I've been looking again at the reviewers. Take ' Mr.Dave Lentcombe ' for example - - a full stop is not used after Mr in Commonwealth countries. - David, not Dave is required in a formal name following 'Mr' - 'Lentcombe' is unknown in the English language - maybe someone can correct me here ? The vi...

As others have noted, even experts in English get their books looked at before publication. Isabirye's effort just looks like arrogance. The scan of page 14 also shows up Isabirye's main problem. It's an endless steam of Blyton trivia - a lot of it not new - and might be appealing to the general pub...

I will add there are plenty of signs that English is not Isabirye's first language. In just a few pages I found the following: - A map of the ruined castle showing where the gold ingots are, is photocopied manually, - - [ p120 ] - by the economically-struggling Uncle Quentin [ p120 ] - Anne and Dick...

With Hollywood aplomb, Blyton never lets history get in the way of a good story. There's also Quentin with his novel plan to drain off the Marshes [ Smuggler's Top ] as if no one had been doing ' Draining of the Fens' for hundreds of years already in England. Maybe he was draining to make Tonic Wate...

And to the applause of gasps, Phil, called an Atheist, has now decided to re-write parts of the Bible on account J.C. didn't get a proper trial. As a devout Atheist myself, I'm not quite sure what School-of-Atheists he belongs to. Or is it simply a penchant for meddling in everyone else's work ? htt...

Well, the great critic Pullman struck again recently, calling Dan Brown's characters [ author of The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol ] completely" flat and two-dimensional - - his basic ignorance about the way people behave is astonishing, talking in utterly implausible ways to one another - - a...

It's almost a trick question about Georgina's behaviour - obviously she lives a lie from day one & delights in being thought a boy. How much of it is self delusion is a deeper issue [ technically she can't be lying if she really believed it ! ] When her Mom says : " She can be very rude and...

It was hardly necessary for Blyton to mention such matters when a sound lad, such as Julian, would naturally refer to B.P's instructions in the popular " Scouting for Boys " manual : " dig a trench 2 feet deep, 3 feet long and one foot wide, so the user can squat astride of it, one fo...

Now I know why Arthur Ransome did his own illustrations & snubbed the ' professionals ' While not much of an artist, his pen&ink drawings have a certain charm. What's weird is that the 2001 FF book covers are quite good.

I voted for Finniston Farm because: - The adults are quite believable. They even get a few pages to themselves. - The cute inanities, like: [ Anne ] glanced at the name on the shop front. ‘William Finniston - how funny to have the same name as the village! [ Julian ] I somehow feel more English for ...

Ming is absolutely correct - thinking outside the square instead of getting bogged down - I predict a very successful career for her.

I think EB was acutely aware of the value of money - or lack of it. Georgina Kirrin won't go to a nice school or the Kirrins get a Cook until those gold ingots are rustled up ! Likewise, the plot of Finniston Farm revolves around selling old junk to Americans to pay for a new tractor etc. And that w...

Pullman's viewpoint is not uncommon - there's supposed to be some ' gold standard ' of writing against which all must be judged - there's no room for individual style. By this measure, Austen's novels were too narrowly based & didn't include more about Napoleonic wars or the slave trade. Likewis...

As noted in Wikipedia, the 1978 DVD set was incorrectly issued in Australia in English & I purchased only to find it wasn't the 1996 series, so I had to further purchase a 'revised' set. The '78 DVD set is fairly poor quality & really needs a studio makeover before it's released again. Not s...

Pippa - Apparently the 4 part series " Lost in Austen " will go to air on ITV-1 in September. Seeing I'm from down under, I might have to don my pirate cloak to have a look, although it could get shown here free-to-air eventually.