This rather bedraggled-looking school exercise book is probably my most treasured possession. It is not my oldest belonging still in use ( I have a sample of sewing from Class 2 circa 1976 on my bedside table that my pesty alarm clock sits on) but it is pretty close. If you can look closely at the photograph you can see a date handwritten on the front (14.3.81) which makes this book 41 years old minus 12 days. I must have been given this book from one of my parents as they were both teachers and could bring exercise books home from school.
On March 14th 1981 when I was 10 years old I started on what has proven to be 'A Lifetime of Reading.' I had read before of course! What happened on this momentous date, however, was that I had started reading 'The Mystery of the Singing Serpent' by Alfred Hitchcock. How do I know this almost 41 years later? Because it is the first book I ever recorded in my 'Books I've read' new red exercise book two days later on March 16th. This idea to record the books I'd read was not my own as my mum did this too and still does. A good idea is often a borrowed idea and of course we (mostly) follow wise actions of our parents. I commented that Hitchcock's story about The Three Investigators "made me shiver sometimes". I don't remember the story but I know I read Alfred Hitchcock books avidly back then. I marvel at the connection I have today with my 10 year old self; although I have not turned into a reader of horror (too much shivering for me) I do still love detective mysteries with cleverly crafted plots with all sorts of twists and turns.
There are about 1455 works of fiction recorded in my exercise book and as I am now only half my grandmother's age when she died last year at 102, I reckon I have about another 1455 book to go. What a world there is out there still to explore! In the meantime, I am going to take a trip back through My Lifetime of Reading and share some gems with you that appear in my record. How marvellous is the human mind in its ability to tell a story! What a gift reading is to us all.
