I’ve been reading Edmund De Waal’s ‘The Hare With The Amber Eye’s’ over the last few days – it’s a very personal sort of family memoir and it’s got completely under my skin – to the point that I’ve even found myself thinking in De Waal sentences. I clearly need to put some space between me and this book otherwise anything I write about it will come across as pastiche and I really don’t want that.
Fortunately my much anticipated Puffin postcards arrived this week and are proving just the ticket for generally lifting the spirits. Flipping through these old covers is a delight – both the Scottish one and I have had at least one moment of pure nostalgia – his over a book I’ve never even heard of, me over ‘The Snowman’ which I still remember getting as a child – at least I have a very vivid memory of having it handed to me to look at whilst I waited for my father on his weekly visit to the bank (this was before cash machines and direct debits made this sort of activity sound actually Victorian). I also remember the Puffin Book Club – the excitement of browsing the catalogue in school, taking it home and begging for books, and finally the books arriving, although I can’t honestly say I remember what they were now. I do remember looking at ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ with my mother, and her choosing Ladybird and Puffin books for us (who would guess that books formed a big part of my childhood).
I love this collection of cards for the fantastic artwork, the happy memories, and for the sheer number that show books I’ve never heard of. I never expected there to be so many I didn’t recognise (and I’m slightly disappointed not to get a Worst Witch postcard – but maybe next time...) I think there’s a very good chance that these will become my godson’s first birthday present – he might be a bit young for writing (though he is of course an amazingly bright young thing) but I think he might soon like the pictures and I can foresee hours of happy chewing, scribbling, and scrunching up and just perhaps the start of a love affair with books which we all know can last a life time. 