovelid

Walkabout by James Vance Marshall.
Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.

beans

'I Am David' I read when I was in primary school, probably started my fascination with Nazi Germany and the war now that I think of it... blast from the past

'Five on a Treasure Island' was the first non-picture book I read, that tattered copy is still knocking around somewhere.

Delirium

Anything by Roald Dahl.
In national school, I think in 4th class for the last hour on a Friday, the teacher would read Roald Dahl to us. BFG, Danny champion of the world, Willy Wonka, the witches. Was great.:)

kismet80

C.S Lewis Narnia books,
Susan Cooper The Dark is Rising
E.Nesbit stuff,
The Prince and the Pauper - cant remember who its by,
The Donkeys Crusade - i loved this
The Swallows and the Amazons,

I've reread all these books recently and most of them are still as good as when i read them as a child,

tinkletoes

C.S Lewis Narnia books

IvyTheTerrible

I loved The Silver Sword by Ian Serralier. Our teacher in sixth class did the "reading in class for an hour" thing every Friday, I loved it.

Also everything by Roald Dahl, and lots of Enid Blyton books. They all got lost during a house move unfortunately though.

How so Joe

I can't throw out my Enid Blyton books. They're taking up half a shelf in my (severely overflowing) bookcase, but I just can't get rid of them. Between my siblings and I, I think we had almost all of her books.
Five Find Outers for the win, I loved them!

claire h

Oh god, so can't part with Christopher Pike - and I too remember ordering some of his books as my first ever internet purchase! And so began a lifetime addiction of click-and-buy-and-watch-the-credit-card-bill-mount-up...

Also, The Babysitters Club, some Sweet Valley Highs, some old-school Jacqueline Wilson from the 80s (before the now recognisable illustrations and covers by Nick Sharatt), and of course Enid Blyton.

And Bunty comics and annuals! And Mandy and Judy! Sigh.

MissHoneyBun

Where to start?

• Ladybird books (entire collection of classic fairytales)
• Paddington Bear (complete collection)
• Enid Blyton -all of The Twins At St Clares, all of Malory Towers, all of The Famous Five, all of The Willow Farm books, The Wishing Chair, The Folk Of The Faraway Tree, all of the 'Mystery' books, all of The Secret Seven, all of The Six Cousins series and all of the 'Secret' series
• The Babysitters Club books
• Sweet Valley High, Sweet Valley University
• Roald Dahl's Matilda, Boy and Revolting Rhymes
• Judy Blume's 'Are you there God, it's me Margaret', 'It's Not The End Of The World' and 'Forever'
• Ross O' Carroll Kelly -all books.
• Tulips, Chips and Mayonnaise by Dawn Cairns
  

Am dying to start reading all of these right now !

gaf1983

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl, though this seemed as it may have been aimed at a slightly older reader than, say, The Twits.

George's Marvellous Medicine was a cracker of a book too.

The Fantastic Flying Journey by Gerald Durrell. Animal spotting before Steve Irwin and circumnavigating the globe before Ewan McGregor and that anonymous pal of his.

Cars, Trucks and Things that Go! by Richard Scarry. Jeremy Clarkson eat your heart out - Top Gear never had cars driven by cats and dogs.

Really enjoyed the Asterix series too.

DublinWriter

I still have my copy of 'Soundings' somewhere. I bought it third-hand so it has tonnes of hand-written annotations, including "Karen loves Dave" and "Dave thinks Karen is a slapper", etc, you get the picture.

At age 17 I binned all my Enid Blyton books on discovering that she was a crypto-imperialist.

gogo

I have my old copy of soundings as well, wonder who were the lucky people who got them new, mine was at least third hand as well.

Also found an old 'chose your own adventure' - do you remember them? You read a page and at the bottom you'd chose what you'd like to do next, depending on your choice your story would end or you'd get to go on. Every time the story would end you'd just go back and start again.:)

Honey-ec

Anything by Roald Dahl - I still have my 1992 "Dahl Diary", does anyone else remember that?

I also still have my Soundings, which had been used by my 4 older siblings.

Still have my "Iliad" from 3rd year too - translated by E.V. Rieu, of course!

síofra

Peter Pan is the one book I will never part with. Even though as a child, I was swept away by the fact that the children could fly and the adventures in Neverland, now that I am a little bit older, its meaning is much clearer. There's a bit of Peter Pan in everyone.

Extreme-LoopZ

One more for Roald Dahl. Also loved Little Women, Black Beauty, The Secret Garden...I'll never throw them away.:)

ncmc

When I was about 14-15, I was saving up for a CD player and I sold all my childhood books to the second hand shop to raise money. Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, all gone. I so regret getting rid of all those books, I used to have the full collection of them. I have since spent a fortune trying to get the full Roald Dahl collection again, but a lot of the Enid Blyton are out of print now.

To whoever mentioned the Five Findouters, my God, what a blast from the past! I used to love them, I much preferred them to the famous five, but they weren't near as popular. Or what about the Twins at St Claire's set! They were my absolute favourites, I used to beg my mum to send me to boarding school because I wanted to have midnight feasts all the time!

Moral of the story, don't throw out your childhood books, they may be irreplaceable. Great thread, thanks for the walk down memory lane.

Ps Have just logged on to amazon.co.uk and the have the Five Findouters books for £2-2.50 each... think I will have to buy some for old times sake!

Kitty_N

The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfield, it was one of those books that I jut clicked with and reread over and over.

Also was crazy about The Silver Sword and the Mallory Towers books.

I had a habit of devouring books that were aimed at a slightly older readership and thus had an intricate knowledge of the pains of adolesence by age seven thanks to Judy Bloom and racism by age eight thanks to Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry.

I've desperately trying to remember the name or author of a particular book that I used to read to my sister when I was about nine or ten (I'm 23 now) it was about the elves saving Christmas and I think the title was something along similar lines, if anyone knows this book please let me know.:)

bmoregan

Have a 11-year old avid reader so...
- Re-bought and re-read all the Swallows and Amazons books over the last year.
- Also dug out one or two of Malcolm Saville's books in my parents garage (sort of like Famous Five for pre-teens)
- Re-bought / re-read the Magician series by Raymond Feist
- Would live to find a couple of my "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" books from the late-70's

So sick of airport novels and "serious literature" that almost everything I'm reading is whatever my kids say they just finished / loved (e.g. Alex Rider) ! I think I'm regressing !

sweetie

Cold moons, sort of watership down with badgers....excellent.
a box with nearly every three investigators book and a good few hardy boys too. tons of choose your own adventure, final fantasy and lone wolf.
loads of stephen king, clive barker and james herbert
the narnia collection.(going to reread these soon)

Tar.Aldarion

Oooh must get I am david again!

LolaLuv

Anything by Roald Dahl and The Jolly Postman.

who007

All of Fleming's Bond books.. discovered at the age of 10 - which sparked some awkward questions for my parents on words I didn't understand at the time