What reading means to me

Ozay · Post by **Ozay** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:05 am

I usually gets books to read from a North Yorkshire Library every week. I throughly enjoy reading books about history from the 18th to 19th centuary or more recent working class history interests me more than anything else as it's the real people in my opinion people who weren't born into luxury, people who had it quite hard from birth to death. Until the 1940s the life expectancy in some areas of Britain was under 50....and there was times before proper hygene when people would have been paid to collect and dispose of people's waste at night...it beggars belief but they didn't know any other way! Even the Miners had it very hard especially before the 50s because there was a time when the miners were paid piece rates so they would have had to work extra hard if they wanted to make more money in a certain amount of time. Some Miners were paid by the owner of some pits in a pub who sometimes only paid miners and how he thought he valued them.... The history of the East end of London interests me i read a book not so long ago about how some of them went hop picking in Kent in the 40s and how sadily that was coming to an end by the time machinery was taking over and reducing the workload and enjoyment of the orginal workers. What i learnt about the East end was a sense of community that we have now lost no one is as friendly or as caring as they were in those days so it seems in those days you didn't need to lock your door and your neighbours were your friends and helped you if you were in trouble....what has become of the cities now? No one dares keep there doors unlocked and that trust has been lost between people cos there is drug addicts and all sorts now....So although life wasn't ideal in those days there values were spot on and it's a shame that can never been revived today. The problem i find with History books in Libraries is a lot of it is based on War....this is interesting still but there is too many of that rather than other history books which i would prefer to read so it is hard deciding what to read next. I like reading histories of Cities in England like certain aspects of it...like Gangs in Liverpool in the 1940s. At the moment i am reading two biographies one about Colin Macfarlane of Glasgow the other about an Oil rigger by doing this it is sort of giving me an insight into elements of history there.

sharedfastlane · Post by **sharedfastlane** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 4:46 am

Yes, I'm nuts about reading. If Libraries were closed I'd not know what to do. Don't like owning and displaying books so much.

Yes it WAS sad when the hop picking died out, it was a working holiday for the whole family. For people who had no spare cash and needed the fresh air and change.

I like history books. When people talk about the sense of Community there was around at the time of the war though, I think: " Yes but while all this kindness and door leaving open was going on we were being killed, there was a war on" . that was the " silver lining" to the nastiness. As everyone was suffering and afriad - it made a sense of sharing. When I think things are bad, especially reading the news, I comfort myself that People Power is alive and well and changes WILL come. I remember seeing people in the streets with placards for lead- free petrol and thinking " Huh, nice idea, won't happen though" This was 33 years ago.

I'm currently reading a fantasy by Ursula Le Gun. Set on another planet in the future. Looks great but only read 5 pages. My last was a short novel by Susan Mann a gentle read about a woman who left the ties to her life behind when she went back to South Africa to clear out her Father's house and how she made a new life. Or how a new life claimed her.

I like Sci Fi , Fantasy, Illustrated books of Art or Architecture Novels. Actually I think I visit every section of the Library. the old notion of " silence please" is considered off putting to the next generation I think, but it scrambles my brain to hear people chatting loudly - I can't browse properly. I try to time my visits accordingly or choose a library I know will be quieter at that particular time.

The London Library sounds amazing.

Ozay · Post by **Ozay** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:13 am

Glad to hear your point of view. I agree with you it must have been tough with wars on i have read all about rationing etc. Good to hear from a fellow bookworm! I am reading about the East Line on the Railways before 1965 at the moment. There was loads more train stations and tracks around Britain than there is now. There is a map in the book of all the train tracks before Beeching had his way. It is really interesting. The other books i am reading one about a woman who was forced into the sex trade just by applying for an advert looking for vacancies for a nursery nurse in Amsterdam (of all places!!)....she was kidnapped and forced into prostitution and before all this she had been abused by her father when she grew up. A pretty depressing true story. The other book is about a guy who got involved with drugs and his story. I like books about social issues, people's life stories.

sharedfastlane · Post by **sharedfastlane** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:23 am

Yes, the Rail system is really pared down now. sometimes they sell off old stations on the open market. I know it doesn't compare to the tube for speed, but I am proud of our Docklands Light Railway - it winds around some glittering new buildings in Docklands - some of the track space was an older line used for the Docks when they were a going concern.

Um, it probably only matters to me , but the Author I mentioned was Ursula Le Guin, not Gun - come on eyes!

The only problem with gritty books about tragic real life stories is, I am enthralled, but a year down the line if an attack of the Blues hits, the details will come back to me then and haunt me - I have to take less of it in these days! I have read everything by Alice Miller - love her, she is retired now. She HAD been a therapist until she realised her therapy was only tangling people up in relating spool after spool of life circumstances - not to say a chat about our thoughts doesn't clear things- she is such a champion of Children. She wanted to find out how many people in a particular prison had spoilt, as in bad, childhoods and there wasn't anyone who hadn't - not one! I like her balance - she will point out how children need respect and then give cases of unpalatable behaviour by adults yet without acting horrified and judgemental - merely trying to analyze why they behaved in this way.

I've run up some eye watering fines in my time - worst was Â£20.00.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:11 pm

sharedfastlane;1213587 wrote: Yes, the Rail system is really pared down now. sometimes they sell off old stations on the open market. I know it doesn't compare to the tube for speed, but I am proud of our Docklands Light Railway - it winds around some glittering new buildings in Docklands - some of the track space was an older line used for the Docks when they were a going concern.

Um, it probably only matters to me , but the Author I mentioned was Ursula Le Guin, not Gun - come on eyes!

The only problem with gritty books about tragic real life stories is, I am enthralled, but a year down the line if an attack of the Blues hits, the details will come back to me then and haunt me - I have to take less of it in these days! I have read everything by Alice Miller - love her, she is retired now. She HAD been a therapist until she realised her therapy was only tangling people up in relating spool after spool of life circumstances - not to say a chat about our thoughts doesn't clear things- she is such a champion of Children. She wanted to find out how many people in a particular prison had spoilt, as in bad, childhoods and there wasn't anyone who hadn't - not one! I like her balance - she will point out how children need respect and then give cases of unpalatable behaviour by adults yet without acting horrified and judgemental - merely trying to analyze why they behaved in this way.

I've run up some eye watering fines in my time - worst was Â£20.00.

Two silly points :-

the DLR was originally a rope railway - all of the carriages were roped together (seven miles of rope) and propelled by horses turning a capstan

Have you read ULG's Earthsea series - magical

sharedfastlane · Post by **sharedfastlane** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:52 am

Bryn Mawr;1213955 wrote: Two silly points :-

the DLR was originally a rope railway - all of the carriages were roped together (seven miles of rope) and propelled by horses turning a capstan

Have you read ULG's Earthsea series - magical

NOT silly at all - that's interesting - I hadn't known that. Tried to Google it to see some photos, will try again. Our Council house is being refurbished just now so my life is a bit turned on its head at present. Just the kitchen and other bits.

I'm having difficulty with Ursula's book - just too much darned sex. It might pan out - I'll stick with it for another chapter. Yes I did a "Search Inside" on Amazon for one of the Earthsea books. Liked it. Funnily enough it had a slight feel of a draft a colleague at work showed me. She had wanted to write lots and showed me her story aimed at ten year olds. Magic, powers - a child being slowly led on a journey of who they were meant to be away from a rather lonely, repressed childhood. I must tell her again how good it was!