What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

The books! Over seven hundred of them and still counting...
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sixret
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by sixret »

Same here. I like the idea of randomly reading Enid Blyton’s books whichever book comes out from the box! And I also like the short review and thought. :D
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Rob Houghton »

I like the idea of picking books randomly from a box and reading them, but it wouldn't work for me personally, as I have to be in the mood for a certain book at a certain time! At the moment I'm in the mood for Famous Fives...and could never consider reading a 'family' story or a school story etc while I'm in a Famous Five mood!! :lol: :lol:
'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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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Courtenay »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:I think The Folk of the Faraway Tree is my favourite because Curious Connie is such an interesting character, the Saucepan Man is on top form and the threat to the Faraway Tree itself is heart-rending.
Yes, I agree. Throughout most of the series the various adventures are pretty much episodic and interchangeable, but Curious Connie adds an extra dash of humour and unpredictability as she's cured of some of her unpleasant ways (the scene where she tries to eat two Toffee Shocks at once is unforgettable! :wink: ), and the last several chapters take an entirely new turn — heart-rending is definitely the term — with the quest to save the Tree itself from dying.

On that note, today as I was listening to Classic FM in the car, presenter Anne-Marie Minhall mentioned that one of her best Christmas presents was a copy of The Magic Faraway Tree, which she said she hasn't read for donkey's years, and she's looking forward to the film coming out as well. Anne-Marie was already one of my favourite presenters and has just shot up even further in my estimation! :D :D
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Darrell71 »

Rob Houghton wrote:
MJE wrote:
Darrell71 wrote:[...] how unlikeable George and Uncle Quentin both come across as.
     Gosh! I have often felt I liked George in various ways - but, when you put it like that, it is true. She is sometimes very selfish and unpleasant.
     Still, many (in writing guides, etc.) have said that it is important for writers to make their main characters flawed in significant ways, and regard it as a writing flaw if they are too nice and perfect - unrealistically so.

Regards, Michael.
I agree. I know its only a bit of fun really when we say we hate George and she's too spiteful or too mean or too selfish etc...but George needs to be like this because her behaviour often forms a major part of the plot. Also, George is widely recognised as one of the best known and best-loved female characters in children's literature - and if she'd been nice and kind and always good and always fair, she wouldn't be regarded as such an interesting character! :-D
That's true, but personally I think in this particular book it's taken a bit too far. She usually comes across as flawed yet likable. I'd like to make friends with that George, but not the George in this book. :lol:
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Rob Houghton
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Rob Houghton »

I'm reading 'Smuggler's Top' at the moment and the weather last night was very much like in the book! It was extremely windy - howling round our house like a demon...and then we got some very loud rumbles of thunder, followed by some extremely heavy hail, blowing against the windows like nails. Quite a few large branches have blown off the big Black Poplar in our drive at the back of the house, too.
'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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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Courtenay »

Rob Houghton wrote:Quite a few large branches have blown off the big Black Poplar in our drive at the back of the house, too.
Mind the whole tree doesn't come down next... :wink:

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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by pete9012S »

Betty Maxey drew the same scene with some differences. In fact if you look closely at her two pics it doesn't even look like the same tree or even the same house in her two illustrations!

Image
Tree alongside 'Kirrin Cottage'...

Image

Tree appears to be in front of the house which suddenly appears to have no resemblance to the previous picture of 'Kirrin Cottage'..
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Rob Houghton
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Rob Houghton »

I was never a fan of Eileen's depiction...thought it was a bit over the top...but Betty's is even worse!! :lol:

I agree, the position of the tree looks all wrong in the Maxey illustrations Pete...unless of course that isn't the same tree depicted in the first illustration? It could be just another nearby tree.
'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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John Pickup
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by John Pickup »

Rob Houghton wrote:I was never a fan of Eileen's depiction...thought it was a bit over the top...but Betty's is even worse!! :lol:
It's terrible.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by IceMaiden »

:shock: That must be some wind to have blown an entire tree from the side of the house to the front of it! It's even managed to uproot a stone wall and pillars and whisk them away - mind your head in the Kirrin area, a shower of rocks might rain on you!!
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Darrell71
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Darrell71 »

Betty's is truly terrible oml. :lol:
I quite love Eileen's even if it is rather over the top. :lol:
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by pete9012S »

Image


Image


Image

Here's a colour depiction of Kirrin Cottage from book three by Betty for comparison with the two from Smuggler's Top..
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Daisy »

I'm reading Spiggy Holes at the moment - nice to read of a summer holiday while the weather here is most unsummer-like. Hardly surprising in winter, I know.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Stephen »

Lovaduck, The Mystery Of The Hidden House was a cracking good read! Even the title alone has to be one of Enid's best. This was the first story where we meet Mr Goon's slow, simple-minded and yet likeable nephew Ern. It's interesting that Enid uses Ern's vernacular such as 'pome' and 'portry', sometimes with inverted commas, sometimes without even when she's describing things in the third person, such is the influence of this character!

Mr Goon acts horribly in this one, although it is quite touching when he realizes the consequences of his actions could have caused Ern to run away, and he does appear to be genuinely remorseful and fond of his nephew towards the end. And the Find-Outers behave even more irresponsibly that usual. Not content with simply laying false clues this time, Fatty's actions cause Ern to receive a caning for something he didn't do, and then to get Ern abducted in a case of mistaken identity. And at one point, Fatty even physically attacks a police officer (albeit by accident). Bet you couldn't get away with these sorts of things today! On the other hand, you have the children react very coldly when Ern happily admits to stealing a notebook from Mr Goon's desk. So they do have a strong sense of morality that I can't really imagine in today's average child.

On a personal point of view, I was very happy by some of the geographical references! Peterswood is famously based on Enid's hometown of Bourne End which is just up the road from me. The stream that led to the Hidden House in the book is actually called the Bourne. Well I don't think there's a Bourne in real life, but she could well have been thinking of the River Wye which I've walked alongside several times before. Marlow is of course a real place, and I can just imagine the exact road Fatty cycles along to get there. I don't know of a Christmas Hill either, but I've a pretty good idea which hill she had in mind. It'd be fascinating to go back in time to the 1940s and see Enid Blyton walking around the area, plotting the locations for her novels!

Could this also be the only Blyton book that mentions the BBC??

My next book is very different - Adventures Of The Wishing Chair!
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Rob Houghton
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Re: What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

Post by Rob Houghton »

I believe the nearby hill is called 'Winter Hill' or some such thing? Over the river from Old Thatch.

Its interesting how many people like 'The Mystery of the Hidden House' - I know several people who hold it up as one of the best in the Find Outers series, but I've never liked it very much. It does have a great sense of place, but I find the underground garage a bit too far-fetched. However, all the Find Outer books are good reads (except the last one maybe!!!) ;-)
'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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