Confession time: how long has it been since your last Blyton book?

[pete9012S]

[Machupicchu14]

If by reading it means reading a new book then unfortunately it's been too long already
This past year being away at uni I have only found Enid Blyton books in Swedish and though I have bought quite a few of those I obviously haven't been able to read them (yet) so basically it's been a while already of basically just rereading all my old ones over and over again
But now that I am out of my second quarantine (due to traveling and all that) my heart and wallet are already begging me for new EB books.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Re-reading old ones counts but I hope you come across some new books (or new to you, even if they're vintage!) to add to your collection.

[daanton]

How long, you ask? T o o. L o n g. !!


But then I have to face the choice of which book to best reconnect with.....

[Fiona1986]

Re-reading totally counts, otherwise it would be a lot longer for many of us, I expect!

[pete9012S]

Did anyone tell you 'You will grow out of reading Enid Blyton when you're a bit older.'
It was said to me many, many times.
At 53 I suppose there's still time!

[Boodi 2]

Yes indeed, and what is worse is that my mother gave my whole collection of Enid Blyton books (plus my Monica Edwards and other "horsey" books) to some of my younger cousins as she was of the opinion that I had grown out of them I have since replaced some of them (mainly my favourite ones) but my present collection is not a patch on the original one, where I had almost all of the FFO, FF, Secret, Adventure and R mysteries, along with St. Clares, Malory Towers, Brer Rabbit and several of the farm books, Six Bad Boys, The House on the Corner etc.

[Hannah]

Luckily my mother reads the books too and she wouldn't give anything away that is mine without asking anyway.

But I had some discussions at the library. They wanted me to read the books for teenies saying I was preventing younger children from reading "their" books.

[Boodi 2]

In retrospect I am a bit surprised that my mother acted as she did, especially as she had bought most of the books for me herself (when I was younger I was allowed to choose a book every Friday afternoon/evening, which was wonderful). However, I was reading less Enid Blyton at that time and was often away from home on business trips, so my mother probably thought that she was doing me a favour by "tidying up" the bookcase in my room while I was away. Oddly enough, I cannot remember if I was angry with her when I returned and saw the almost empty shelves, but she obviously did not consider that she had done anything wrong as she proudly announced that she had "a surprise" for me and when I saw her work (evil deed?) she informed me that my cousins were really delighted with the books!!! I did not immediately miss the books and the regret/disappointment only gradually set in a few years later and became more extreme over time.

[Hannah]

At least your books went to people who enjoyed them and not to some sale or even into the bin.

[Boatbuilder]

As Hannah said, the books will have gone to a good home, Monique. Have you ever thought of asking your cousins where they went later, or even if they still have them?

[Boodi 2]

Very true and I am sure my cousins enjoyed them as much as I did. I never asked my cousins about them (perhaps I did not want to appear resentful or petty). I have very little contact with those cousins today, and the only one that I occasionally hear from is going through a very messy divorce so i don't think this would be the best moment to ask about my books, but hopefully she passed them on to her children, who are now at university.