N is for Nostalgia

N is for Nostalgia

I've decided to take a little self-indulgent walk down memory lane and reminisce over the books that were special to me growing up.

The Monster at the End of this Book

A Little Golden Book range was so special to me, I remember The Rolly Polly Puppy and many others, but Grover's interactive book was my absolute favourite. I still have it! I even used this book as a reference for an essay on post-modernism, comparing it to Heart of Darkness.

According to Wikipedia, this book is the best selling of the Sesame Street series.  From a marketing point of view, this suggests if you can evoke nostalgia with your book, you will increase sales.

Enid Blyton provided my first novels to read at about 8 or 9. I would have my face glued inside the cover of the Faraway Tree books every day.

I bought this book (it had a different cover then - much less obvious) at an airport when I was 11! I wanted something to read on the plane for my first flight and boy was it an eye opener. Not something I'd recommend for my children, but it was a certain kind of rite of passage, seeing as I'd been reading Enid Blyton before that. 

Trixie Belden covers Then and Now

After being slightly mentally scarred from my introduction to sex through the novel Lace, I decided to switch back to something a little more child-friendly and collected the whole series of Trixie Belden mysteries. I could not get enough of them. The first cover is the one I had as a kid and the second is the one I bought for my daughter this year. She is yet to want to read it.

What are your favourite memories  of reading as a child? Have you re-purchased those books out of nostalgia, can you think of ways to interweave nostalgia into your novel?

Don't forget to enter the book giveaway competition! In just a few days I'll be drawing the lucky winner! Click on the picture below to go to the entry form :-)

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