The book worm that turned
I couldn’t get to sleep the other night. Even Mondo’s trusty old method of counting down an A-Z of some boring topic like ‘indie bands from 1991′ wasn’t working. I just remained frustratingly wide awake. So I went to the book shelves to see what I could find to soothe my sleepless misery and my hand seemed to be drawn to a book I haven’t read since 1986: Mary Norton’s The Borrowers.
And boy, it was good.
It’s odd re-reading a dimly remembered book from your childhood. Of course I remembered the vague outline of the plot, but the details were long lost so the story was relatively fresh. I probably enjoyed reading it as much as I did when I was 11.
However, it didn’t feel the same. I seem to remember that once upon a time I became absolutely immersed in a book, I couldn’t put it down, I lived in there with the characters and wanted it to go on and on and on.
I spent hours reading. I read before school, I read in the car and I read under the bed clothes at night. I read my way through the shelves of both my school library and the local library. I read everything from the classics like What Katy Did and Anne of Green Gables, to every fad series going, from the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew to Sweet Valley High and Choose Your Own Adventure. I read my Grandma’s girls’ boarding school books from the 40s and the 70s/80s teen equivalents by Judy Blume and Cynthia Voigt. I read trash fantasy series by David Eddings and distressing sci-fi by Kurt Vonnegut. I just read. All the time.
But not any more. I rarely read any fiction these days. I’m not sure why. It’s not that I couldn’t make the time if I wanted to. I think it might be that a precarious combination of cynicism, a long neglected imagination, the stress of everyday life and a seriously limited attention span means that I just can’t sit there and be properly lost in anything any more. It’s not the same as when I was 13 and pathetic as it may seem, I’m kind of sad about that.
Tags: dirty nostalgia, woe is me
July 26th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Like watching old sitcoms that made you howl with laughter when you were a kid, I find it’s not a good idea to revisit old kid’s books. I loved the Borrowers as a child, but I think it’s best left as a warm memory.
July 26th, 2010 at 11:06 am
No, The Borrowers is very good! It’s actually surprisingly well written and I really did enjoy it the second time round. And even better, I’ve discovered that Studio Ghibli have just released an anime version of it last week in Japan. Wah-hey!
July 26th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Uncanny – I was planning to post later on my own sadness at not seeming to enjoy reading fiction any more.
Like you I was an absolute bookworm as a child – I read at the dinner table, in the loo, and of course did the archetypal thing of straining my eyes by torchlight under the covers. I do still like to revisit the odd childhood read, as you know – I went through all the Moomin books a while back and found they still gave me as much pleasure as when I was a kid. I was a bit unnerved by the Borrowers, though – it always felt like there was a dark undercurrent there that I couldn’t put my finger on. Maybe I should have another go…
July 26th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Without wanting to sound all “me too” I’ve got a post on this kind of thing half composed as well. I’m still being rigid with myself in alternating fiction/non-fiction in my “main book” reading but am finding the stories to be a bit of a slog right now and keep considering taking a break.
Of course, I’m whipping through loads of fiction in audio format at the same time, which is keeping my overall numbers of books consumed well up and do find it a great way to re-visit lots of stuff I know I have enjoyed in the past. Not been that adventurous in trying new stuff in audio for the first time though.
July 26th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
I’ve always got a book on the go and, excepting the odd biography, it’s invariably a novel. I think it’s one of the few things that keeps me sane. Even in my 40s (well into my 40s!) I still wonder what the characters I’m reading about are up to when I’ve put the book down. You ought to get out more, I hear you say. You’re probably right.
July 26th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I was about to write that maybe there is some kind of ’story-fatigue’ thing in the air at the moment, but John has come to the rescue. You don’t need to get out more John – I think several of us might envy you.
The only dark undercurrent I noticed in the Borrowers, ISBW, was their obsession with cleaning and tidying all the time. That’s the reason why you shouldn’t go back and revisit children’s books – their moralising overtones are all too clear!
You mentioned the audiobooks a while back Simon. My parents are well into them and if had more time on the train/in the car etc. I think I might be too. Why do you think you haven’t listened to new works though?
July 26th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Mainly because I keep seeing audio of stuff I haven’t read for years and thinking “ooh, want to revisit that and can do it in the car this way”…
July 27th, 2010 at 7:53 am
It’s so interesting to see that you and others are in the same position as I am! I used to love reading fiction as a kid/teenager/young adult, but now I barely touch it anymore.
Maybe it’s part of getting older – you suddenly realise that the world is a fascinating place and made-up stories gradually lose their importance.
Similarly, as a younger man I was fascinated by the paranormal but, as I’ve got older, I’ve developed into a full-blown sceptic who has no time whatsoever for such fripperies and nonsense. The world is full of extraordinary beauty, complexity and wonder, so why make stuff up?
These days, I’ll happily trawl through a factual book (recent reads include ‘Bad Science’, ‘Trick or Treatment’, ‘Batavia’s Graveyard’ and ‘The Pillars of Hercules’) while fiction just doesn’t grab me like it used to.
Secretly, part of me misses getting so involved in a book that suddenly you realise 6 hours have gone by – that excited rush when you look at the page numbers and see that you’re halfway through…two thirds through…three quarters through…
There is, of course, an alternative explanation. Maybe, as we’ve become older, we’ve turned into miserable old gits who’ve lost that child-like enthusiasm for the soaring heights of imagination…
July 28th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I’m in odd postion with chilldrens classics mainly because I’m more likely to have seen the film than read the book. This sin’t becuse I didn’t read as kid i read all the time but not classics so no lion the witch, secret 7 or swallows & amazons. I did read all the asterix’s books and loads of comics and loads of books on vikings and the space race etc. I only started reading fiction in my teens.
Nowadays I have a book on the go most of the time often non- fiction but I love crime novels and poetry too. I was only thinking when the list was announced the other day whether I’d ever read a booker winning novel as I’m not keen on so called “literary fiction”. As to when I read with iplayer etc I find I can turn off the tv more and more put the radio on and read in the evenings.
July 28th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Not you too Dan!
I really do believe that fiction can be a useful way of understanding the complexity of the world – when done right obviously, like by George Orwell or Evelyn Waugh.
I’m beginning to think though that your altenative explanation might be right sadly enough. I am a miserable old git who has no imagination. I do still like the odd made-up story though and thanks to Piley, I’ve recently been enjoying Daniel Clowes (oh yes, fiction about miserable gits!).
Did you ever get your free copy of New Humanist? Did you enjoy it?
July 28th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Lets see now, 1991… Another Sunny Day… Bluebells… Charlatans… Darling Buds… oh hold on that’s not really what the post is about is it? No I know exactly what you mean about getting out of the book-reading (or at least fiction reading) habit, I’m like pretty much all commenters here in that time was I couldn’t stop but now it sometimes feel there is an inertia which it is a struggle to overcome. I do think it becomes harder to just lose yourself in stuff as you get older- but I also feel more sane and able to keep life in perspecive when I’ve got a book of some sort on the go.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Hmmm, BLTP, I think I’ve only read one Booker winner and I suspect that was an accident. I think I’m much more likely to read something if it’s not touted as ‘the thing’ to read. It’s v. interesting/almost amusing (sorry!) that you don’t particularly like ‘literary fiction’ but read poetry. I suspect that’s quite a rare thing for anyone to say!
Ah, but what is E for Jonathan? That’s where it starts to get tricky if you’re tired…and you’re just stuffed (or asleep with any luck) by the time you get to Q. But, yes back to the point of the post, another lapsed fiction reader! Who the heck is buying all these Dan Brown books?!
July 28th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
I’m still a fan of fiction!!! I do love a good autobiog, but my lifelong obsession with comics and graphic novels has always ensured that I regularly get a dose of made up stuff (even if it is in pictorial form!).
As you may recall, I can’t read that much any more. When I had my eye op I was half way through reading all of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels. I couldn’t read anything for ages, and even now it’s only for short periods of time (oh how I miss that which Dan spoke of, when you’d sit and read for 6 hours in a go… sigh). But I’ve kept on with the Bond books, slowly but surely. I’ve only got 2 left to do now, and I’ve found them a revelation. So much so that it’s put me off almost ALL of the films (oddly, it was my love of the films that was the reason I wanted to read them in the first place!). They are so superior to the films it’s incredible.
Glad you’ve enjoyed the Clowes stuff. Been meaning to say to you for a while, do you know of the Australian writer\artist Shaun Tan? His graphic novel ‘The Arrival’ is one of the best I’ve ever bought – and it really is a graphic novel too, not a single word of text in the book… It’s stunning.
P
July 31st, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Hello Piley – sorry about the delay in replying, but ye olde broad band connection has been touch and go. Grrr. Anyway, yes, I haven’t read the Bond books. I’ve never particularly got into the films so that’s hardly surprising I guess.
I’ve seen Shaun Tan’s stuff in the bookshop but it felt like a step too far to be honest – I’m more of a words person than visual. However, since you recommend him, I will take a closer look. Have you read Joann Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat? I haven’t (yet), but was still surpised to see that he has directed the new film about Serge Gainsbourg. A man of many talents!
And at least someone else is still into fiction. It must be incredibly annoying though that you can’t read as much as you used to. Still, can you think of it as some consolation that, like everyone (but John Medd!), you might not be able to concentrate on a book for 6 hours in one go even if you wanted to?!
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Great book – my daughter loved it as a kid.
Don’t read as much as I’d like to … never have the time… always on here doing this of other stuff :-)
August 15th, 2010 at 3:11 am
I’ve recently taken to Craig Russell’s Jan Fabel series of late. Think early Taggart, but set in Hamburg, with grisly murders, organised crime, Germanic & Nordic mythology and intrigue tied up in the last seventy years of mainland Europe’s political history.
Also in the process of re-reading Q by Luther Blissett and some old Bukowski bits, mainly his poetry. Beyond that, it’s back issues of Viz that send me to the land of nod…..
August 16th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Hello Ill Man, Good to hear that fiction still does it for you – it even sounds intellectual compared to what I’ve been reading. Although you have reminded me that ‘ve been reading some Greek myths as well – very entertaining. I should look out for some Nordic stuff too. And Bukowksi – I haven’t read him in years…