Inspired by Jen Robinson's list of memorable places she has read I thought I would belatedly do the same.



My family went on lots of driving holidays during my childhood. Long days of driving were enlivened by books. As I got older I even willingly sacrificed scarce leg room to make space for my bulging library bag. Of course, I spent most of the time talking with my family/looking at the landscape/breaking up fights between my sisters, but when there was always enough time to read as well. When I was particularly involved in a book Dad would let me sit in the car at night and use the interior light for a while (we generally camped so light was limited!). As a result I have read in a wide variety of Australian locations. For example I remember reading seated in the middle of a desert highway to enjoy the strangeness of a highway without cars and to be able to boast about it at school later. (The flat outback roads gave great visibility so I suspect this was less adventurous than I thought it was).

Sometimes the memory of a book is tied to a location. When I think of Jane Eyre I remember a childhood summer day sitting on a grassy headland on Moreton Island* with no one around me. (I was also into horse books at that stage and remember hoping a brumby (a wild horse) would appear nearby!)

I have read on so many beaches that the memories almost blur into a general recollection of the sound of waves, the warm sand, the smell of salt and the casuarina trees above me. Often I read and watched my family fish. Sometimes I have even fished myself with a rod in one hand and a novel in the other!

Here I am reading in a tree when I was about 12 (judging from the battered thickness of the book I think it might be The Lord of the Rings). I don’t think I look that comfy but I guess I must have been. I’m not sure if I was up there because I loved trees or because there were too many ants on the ground!



At home I tend to read on the couch where judicious use of a large cushion means I can rest my feet on one end of the couch with my shoulders against the other. Bed is another great place of course, especially as falling asleep does not harm the book when you drop it. And what is a bubble bath without a book? I nearly always carry a book with me when I leave the house so other common places to read are trains, planes and offices. And now when I go camping I have a rechargeable battery lantern that is safe to take into the tent with me so there is no more need to run down car batteries!

*Moreton Island is a beautiful sand island off South East Queensland

Tags: books, family, meme, travel