” by May Gibbs. It must be an Australian thing – a kind of rite of passage. Our Grandma used to read it to our dad when he was a kid too. Dad used to longingly speak about his collection of books that he used to have before his big move from one side of the country to the other. He mentioned having beautiful hardbacks of classics such as “The Three Musketeers“. I also remember him mentioning a book series called “Biggles”. I had completely forgotten the name until recently when I was browsing a friends rather large book collection and found a whole shelf of them!
Dad also enjoyed the war spy novels by Alistair MacLean. Jess, on his recommendation, bought a couple of these books and found she really liked them – so much so she’s read them multiple times.
Dad could often be found with his head buried in the Atlas or a volume of our Britannica Encyclopedias. He was always looking up a place, person or event he’d just seen or heard about. He would be looking for more information, for clarification, or to see exactly where on the map it was. It wasn’t enough to “wonder” about something – he’d always say to us, “Let’s look it up!”
More often than not though, dad could be found with his Bible open, pouring over it and surrounded by his study notes. That’s the best rememberance I have of my dad and books.
Happy Father’s day Dad! Always missing you.
Helen is a strange combination of fiction editor and web strategist. That’s because she loves fiction and the internet – and analytics! A former business analyst and IT support manager, Helen now spends her time parenting her three children as well as running her editing and web agency businesses. As a book reviewer and fiction editor, her one true love and specialty is Christian romance fiction.
Sounds like your Dad had very good taste in books! Did you know the Biggles books are now collectors' items? My Dad too loved books and my earliest memories are of his reading to us all "The Three Midshipman" but then stopping at a thrilling bit and hiding the book so the older ones who could read didn't find it and keep reading until we could all enjoy it! A wonderful legacy to have a Dad who loved books – especailly like my dear Dad's rather tattered, well-used Bible. He died when I was sixteen and so those memories are especially precious on Father's Day. Now, as my dear husband shares on his post on our blog, it is a Grandad's privilege to read to the next generation!
I didn't know that about the Biggles books, but I'm not surprised. I had no idea there were so many until I looked them up recently.
It's a shame our dad wasn't around to read to our kids, and we didn't have a grandpa around to read to us. Your husband – and your grandkids, are very blessed 🙂