The Hundred and One Dalmatians

[bilgewaters]

I've just read "The Hundred And One Dalmations" for the 33rd time,I just can't get enough of this book,the prose and the plot are so good and the illustrations! Just got a first edition and found that some illustrations were cut out of the paperback.My ambition is to read it .......A hundred and one times.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I read that book several times as a youngster, along with The Starlight Barking, but haven't returned to them as an adult - yet! But yes, I too admired the illustrations and hadn't realised that some pictures were missing from the paperbacks.

As a child, I thought that Dodie Smith was a man!

Anita

[Laura]

This is the one book that I prefer as a film to a book. I first watched the Disney version of 101 Dalmatians when I was very small, and I loved it. When I read the book aged around 12, I was so disappointed about how different it was, that I haven't re-read it. A pity really, I'm sure that the book is much better than the film, but with me, whichever I see/read first becomes canon, so I find it annoying if the other version is very different. I usually read the book first, however.

[Moonraker]

Just simply my favourite Disney film. I love the imagery of London, especially Camden Town and Regent's Park. It is fantastically well made, and retains its Englishness - something that must have quite difficult for Disney!

I still get in a panic when the dogs escape from Hell Hall - even though I know it backwards!

[bilgewaters]

Yes thats right,I tried to read the book several times but just couldn't get into it,then one day I started and just read it through then when I got to the end I started again.I think it was the excitement of the story plus the unusual phrasing and the illustrations.I also like the cartoon ,as you say moonraker the Englishness is just right.I don't like the two recent films much they're just too different.Another book I read and loved is "A Mystery For Ninepence" by Phyllis Gegan,this is a great read.I've still got it from 1964 and still read it .

[Daisy]

I too have "A Mystery for Ninepence" and re-read it fairly often. I also have "The Harveys see it Through" which as far as I have been able to discover is the only other book which Phyllis Gegan wrote. It also is one which I can happily re-read. I have had both books for many years.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Fraid I've not read this book, or even seen the film.

[bilgewaters]

I've never read" The Harveys" although it's been on Ebay once or twice,if it's anything like Mystery For Ninepence it'll be brill.Has anyone read " The Young Detectives" by J.McGregor,thats a good read too.It's got everything,excitement,humour and a good plot.don't know if the author wrote any others.

[Daisy]

I also have "The Young Detectives" which I read as a child (probably borrowed at the time)and then found again recently in a sale and re-read with much pleasure. I don't know of any others by the author. "The Harveys" is a good read but totally different from "Mystery for Ninepence". They are both excellent stand-alone family stories.

[bilgewaters]

another favourite as a child was" Treasure At The Mill" by Malcolm Saville I must have read this book twenty times at least.Along with my Blytons these books were my refuge as a child,and I still love them as much today.another favourite is "The Mystery Of The Island" by Isobel Knight,I love this book just for is self,there's no llustrations just a really good tale with believable characters.I found "The Put Em Rights" in a charity shop the other day so thats my weekend sorted.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I also read The Young Detectives as a child but felt that R. J. McGregor didn't quite match Enid Blyton for excitement. Some years ago I re-read the book and was interested that it was written so early - 1934, though my copy is a 1978 Puffin paperback. As a child I hadn't realised that the story dated from so long ago.

Anita

[bilgewaters]

I think that when you read a book as a child you automaticly place it in your own time,I always saw the Find outers dressed in 60's fashions as I was.thats another reason I wanted the first editions for the original illustrations.So I assumed that the adventure in "The Young Detectives" was set in the 60's but if you look at the illustrations they are quite dated even for then.Good story though.My favourite Mystery hasgot to be Hidden House,the atmosphere is really christmassy ,I seem to like thechristmassy ones better for some reason. Billy.

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's funny because, although I knew as a child (in the 1970s/early 1980s) that Enid Blyton's books were "old-fashioned," the characters actually seemed reasonably modern to me. Other authors I read avidly included E. Nesbit, whose stories are clearly set in Victorian/Edwardian times; C. S. Lewis, whose characters frequently exclaimed "By Jove!" and "Oh Lor!"; and Noel Streatfeild, whose books often (though not always) featured children living highly circumscribed lives, following rigid daily routines (schooling, dancing lessons, nursery tea, bath and bed) under the watchful eyes of nurses and madames. Then there were "classics" like Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, What Katy Did and the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, which were obviously set in bygone worlds. By comparison, Enid Blyton's books were fresh and modern!

Anita

[Moonraker]

......the atmosphere is really christmassy ,I seem to like thechristmassy ones better for some reason. Billy.

Then you will love Agatha Christies's Hercule Poirot's Christmas - a terrific read.

[bilgewaters]

I read most of the Poirots when I was in hospital a few years ago and they were great,I don't recall the christmas one though.I'll get on to my library website today and see if they have it.Many thanks.Hundred And One has a good christmas feel as does Wind In The Willows.But for the best christmas feel it's Enid all the way,Secret Room,Hidden House,Secret Island.I could go on for pages.Great stuff.