The Enid Blyton Society

Robert Houghton wrote:Of course, I do also realise that if people read this book and don't rate it I will be for the highjump!!

Precisely

I wonder who'll receive the book in the post first? Gosh,isn't this exciting, a new mystery,adventure story I've never heard of or read before!

I had the notification today that mine has been despatched.

Do you think Anita would let us have a readathon of a non-Blyton book??

I see this has now been merged with my other topic, 'Isobel Knight'...hmmm! Actually I kept it separate because I thought 'Isobel Knight' was less of a good title for a thread than 'The Mystery Of The Island - Isobel Knight'! Is it possible to change the thread title, or merge it in such a way that the thread 'Mystery of the Island - Isobel Knight' shows up instead of just the name of the author?

EDITED - think I managed to change the thread title, but not sure.

It does come up as "Mystery of the Island - Isobel Knight", Rob.

I edited my original post title and that seemed to work. 'Isobel Knight' doesn't mean much...so I thought the book title worked better!

Yes, you've managed to change the thread title and it does sound more exciting, Robert! Sorry the title got altered. When threads are merged, the earlier title comes up by default but can be changed manually if necessary.

Courtenay wrote:Do you think Anita would let us have a readathon of a non-Blyton book??

I don't know whether you're suggesting that seriously or not, Courtenay, but personally I'd have nothing against a Readathon on a non-Blyton book once in a while. It's not a question of me "letting" people, though. Tony owns the website so you'd need to ask his opinion, and it would be good to see what other people thought of the idea too.

Thanks Anita - I thought maybe the first title of a thread would come up by default. Anyway, I've learned something!

I think a non-Blyton readathon once in a while would be interesting - provided enough people had the book in question. It could be confined to the 'other authors' thread so it wouldn't interfere with the Blyton content of the site at all.

Yes, I was going to suggest the same, Rob - if we have a readathon of a non-Blyton book, it can always stay here in the Other Authors section. It can't be any worse than having discussions on favourite brands of tea!

I'd be very happy to join in a readathon if others are interested - even if it's only Robert, Pete, Nigel and me participating (all the ones who we know have bought or already have The Mystery of the Island), that's enough for a good little discussion. I wouldn't want to detract from the Rockingdown Mystery readathon, though, which is already due to start later this month.

As someone who has read The Mystery of the Island 9 times (I know it's 9 because when i first read it I wrote down the year, and continued to do so, in the inside cover, on each read through!) it would be interesting to hear what new comers to the book think about it (and readers who've read it before - Kate Mary has also read it several times, I believe).

Last time I read it was 6 years ago so I'm ready for a reread!

I don't think having readathons of other authors is a good idea. One of my favourite children's books is Strangers At Snowfell by Malcolm Saville but if only two or three of us own a copy it wouldn't really work. Also, as this is a website dedicated to Enid Blyton I don't think it is right for us to deviate towards other authors who have written for children.

Courtenay wrote:I'd be very happy to join in a readathon if others are interested - even if it's only Robert, Pete, Nigel and me participating (all the ones who we know have bought or already have The Mystery of the Island), that's enough for a good little discussion.

Yes,I'm up for that,if it's allowed.
It could even be discussed in the very thread we are already reading/posting in here,Mystery Of The Island - Isobel Knight.

John Pickup wrote:I don't think having readathons of other authors is a good idea. One of my favourite children's books is Strangers At Snowfell by Malcolm Saville but if only two or three of us own a copy it wouldn't really work. Also, as this is a website dedicated to Enid Blyton I don't think it is right for us to deviate towards other authors who have written for children.

I tend to think a 'readathon' isn't really all that different to a group of fans of a certain book sharing their thoughts on it. For example there have been some discussions on Swallows and Amazons, the Cherries, Just William etc, none of which I've been able to join in with because I don't have any of those books. Really, it would basically be a discussion of a book that a few people happen to own, which has been done many times before on the 'other author' thread, as far as I can see.

Robert Houghton wrote: I tend to think a 'readathon' isn't really all that different to a group of fans of a certain book sharing their thoughts on it. For example there have been some discussions on Swallows and Amazons, the Cherries, Just William etc, none of which I've been able to join in with because I don't have any of those books. Really, it would basically be a discussion of a book that a few people happen to own, which has been done many times before on the 'other author' thread, as far as I can see.

Yes, that's how I was thinking of it too.

If it's not allowed we can all discuss gender issues on some other thread instead perhaps?