As the season of giving approaches I begin to recall the books I gave my parents as presents.
These were Christmasses in the early Seventies when I still had time to give them things.
I got my Mum Shogun one year. A massively thick paperback by James Clavell. It was dramatized on TV I remember around the same time. Richard Chamberlain was in it. We always said we'd go to Japan together Mum and I but we never got the chance. I plan to read my own copy one day.
Tai-Pan, also by Clavell, was in the bookshelf too but I just can't think if it was me who bought it for Mum. Memory! Doh!
I bought The Dark for my older brother. James Herbert was a big deal back then, like a British Stephen King. He wrote The Rats and Fluke and The Survivor, which was filmed and starred Robert Powell. I've never read The Dark. Have you?
I've read this though. A couple of times. One of my Dad's favourite's. Storm Warning by Jack Higgins, author of The Eagle Has Landed. My copy is the actual paperback my older Bro gave our Dad in 1973. Its says so inside.
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Montserrat. This was a hardback book with a startling cover depicting a stormy ocean. Its unmistakable. I'm unsure who got it my folks but it was always in their bookshelf as long as I can recall. My Dad was in the Navy during WWII so I expect it was his.
There are many more books I relate with Christmas past. How about you readers?
It's mostly Annuals I associate with Christmas, like TV21, Smash!, Thunder, and the like, but I got Treasure Island from an aunt and uncle in 1966 or '67.
ReplyDeleteI had Treasure Island too Kid! Mine was the Ballantine edition. I have a car boot copy now! I was trying to recall which books I bought family members members here but as usual my memory lets me down. This is all I could muster!
Deleteme too Kid -the 1969 Tv21 Annual and the Project SWORD one too
ReplyDeleteAh, the glory of the yearly annual. As reliable as a Cadbury's Selection box every year!
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