Other Authors I Enjoy

[elizabeth]

I like to read Carolyn Keene(nancy Drew) and Roald Dahl.

[anjana]

Even I'm interested in reading Roald Dahl and Nancy Drew.

[Sally]

Just wondered if other fans had read the Chalet Series by Elinor M Brent Dyer? I used to read these avidly as a child - the series began in Austria in the 1930s around a boarding school and went throught the generations to include the original heroine Jo as a grandmother. I believe they are now out of print, but the series was very well written in great depth and probably targetted for the teenage market, generally older than the Blyton market. Lovers of St Clare's and Malory Towers would love the series.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I like reading Erica James. She has a lovely style of writing and its easy reading. Her stories are sort of everyday stories that could happen. She doesn't go into too much descriptive details which I always find boring. Let the reader imagine things themselves is what I always say.

I also like Agatha Christie, of course.

[ria ann]

I forgot to add Roald Dahl to my list.

[Daisy]

Just wondered if other fans had read the Chalet Series by Elinor M Brent Dyer? I used to read these avidly as a child - the series began in Austria in the 1930s around a boarding school and went throught the generations to include the original heroine Jo as a grandmother. I believe they are now out of print, but the series was very well written in great depth and probably targetted for the teenage market, generally older than the Blyton market. Lovers of St Clare's and Malory Towers would love the series.

Yes Sally, I have all the books and put one on my list of top 40! I read some as a child (aged about 11 or 12 I think) then read the rest as an adult many years later. There were lots of paper-backs, somewhat abridged, published in the 70s and 80s which I bought, and then gradually managed to get the lot in hardback - second hand of course. I am actually in the middle of a re-read at the moment, including some fill-ins by other authors.

[Katharine]

I was bought a Chalet School book when a girl, not sure how old I was. I only read a little bit of it as I found it very hard going. Maybe it was because I was used to Malory Towers/St. Clares. It may have been because it wasn't the first book of the series and I didn't understand the set up. Anyway, it remained on my book shelf unread until a about 3 or 4 years ago when I spotted the first book in the series at a school fete and decided to give it another go. I've now read about the first 10 books. I still don't find them as easy to read as other school girl stories, too much fainting and hysterics for my liking, but I feel I want to find out what happens. I'm hoping to read the rest eventually.

I'd love to know how much the books really reflect girls of that class at that time and how much is down to the author's imagination. Like Enid Blyton, Elinor Brent-Dyer seems to have a fascination with twins, as she features a couple of sets in the stories.

It's fascinating how her characters develop after leaving school, they seem to marry and have babies within a couple of years of finishing school, very few appear to go to use their education for any kind of career, although, as I say I've only read a few of the books so far, so maybe that changes later.

I don't feel the books flow very easily, but I've heard that they've been abridged, so I wonder if the originals are any better. Unfortunately I think the originals are very expensive, so I doubt I'll ever own any.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I had a similar experience with the Chalet School books as a child, Katharine. My sister and I only ever had one (The Chalet School and Jo), which we read at around the same time as we read the Malory Towers and St. Clare's series. For some reason we found it lack-lustre, and neither of us liked it. It was an abridged Armada edition, however, so the fact that the text had been pruned may have had something to do with the apparent lifelessness of the narrative. When I was in my thirties I tried the first Chalet School book (The School at the Chalet) and thought it was quite promising but rather choppy in style - again, that may have been because it was an abridged version. I'd like to try a Chalet School book with the full text, but our house is so ridiculously full of books already that the fact that there are so many of them puts me off (as does the cost!)

[Chrissie777]

Hi Anita,

Did you ever read "Landscape of Lies" by Peter Watson? It's like a Famous Five book for adults (only that it has two adults and one baddie (and not four) and the dog is missing ).
I read it many times and wish they had made a movie.
Like many good books it's out of print, but very worth getting used at amazon.co.uk. The hardcover copy has a fold out print of the Landscape of Lies painting which is necessary for the reader in order to solve the mystery.
Have fun!

[Fatty]

I just started my first Angela Brazil - The Youngest Girl in the Fifth. Have we discussed this author here? I can't seem to search the forums while browsing on my phone.

It's too early to comment on the book, since I'm only a couple of chapters in, but the premise seems very Blytonish: Gwen Gascoyne is promoted from the Upper Fourth to the Fifth Form midway through a term, and feels like a fish out of water (or "an eel in a frying pan") as she earns the displeasure of the older girls for no fault of hers.

The language seems much more dated but then it's also from an earlier age (1913!). Interestingly, unlike the Gwen of Malory Towers, this one is tall and gangly, the 'plain-jane' of the family, who loves books and nature. After a number of setbacks (including a run-in with the malicious Netta) she come into her own and earns the respect of her classmates.

I wonder if Blyton was influenced by this Gwen -- she could have 'borrowed' the name, subconsciously or otherwise, and given the character a makeover, but I'm treading Isabirye territory...

[Tony Summerfield]

I have to admit that I have never read any books by Angela Brazil, but I do like the dustwrappers and the books are (or were!) cheap:-










Too many books in this house!!

[pete9012S]

Did you ever read "Landscape of Lies" by Peter Watson? It's like a Famous Five book for adults (only that it has two adults and one baddie (and not four) and the dog is missing ).
I read it many times and wish they had made a movie.
Like many good books it's out of print, but very worth getting used at amazon.co.uk. The hardcover copy has a fold out print of the Landscape of Lies painting which is necessary for the reader in order to solve the mystery.
Have fun!

I too adore Landscape of lies and recently tracked down my own hardback version (which as you say gives you the all important map to enable you to be able to follow along with the adventure properly!)

If you liked that one,I wonder if you would like another fantastic book I read around the same time;'A Knight In Shining Armour' Jude Deveraux,time/travel/romance/adventure brilliant book!

Theres more info on landscape of lies here
http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.co.u ... peter.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another very good non fiction book by Peter Watson is The Caravaggio Conspiracy: How Five Art Dealers, Four Policemen, Three Picture Restorers, Two Auction Houses, and a Journalist Plotted to Recover Some of the World's Most Beautiful Stolen Paintings
Sounds a bit stodgy,but in fact its a brilliant book-worthy of the detection work of Frederick Trotteville..
Ah,so many good books,so little time to read 'em all!

[Fiona1986]

I've never read anything by Angela Brazil. Those dust jackets have me interested, though. Not sure if The Nicest Girl in the School will be as good a read as The Naughiest Girl in the School!

[Chrissie777]

Hi Pete,

I'm so glad that there is at least one other person who enjoyed "Landscape of Lies". Thanks for the blog.
Except from my beloved Blyton books this was one of the best novels I ever read in my life, one of the books I would take to a deserted island...
Of course I tried all other Peter Watson books at the time (don't remember "The Caravaggio Conspiracy" though, maybe that was published a few years later?), but none of them inspired me as much as "Landscape". It was the same with Stuart Woods and his spooky thriller "Under the Lake". I tried maybe 10 more of his other books, but they were totally different (too normal for my taste). They just didn't "click" with me.
Our US Inter Library Loan system is very good, so I will order the Jude Deveraux book "Knight in Shining Armour" that you recommended to me ASAP. But I still have 4 other ILL books that I need to read before.

I always intended to make a list of all the places mentioned in "Landscape" and then explore them all on a trip to England.

[Chrissie777]

PS: Years ago I made a blown-up copy from the Landscape print and put it in a frame which is now the eye catcher in our guestroom. Everybody who stays over night in our house asks us who did this painting and what's it about. It's a good ice breaker for sure .