My favourite books from primary school or the rubbish I write when in book withdrawal

This isn't going to be an actual book review, book review. This is the result of boredom and being unable to get into the book I am currently reading. It is just going to be me having wee trip down memory lane and a wee think about what my favourite books were as a kid, since when I am asked these kind of questions (you know what I mean? It seems to be the standard question that you get when you are at school sitting in a boring English class and you have to write your autobiography...Just don't ask me about my first day of school because I obviously didn't think it was that exciting at the time and can't remember any of it) I can never answer them. So I figured that now was as good a time as any.

Think, think, think.

I was a Roald Dahl kid. I remember that my primary school library had a scabby hard back with it's cover falling off and many interesting stains on it and in this book were three Roald Dahl novels. 'Matilda', 'The BFG' and 'George's Marvelous Medicine'. Even at the grand old age of eight I figured the thicker the book the better!

Out of all of these The BFG is the one that has stuck with me. In fact I can still watch the film and get totally freaked and have nightmares. Isn't it funny how your mind works and how things stay with you? But back to the book. It is just such a great story and the BFG is just so lovable I couldn't help but like him.

A main weakness of mine when I was at primary school was reading the novelised versions of Disney films. I loved it especially when little bits of what the characters were thinking were included - things that weren't all too obvious in the films anyway. I thought that was great. And it as that which in a round about way lead me to reading the original novels like 'Tarzan', 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame', and 'The Jungle Book' stories.

I quickly discovered the science fiction shelves at my local public library and one of my favourites that I read (and thanks to eBay is now on my to be read shelf) was 'Acorna - The Unicorn Girl' by Anne McAffrey and Margaret Ball. I loved this book. The very idea of a girl a cross between a unicorn and a human was amazing to my young mind and I lapped it up. And I will admit to being shallow enough that the front cover got me to pick it up. Despite being a science fiction novel it just had fantasy written all over it. I am feeling a little apprehensive about reading this again though in case it doesn't live up to how I remember it... But I have since discovered that there is a whole collection of books in this series so I think I will read it and hope for the best.

Next in line was when a fiend of my mums let me raid her book shelves and I found the abridged version of 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte. You know, the kind that sits at about 180 pages, and has all the hells and damns blanked out like this h---, d--- - pretty funny actually. I quickly discovered that I had been cheated and skipped about to my local Bargain Books and got the penguin classic. After that ever so faithful first copy died I had to get a pretty new one which is still bravely holding on.
(Left - first 'proper' copy of Jane Eyre. Middle - the 'cheat' version. Right - pretty new version (isn't it pretty))

The only other book that I can think of with any sort of fondness is 'What Katy Did Next' by Susan Coolidge. The 'Katy' books are actually on my to be read list also along with the 'Acorna' series.

So that is it for this boredom induced post. I suppose I had better try again to get into 'Siren' again...