Who is your favourite author except Enid?

[Anna Moss]

Hello everyone

I'm not sure if this has been talked about already, but what is your favourite author
if you couldn't choose EB? I like Jules Verne, J.K Rowling and others. But what
others do you like?

[RDMorrell]

That's a really good question, Anna!

There are so many authors that I like but possibly my favourite (ahead even of Enid - gasp!) is Richmal Crompton, author of the William books. I love not only the stories themselves, but the quite beautiful language with which they are written. She was also a little bit similar to me in that she was very good at languages when at school, excelling in Latin especially. But she often used to write letters to her father in French! And the William books show amply that she had a mastery of her own language as well, which is also evident in the two Just Jimmy books and doubtless anything else she wrote. Another author I like a great deal is Beatrix Potter. Although her Peter Rabbit books are written for very young children, they use quite sophisticated language (with words like "impertinent", "affronted", "soporific" etc., which you would not normally expect to find in books for the very young). In fact, it was really Beatrix Potter's books that first sparked my interest in language (although Enid helped me learn the alphabet with the book, ABC with Noddy).

Among other authors that I enjoy are AA Milne, Kenneth Grahame, Arthur Ransome, Roald Dahl, Willard Price, Captain WE Johns, Sapper, Ian Fleming, the Rev. W. Awdry (and Christopher Awdry) and Claude Voilier. And those are just a few!

[Anita Bensoussane]

E. Nesbit and Charles Dickens, among others. Both authors write with imagination and intelligence and their books benefit from strong storylines and lively characters.

What if you had to pick your all-time favourite non-Blyton book - or perhaps two books, one adult book and one children's book? My choices would be as follows:

Adult Book - Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence. I've read this novel umpteen times. I love the rhythm of the writing, the characters' Nottinghamshire dialect, the way Lawrence brings to life a mining community of a hundred years ago, the observations of nature and the in-depth study of characters and their relationships. It never fails to move me.

Children's Book - Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. Another moving book. A beautifully-structured, thought-provoking and surprising time-travel story. Magical in every sense of the word.

Anita

[Anna Moss]

That's a really good question, Anna!

There are so many authors that I like but possibly my favourite (ahead even of Enid - gasp!) is Richmal Crompton, author of the William books. I love not only the stories themselves, but the quite beautiful language with which they are written. She was also a little bit similar to me in that she was very good at languages when at school, excelling in Latin especially. But she often used to write letters to her father in French! And the William books show amply that she had a mastery of her own language as well, which is also evident in the two Just Jimmy books and doubtless anything else she wrote. Another author I like a great deal is Beatrix Potter. Although her Peter Rabbit books are written for very young children, they use quite sophisticated language (with words like "impertinent", "affronted", "soporific" etc., which you would not normally expect to find in books for the very young). In fact, it was really Beatrix Potter's books that first sparked my interest in language (although Enid helped me learn the alphabet with the book, ABC with Noddy).

Among other authors that I enjoy are AA Milne, Kenneth Grahame, Arthur Ransome, Roald Dahl, Willard Price, Captain WE Johns, Sapper, Ian Fleming, the Rev. W. Awdry (and Christopher Awdry) and Claude Voilier. And those are just a few!

Wow! you seem to have loads of fave authors,RDMorell! I also like Beatix Potter-
her words are very sopisticated- I was listening to a story cD yesterday and could hardly undrestand the words! As for Just william I have never read any of them but my dad
says he read them when he was a kid and enjoyed them a lot.

and my fave non-blyton books adult and child - (answer to Anita's question)

children's non-blyton book: the spiderwick chronicles -book 1
Adult non-blyton book: everyday witchcraft

p.s don't get scared by that adult one!

[Ming]

My favourite after Blyton has to be Agatha Christie, and after that Richmal Crompton.

[Anna Moss]

how embaressing but I've never read a book by Agatha christie OR Richmal Crompton ....

But my Dad used to read books by Richmal Crompton when he was a kid and loved
them.

[Mollybob]

This is such a difficult question to answer. I have similar tastes to Rowan when it comes to children's books, being a big fan of Arthur Ransome, Willard Price and Richmal Crompton. I also really like the ballet books by Lorna Hill and the theatre books by Pamela Brown.

As for adult authors, I like Agatha Christie (she seems to be very popular amongst Blyton fans - I think I started reading her books when I was about 11), Jane Austen, H.E. Bates, Thomas Hardy and Conan Doyle. I don't think I could choose one favourite book.

[Anna Moss]

Yes you're right, It is a difficault question to answer. I spent ages choosig my
favourite non-blyton book. I have many, many favourite books that are not
written by Enid Blyton. It was difficault to lower it down to one so I just chose
one of my favourite children's books. So although I have many faves the
spiderwick chronicles was one I just chose out of my faves - there are others
I like equally,though. I think your choices of favurite authors are good ones,
Mollybob.- though some of the authors I haven't read

Anna

[Kate Mary]

So many wonderful books to read - so little time!

My favourite adult authors include:
Jane Austen
Elizabeth Gaskell - especially Cranford
E F Benson - The Mapp and Lucia books
H E Bates - Short stories and the Darling Buds of May series
Flora Thompson - Lark Rise to Candleford
Georgette Heyer (my favourite adult author of all)
Miss Read
H V Morton - Travel books

My favourite children's writers excluding Blyton:
Arthur Ransome
Katharine L. Oldmeadow
Primrose Cumming - Pony Books
Rudyard Kipling - Puck of Pook's Hill & Rewards and Fairies
Marjorie Cleves
Capt. Marryat - Children of the New Forest
Alfred Bestall - Rupert

If I had to choose one book in each category it would be "Cranford" and Arthur Ransome's "Winter Holiday".

Kate.

[Mollybob]

Kate, I heard that the BBC will be screening a production of Cranford in November sometime. It sounds really good, starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, etc. I've really enjoyed Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, so will have to read this one next.

Winter Holiday is my favourite Ransome book too

[Kate Mary]

I'm looking forward to seeing the BBC's Cranford, apparently it is based on Mrs Gaskell's novels "My Lady Ludlow" and "Mr Harrison's confessions" as well as "Cranford", it should be good, Mr Harrison's confessions is one of the funniest books I've ever read.

I'm glad you like Winter Holiday too, I think it is the perfect children's adventure story.

Kate.

[Tony Summerfield]

I read masses of children's books, Anna, but I think it is easier to talk about books I liked rather than authors. Two books that spring to mind immediately, though I am sure I will add others are, Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

Funnily enough I have just read Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, which was voted by a panel as the best children's book of the last 70 years, but I don't think it would be in my top ten. However I will probably go and see the film version, The Golden Compass, when it opens here in December.

[manzanita]

Thomas Hardy is one of my favourites! He can be rather gloomy and depressing, but the way he captures the mundanity of life of the Wessex folk is fantastic. I started with "Tess of The D'Urbervilles" which was my favourite for ages, but now it's "Return of The Native".

I also love "Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte. It must have been pretty shocking at the time, but I daresay the events in the book weren't all that uncommon in reality. I really empathize with Martha Graham as I have been through similar experiences.

"Mill on The Floss" by George Eliot is also a favourite of mine.

For more modern works, I love Alex Garland: "The Beach". Every time I read it I get ideas of living on deserted Thai islands!

Manzy

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

the way he captures the mundanity of life of the Wessex folk is fantastic.

Life here isn't that bad!

Viv

[Susie]

My non Blyton children's books are

Jane Shaw
Anthony Buckeridge (Jennings)
Noel Streatfield,
Frances Hodgson Burnett,
The baker street irregulars.