Cross-generational reading

   It's lovely when you can share books among the generations, and I find I pass on a lot of mine in one direction or another. For instance, I usually have a pile of books waiting for my mother which I add to whenever I've read something I think she would enjoy. She's just had Diane Meier's The Season of Second Chances and loved it (as did I), likewise Rosy Thornton's The Tapestry of Love (another delight, and just out in paperback), and Stone's Fall (post here) was a hit with her, too. Traffic comes the other way with Mum giving me her Susan Hill Simon Serrailler novels, for instance.

   Of the children, it tends to be Harriet (14) who takes most interest in the books I'm reading, and to her I hand over Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce mysteries ( The Sweetness at ... and The Weed that Strings ...), Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe series, and Henrietta's War (another great favourite), while in turn she lent me her copy of I Capture the Castle when the Book Group read it recently. She's away on a school trip just now with Carl Hiaasen's Scat- which happens to be about a school trip, though the book is set in the Florida Everglades while H. and co. are in swamp-free Rome.

    While some books have cross-generational appeal, there are others which one suspects are most fully appreciated by a very specific age group - I'd suggest that Lord of the Rings might be one of them, appealing mostly (though not exclusively!) to people below their mid-20s, say. What do you think?

Comments

[abs]

I remember my Mum handing me Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at The Museum' when i was a teenager and thinking it was absolutely amazing. My sister and I have often pinched books off our Mum's bookshelf as we grew up.

[Jennifer Dee]

What an interesting post, unfortunatley my daughter doesn't like the books I read. Your comments on LOTR I have to disagree with: I first read this book in 1972 and it was a bit of a cult book at that time. It was the book I chose to take on my travels, and it was the most popular of all the books doing the rounds of about 14 fellow travellers.

[Jennifer Dee]

Sorry, I didn't say above how old I was in 1972 which would be 22.

[Elaine]

When my younger daughter was 14 she asked me to choose a book for her so I gave her Pride and Prejudice and she loved it. She then went on to Middlemarch and later on read Diary of a Provincial Lady at my suggestion. In turn, I have read historical biogs of early feminists she has recommended and social history of WW2. My elder daughter recommended Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace to me, in turn I gave her Jonathan Strange and Dr Norell, my lovely mum read all the Precioius Ramotswe books which I gave her and Kathryn called me from Oz last week to say she had read Northanger Abbey. And so it goes on. Wonderful!

[Yvann]

My problem with cross-generational reading (father 60, myself 22, little sis 13) is not lack of material attractive to all age groups, it's that we all like to buy books and we all read at different speeds! So my recommendations pile up with Dad, usually via little sister - and he doesn't pass anything back because he hasn't finished them yet! (Also he has a thing against lending his books to anyone, reliable married older daughter included!)

End of rant.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society went down well with all three of us, as did a novel by a good friend of ours, "Getting Even with Fran" (Christine Stinson - published in Australia). He is reading Anita Shreve's "A Wedding in December" on my recommendation, and has my copy of Anne Bronte's "Tenant of Wildfell Hall" beside his bed next in line.

Also - my grandmother and I both love police/FBI thrillers e.g. David Baldacci - so those paperbacks go back and forth in the post!

[LizF]

I share books with my two daughters aged 24 and 16 starting with my favourite books from childhood like The Little White Horse and The Children of Green Knowe and moving on to Rumer Godden's The Greengage Summer, I Capture the Castle and Joanne Harris's Chocolat. The eldest is now reading her way through my copies of Maggie O'Farrell's books while the younger and I are reading various books by Marcus Sedgewick.
We all have slightly differing, and probably age related tastes in that I have got back into reading classics again while they are both fairly fresh from having to study and are not keen at all but it's great to be able to have bookish chats with them.

[yvonne]

I share my Detective/crime/thriller books with my father, who, as he is housebound, reads considerably faster than me. I buy the books, give them to him, he reads tham and passes them back, where they lounge in my TBR pile.

My mother-in-law is also a voracious reader, but her genre of preference is usually historical romance/war time romances, so we each buy our own books and swap them back and forth.

None of my nieces and nephews would ever dream of picking a book to actaully sit and read! The only exception being my nephew to be, who reads mostly non fiction sports and NLP, or science fiction, which on the whole don't interest me.

I would like to think that if I had ever had children, I would have been able to pass on my love of books and reading, it is such a valuable asset.

[yvonne]

Hi Liz,

I have always read, since I was a young child, the highlight of my week was our Saturday afternoon family outing to the library.

It would be nice to think that if had ever had children, I might have passed on my love of books. I can have those 'bookish' chats with the older generation, but the youngsters are just not interested.

[LizF]

Hello Yvonne
It doesn't always work like that - I have two sons 26 and 19, and neither of them were particularly keen readers although they had the same amount of being read to as their sisters. The eldest does read a bit now, probably because his wife reads, but it is a slow process to persuade the younger that there is an alternative to computer games and DVD's!
Having said that if I find something that he is interested in, he will read quite voraciously and I managed to get him to read George Pelecanos by pointing out that he was one of the screenwriters of The Wire, which my son adores!
His steady girlfriend is also a keen reader and swops books with the girls and I, so maybe he will also be influenced by her too!

[Diane Meier]

I LOVE the idea of sharing things between generations.

My mother and I shared a lot of books and movies. Taking her to "The Age of Innocence" -- a story not unlike the scandal that affected our own dear family, was quite an outing. We talked for hours -- days -- after about all of the similarities and the limitations -and the beauty -- of the time.

Mother particularly loved mysteries. And though they were not really my thing, she found, in a number of Parker/Spencer books, a German Shorthaired Pointer, very much like my own true companion, Cocobean Meier. And she was right. I became hooked.

Those of you with a sleuth's eye will know that I worked a German Shorthaired Pointer into "The Season of Second Chances" too. I've yet to hear from a GSP lover whose found Henry James in the story - but I know the day will come.

If mother were still on this planet, perhaps she'd find someone with such a dog to send it to. Or someone who loved to re-design houses. Or someone with an affinity for William Morris design.

I miss her and wish she were here for all of these, and so many more, reasons. Long way of saying -- share your books -- share your ideas -- share the things that delight you - with your parents and your children. Let them see what you love and you'll let them see you.

Diane Meier

[Margaret Powling]

This is to say that while I have no idea what a German Shorthaired Pointer is like, I do like the sound of Diane's book and have now ordered a copy! Oh dear, the power of blogs!
As for reading for the generations, sadly our two adult sons don't share my taste in books at all (they read for information only) and my husband and I rarely like the same books with the exception of the Maisie Dobbs series!

[Dark Puss]

I certainly don't agree with you about LOTR, it is loved and much read by all in my immediate family (age range 14 to 51). Of course, that's not in any way a view that provides evidence that your assertion is not completely correct!

Two of the authors I read avidly when young (15 ish), Gunter Grass and Saul Bellow, I have never re-read since. On the other hand some books possibly more aimed at, or at least more read by, young adults I did not read until well into my 40's. In all cases I did not feel that I was reading outside the "target age" (ugh, but you will know what I mean) of the book.

[m]

My mum started me off on Daphne du Maurier many years ago and I think her stories are so brilliant that she appeals across generations.
I can't imagine, though, that I would find Kerouac as exhilarating as I did in my teens. Thought about re-reading On The Road, which is still on my shelf, but have a feeling that all it would engender now is nostalgia for that person in cheesecloth and blue jeans who used to be me! I can't try it out on younger members of the family who - as far as I can see - don't seem to read anything unless it comes with vampires.

[Cornflower]

Margaret, I think you'll love Diane's book!

[Julie Fredericksen]

Now you are hearing from a GSP lover, Diane. I loved your book! I read it before Karen did and was so thrilled to find her excellent review in her blog. Our Brandy Fredericksen was with us from age 3 to 14. She was originally named Bandit or Bandy so I changed it to something better but still recognizable to her. She was my daughter's "Baby" for those 11 years. Sadly we had to put her to sleep a couple of weeks before our daugher went to college.

Now we have Gracie Lou Fredericksen. Visit my blogs to see Gracie's picture on the sidebars. My book blog is www.juliesbookshelf.blogspot.com and my regular blog is www.celticanamcara.blogspot.com

[Julie Fredericksen]

My mother never read books - just magazines. I don't think she had the concentration span for it. Or maybe it was the fact that she had three rowdy kids (plus me, who was not rowdy!).

My daughter certainly picked up her love of reading from me and my husband. She read Gone With the Wind when she was about 10 or 11! She and my husband both read The Stand before I did. They were so crazy about it I had to read it too. I also read LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, because of Kristen, but decided not to read the others.

M: My daughter, too, is crazy about vampire books, both the Twilight books and others, but they are not for me.

[Audrey]

My mom amd I share books, but it's been harder to find common ground my now college-age nieces. (Though they loved the children's books I would give them as presents, my recommendations to their young-adult selves fall flat. Funny!)

When I was growing up, my mom often mentioned a book called Men Are Like Streetcars, (in the 'if you miss one, another one will come along vein') which she enjoyed when she was a teenager. I've always wanted to find and read it!

[Account Deleted]

Audrey, I think this is the book you're looking for:

http://www.amazon.com/LIKE-STREETCARS-Graeme-Sarah-Lorimer/dp/B000I5MBN6

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