This I got this from Stephen Lang, who got it from Kate’s Book Blog. It’s, well, it’s about early reading…

If you’re not into the book memes, you might as well stop here…

How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you?

I guess I learned partly at school at partly at home. I know I read some of the Emil series first — I remember “Emil and the Detectives”, but I didn’t like Emil. I would have been around five by the time I was reading regularly to myself.

Did you own any books as a child? If so, what’s the first one that you remember owning? If not, do you recall any of the first titles that you borrowed from the library?

This follows on nicely from the last question: the first book I remember owning as a child (or choosing to) was Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree, which we were reading at school and I wanted to read more of, so we got it at home. I remember getting The Enchanted Wood for my sixth birthday, too.

What’s the first book that you bought with your own money?

Absolutely no idea. I’ve been buying books ever since I can remember buying anything for myself, but I don’t know which was first. The first book I remember buying with my own money (actually some money given to me by Ted Grant) was The Adventurous Four Again, another Enid Blyton.

I can’t imagine Ted was a great fan of Enid Blyton, because of the frequently stereotypical portrayal of roles in society, amongst other things, but despite being the Marxist, Leninist, Trotskyist that he was, didn’t mention anything at the time, and just encouraged me to enjoy it. Which I did, being about six or seven at the time. Thanks, Ted. I hope you’re enjoying the great Workers’ Collective in the sky, now.

I have mentioned in the past my slightly politicised upbringing, haven’t I?

Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often?

Yes. The one that sticks out most is The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, which I must have read at least eight or ten times (yes, seriously) by the time I was nine and a half. I didn’t own this, but kept borrowing it again, and again, and again from Newham Library.

What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it?

Does Lord Of The Rings count? If so, about eight. If you’re counting Sherlock Holmes, the same age. Possibly some science fiction — I’m aware I was reading some science fiction, such as H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine at around nine.

If however you’re meaning adult as in “don’t show this to the kids, Marjorie, it’s got swearing it it!” then probably some James Herbert (The Fog, The Rats etc) which I was reading at around ten. Yeah, I was a precocious little brat, wasn’t I?

Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones?

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass stand out. I love the fantastical concepts and ideas. More recently, I’ve enjoyed, inevitably, Harry Potter — although it wasn’t out when I was a kiddie, and you can also add Gruffalo stories to that, which I’ve enjoyed reading to my three year old.