Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
- Daisy
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
That's an interesting remark Rob - about wanting to like a book but not managing, but I think I know what you mean. The stories are good... at least I found them so and I wonder if it is the style of writing which puts you off. I find him quite readable (I'm enjoying the Marston Baines series at the moment) but there are some books I have found almost impossible to enjoy because the style irritates me so much. One particular one is a Pollyanna one - several authors wrote about her and there is one where the way it is written really put me off! In some subtle way the flow of a book does enhance the pleasure in reading, or not, as the case may be.
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
I've always enjoyed the Lone Pine series but it suffered when the elder children paired up and the romance kicked in. I've got the 1st edition of Home To Witchend as an Armada paperback but I also have a hardback edition published by Richard Griffiths in the style of the Newnes hardbacks which I prefer. My own favourites are probably The Neglected Mountain and Wings Over Witchend, both of which are set in Shropshire. I've visited this area a few times and I sat in the Devil's Chair at the summit of the Stiperstones. It really is a beautiful part of the country.
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
As have I! I am sorry you couldn't get into them, Rob, but each to his own. Saville's books are amongst the finest stories I have read,John Pickup wrote:I've visited this area a few times and I sat in the Devil's Chair at the summit of the Stiperstones. It really is a beautiful part of the country.
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Yes, I must agree with Nigel there. They really are wonderful stories.
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- Rob Houghton
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
It's quite weird because I enjoy the writing and enjoy the adventures/mysteries and general themes and settings, but I still can't get into them. It's pretty much entirely down to the looooong chapters - they go on too long and then I have to stop before the end of a chapter, which somehow doesn't encourage me to read further!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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- Daisy
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Yes, that is a point Rob. I have been known to fall asleep when trying to get to the end of a chapter when it is rather long.
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Saville doesn't have the easy readability of Blyton, that's clear for me anyway. Saying that I have enjoyed the Lone Pines - and still need to get a copy of Rye Royal so I can finish reading them.
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"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
What is too long? More than 10 pages?Rob Houghton wrote:It's quite weird because I enjoy the writing and enjoy the adventures/mysteries and general themes and settings, but I still can't get into them. It's pretty much entirely down to the looooong chapters - they go on too long and then I have to stop before the end of a chapter, which somehow doesn't encourage me to read further!
I've read novels which had 30 or 40 pages per chapter and that seemed very long.
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
That is probably due to the fact that you are reading a book and turning the page one-handedly. That would tire me out! I have heard some reasons for not enjoying a story/book, but long chapters? I agree, it is preferable to end a session at the end of a chapter, but not mandatory.Daisy wrote:Yes, that is a point Rob. I have been known to fall asleep when trying to get to the end of a chapter when it is rather long.
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Nigel.. I don't think so! But I do agree that the long chapters can be a bit off-putting, especially when the eyes are closing!
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- Rob Houghton
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
I think the fact is that long chapters prevent readers 'getting into' a book. It might not be 'mandatory' to end a reading session at the end of a chapter - but it's what most people tend to do.
One author I really enjoy reading is James Patterson, as his chapters are often short, and keep you wanting to read 'just another...' I'm a big fan of cliff-hanger chapters - and this is what made Enid's books so amazingly un-put-downable!
An average Lone Pine chapter might run to 29 pages, whilst even an Adventure book chapter might only be 9 or 10 pages, so there is quite a marked difference. Obviously, it's just a matter of personal choice. The longer chapters didn't stop the Lone Pine series from being phenomenally successful - it's just my own personal obstacle to getting into the books.
One author I really enjoy reading is James Patterson, as his chapters are often short, and keep you wanting to read 'just another...' I'm a big fan of cliff-hanger chapters - and this is what made Enid's books so amazingly un-put-downable!
An average Lone Pine chapter might run to 29 pages, whilst even an Adventure book chapter might only be 9 or 10 pages, so there is quite a marked difference. Obviously, it's just a matter of personal choice. The longer chapters didn't stop the Lone Pine series from being phenomenally successful - it's just my own personal obstacle to getting into the books.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Yes, 10 pages per chapter is my preference in children's books as well.Rob Houghton wrote: An average Lone Pine chapter might run to 29 pages, whilst even an Adventure book chapter might only be 9 or 10 pages, so there is quite a marked difference. Obviously, it's just a matter of personal choice. The longer chapters didn't stop the Lone Pine series from being phenomenally successful - it's just my own personal obstacle to getting into the books.
However, I don't like this new habit which started a few years ago (I noticed it first in Mary Higgins Clark's crime novels) and turns every novel into quite a puzzle, because many chapters are only half a page long. I never quite understood what that's supposed to be good for?
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Are any Malcolm Saville ebooks available,does anyone know?
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- Rob Houghton
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Not so bad, maybe, as Chapter 11 of 'Alice Through The Looking-glass', which readsChrissie777 wrote: However, I don't like this new habit which started a few years ago (I noticed it first in Mary Higgins Clark's crime novels) and turns every novel into quite a puzzle, because many chapters are only half a page long. I never quite understood what that's supposed to be good for?
" - and it really was a kitten, after all." !
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)
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- Chrissie777
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Re: Malcolm Saville - Lone Pine Club, etc.
Rob, it's more than 50 years ago since I read it. I forgot about the short chapter.Rob Houghton wrote:Not so bad, maybe, as Chapter 11 of 'Alice Through The Looking-glass', which reads
" - and it really was a kitten, after all." !
Chrissie
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock