As it’s Mother’s Day today (at least in our corner of the world) this week I’m going to say another thanks to my mum for passing on her love of books to me. One of my earliest blog posts was about books as presents and there I highlighted a couple of the books she’s given me over the years. But my bookish memories of my mum don’t stop there.
SA State Library Institute Building
When I started school I could already read and by the end of the first school term I had read all the set books for that year and the next two. My mum still talks about being called into the school and being begged by the nuns to find a way to get me some more books because I’d read everything they had. From that point on my mum and I started our weekly tradition of a visit to the local Institute Library on Saturday mornings.
Here in Australia (and the UK too but I don’t know about other places) before free public libraries there were private ones run by Mechanics’ Institutes (also known as Working Mens’ Institutes). These organisations were created to provide education and lectures to working men and many, including our local one, ran a library that books could be borrowed from for a small annual fee. I don’t think there are any Institutes still functioning in my state but in Melbourne the Mechanics’ Institute of Victioria (with its library The Athenaeum) has been going strong since 1839.
Through my mum and the local Institute I was introduced to the seemingly never-ending offerings from Enid Blyton, The Bobbsey Twins, Trixie Beldon, Nancy Drew and many others. As you can see my preference for crime fiction started early. I also read my first ‘adult’ (as in not writte for kids not as in full of nude people) books thanks to the Institute and can still remember how wonderful and grown up I felt when my mum announced I was ready for Edgar Allan Poe.
Eventually of course I could go to the library on my own and I loved having my independence but mum and I have continued to talk about the books we read. When I lived in another state or was overseas mum’s care packages would always contain books and chocolate. Today we swap books, give each other recommendations and we always watch the First Tuesday Book Club (either in the same house or we sit in our respective homes and talk on the phone while watching). We usually end up arguing (either with each other or the television) but in a good, comforting way.
In some way or another lots of my best memories involve my mum, a book or both together and so for that, and the million other reasons I haven’t articulated here, I hope mum has a good day today. She’s always loved finger food (appetizers) more than main meals (entreés) and now, at 81, she says she’s earned the right to eat what she likes. So for today’s lunch I’ve made a swag of her favourite finger food and we’re not having a main meal at all. And at some point we’ll start talking about books without even realising it.
Reactions to Reading 
What a nice post! I think you share mother’s day with the US. We had ours in the UK a few weeks ago. It was an unusually nice day so my daughters went to the shop and bought some picnic ingredients for lunch in the garden. Unfortunately I am the oldest mother of my generation in my immediate family now – my mother and mother in law both no longer with us. I too was encouraged to read from a very early age by my mother and my father. Now it is very hard for anyone to get my nose out of a book, more than half a century later. Keeps me off the streets. I have gone through phases of using libraries a lot, and some of my earliest happy memories are of going to the local library every Saturday morning with my Dad. I was allowed into the adults section when about 10 – as I’d read everything in the junior! (It was only a small local library).
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What a lovely post. Thanks so much for sharing these memories with us!
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excellent post Bernadette
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A very fine post.
I can´t say my mother encouraged me to read (that was my father) as she reads very few books herself. The funny thing is that now when I am trying to WRITE she is my most enthusiastic supporter. She enjoys all my efforts, and it is so amazing that someone who begins nodding her head after five minutes with a newspaper is able to get through two hundred pages without falling asleep LOL
So if I ever publish anything, I can be sure of one fan 😀
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Your post is a great tribute to your Mum. Hope you have a good week.
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How many of us owe our love for reading to our moms? A lot, I bet. I certainly do!
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