So I’m back from my trip, and I wanted to share something fun and interesting that happened while I was visiting my family.
Staying with the Aunt & Uncle, I found myself pondering their bookshelves. It’s always interesting to see what books do people not only keep, but display in main rooms of their homes for all to see.
My Aunt is a die-hard mystery fan and has every Hardcover Stephen King novel. What I found so interesting, were the shelves next to those.
I found two entire shelves full of old paperbacks and at first thought they were Harlequins. They weren’t but equally cool was learning about what they were and hearing my Aunt’s story behind them.
They were slim paperback Gothics written in the 60’s & 70’s by Marilyn Ross and based on the Dark Shadows TV show. Now, I’ve never seen the show but who hasn’t heard of it and isn’t aware of how popular it was.
The fascinating part was that my Aunt had these books because it was the one thing she and her grandmother bonded over. She fondly remembers them sharing their thoughts on the TV show and spending time together watching it. So, these books became something they shared as well. They would pass them back and forth and have discussions on them like a little 2 person book club.
I loved this story and was happy to hear this started a relationship between the two women and books they would share. As my Aunt got older, they began to swap romance novels and Kathleen Woodiwiss was a favorite author. Since I’ve just started reading Kathleen’s books, I was excited to start talking about them.
Then it struck me, how amazing books are with connecting people across generations. How awesome that I’m reading and loving books that were read and loved by someone who technically could have been my Great-Great Grandmother.
Books have such a power to inspire, entertain and connect people and I was deeply touched to discover this shared connection with my Aunt and hear her stories.
Have you connected with someone of a different generation over the same book? Are there some novels out there so timeless that they easily lend themselves to sharing with both old and young alike?
I love this post! My grandmother was a great mystery fan. She and I used to watch "Dark Shadows" together every day when I got home from school. Barnabas rules! Kathleen E. Woodiwiss is my favorite romantic fiction writer. Her book "Ashes in the Wind" is the book of my heart! 2009 was the 30th anniversary of "Ashes". I recently reread it, and fell in love all over again. I truly adore the older Harlequin books going as far back as the late 60's. I call them "the white covers", and I still purchase them at thrift stores, second hand shops and yard sales. I read a wide variety of genres, but sometimes only a "white cover" will do : )
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I have that exact copy of The Wolf and The Dove, well the same cover. I haven't read it yet, but I do love the idea of books connecting generations. My sister and I bond over YA novels. It's cool connecting with her over those!
ReplyDeleteLove your post! I am a great Jane Austen fan, so was my grandmother, she left me all of her Jane Austen books, some are really old because she started collecting them from an early age, different covers, different publishers. But I treasure each and every one of those books.
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