Journal 37

What did you think of the latest Journal?
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Rob Houghton »

havent had much chance to read my Journal yet, but flicked through and read snippets: mainly Anita's article (usually the first I turn to :D ) about The Troublesome Three, which is one of my favourite books due mainly to the format: something different. I also read Enid's short story, but, as others have said, I found it to be much more 'child centred' than the first one, which was more of a love story. I began to see why Enid didnt succeed in her adult writing after I'd read this one.

Also enjoyed Enids poetry article and as usual David Cook's Find Outers series: anything about the Find Outers has to be good!

All in all another bumper Journal. Pity there's no 'Christmas Special'!!! :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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cloudy
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Re: Journal 37

Post by cloudy »

As a new member of the society I was eager to receive my first journal, and when it arrived on Monday I was very happy to see what a lovely publication it is!! I feel like Ive stepped back into the lovely world of my childhood revisiting old characters and adventures. I just wanted to say how pleased I am with the Journal, and how well it's put together..the coloured pictures in the centre made my day and the articles and stories are all very interesting. I had to neglect my darling children just so I could hide away and read it in peace ;)
Thankyou!
Andrea
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Lucky Star »

Just about finished all the articles now and what a superbly put together edition this one is. I particularly enjoyed John lester's article on Jo the gypsy girl. I do hope he continues this idea, an article on Ern Goon in this vein would be most welcome. I also enjoyed as always David Cook, Anita and Robert Houghton's articles. These three consistently add high quality material and reviews for us. Tony's article was also very interesting, sad that the Lets Pretend book is now pretty much unavailable.

What a nice letter from the schoolchildren about the website. I'm sure that they derived much of their information from the cave of books, proof again that this and the other parts of the site are providing an invaluable source of reference material on Enid Blyton now and into the future. Intersting to read a Blyton adult story, unfortunately I can see why her childrens stories were so much more popular.

All in all another great read so thanks and well done to all the writers and our indefatigable editor. :D
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Lenoir wrote:Nice illustration on the cover, and quite amusing too.
Yes, I like the little brownie/elf who is melting a snowman's bottom with a candle!

Welcome to the Society, Cloudy.

Anita
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"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Lenoir
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Lenoir »

I finished reading the journal over the weekend.
Nice variety of articles and stories. Good to see a letter of appreciation from that school. The letters that get reprinted in the journal are usually much older than 2008!
Enid’s adult story feels and reads like a children’s story to me, it doesn’t sound grown-up.
I enjoyed the article on Jo and the comments on the character development that takes place in Five Fall Into Adventure. Interesting observation about how the spelling of gipsy (book 9) changes to gypsy (books 11 and 14). It is spelt gypsy in the 13th book as well and this is the spelling used in my dictionary, which also lists gipsy as a variation.

“Invisible Thief” was my first introduction to this great series so it has a special place and it was good to read about it again.

I was puzzling over the some of the names in the Malory Towers article as they were not familiar to me. I think it is referring to the girls by the names used in the translation of these books.
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Petermax
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Petermax »

Finally, I have finished Journal 37. It is one of those publications that have to be read one article at a time, a bit like drinking sherry, one drinks from a very small glass, never the whole bottle in one go!

I too enjoyed John Lester's in depth article on Jo the Gipsy. This character is very significant in that she appears in several Famous Five books and is one of honoured few to be admitted into the usually closed ranks of the Kirrins.

Other articles of note are Adventures of the Wishing Chair and The Five Find-Outers and Dog. Mention of The Wishing Chair has awakened some very old memories, I must have read this in 1973, perhaps earlier. The Five Find-Outers series I have yet to read, but it is somewhere on a very long wish list.

Once again, a quality publication that has been put together with great care and a valuable source of information about certain Blyton books that I have never yet had the opportunity to read.
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Daisy
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Daisy »

I too have thoroughly enjoyed the latest Journal with such varied contents. Like Lenoir, I found the Malory Towers article rather hard to follow with the variations on the names of some of the characters. I think I managed to work most of them out but the translator could have been more helpful by translating the names too! I realise she(?) may not have had access to the English version of the books though. I'm not sure I agreed with all that the author of the article was saying either.
I found the adult story quite sad and I think Enid was right to concentrate on writing for children! Altogether Journal 37 is another great read. Thank you Tony.
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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Re: Journal 37

Post by sixret »

I received Journal 37 less than one week after the registration.It was all about efficiency.

Tony
UK post service
Malaysa post service.[very,very good and efficient service with friendly and helpful people]

Thank you very much Tony. :P
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Ming »

I'm having a thumping good midnight read because I received Journals 35, 36 and 37 yesterday. It was a bit of a surprise getting them all since no-one has been to or come back from Hong Kong! Anyway, my father got a call from the HSBC bank that some parcels have been found addressed to me. My parcels, in a bank - and in Bangladesh? I was confused.

He went to check them out, and found two envelopes containing the three Journals. On both the envelopes my father's name (included in my full name) were circled, and his phone number written on them. Most mysterious! They were sent to Hong Kong, were addressed to Hong Kong, and yet here they are in Bangladesh!

I've stopped bothering about it though, I'm just enjoying them now. :D
Last edited by Ming on 28 Dec 2008, 22:06, edited 1 time in total.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

What a lovely surprise, Ming! :D Bet you won't get much sleep tonight! :roll: :lol:

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Katharine
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Re: Journal 37

Post by Katharine »

Journal 37 read - Winter 2008, I'm catching up slowly. :)

It started with Robert Houghton's article about The Boys' and Girls' Circus Book. I was very interested to read about that, as the only part of it I had come across before were the first two chapters which featured at the end of a Dean book. It was also interesting to see Robert's comparison with Enid's other circus books - I really must get around to reading them.

I really appreciated the opportunity to read one of Enid's adult stories - A Proper Knight. I found it an odd tale. For the most part I felt it was really a child's story, just with longer words/phrases than usual. However I felt the ending was perhaps one that a child might not have fully understood, so a curious mix. Perhaps it's just as well that Enid stuck to her 'day job' of writing for children.

This was followed by a letter from Noddy which had appeared in one of Enid's magazines. I thought that seemed a bit bland by Enid's usual standards, but then of course it was aimed at a much younger audience. Still it's great to have little snippets like that included in the Journal for those of us who might not have access to any of the magazines. It shows the range of work produced by Enid. Plus of course, I'm sure it gave Anita a chance to get out her crayons and indulge in a little bit of colouring in. ;)

I enjoyed Selwyn Goodacre's look at the Wishing Chair book. I hadn't realised it was supposed to be a full-length book, and had always assumed it was a compilation of short stories. For some reason the Wishing Chair stories next left the same impression on me as the Faraway Tree ones did.

I was intrigued by Michel Bosc's article about Malory Towers, or more accurately, the French versions of the books. I was trying to work out which characters matched the new names.

Another gem followed - an article by Enid Blyton which was published in a poetry publication. I wonder if her words inspired any future poets? I enjoyed the mix of her simple examples, and extracts from well known poets.

Two photos next - one of Barbara Stoney with the two Thompson 'boys' outside Southernhay -always interesting to see pictures like that. The other photo was of Julie Heginbotham's jigsaw of Green Hedges. I bought the jigsaw before I got to know Julie, and was very pleased with my purchase. Maybe now the nights are pulling in, it is time to hunt it out and make it again.

The centre pages were gorgeous - 3 colour plates by Dorothy Heather from the Twelfth Holiday Book. Such vibrant colours and amazing details. Worthy of being framed and hung on a wall for all to see rather than hidden in the pages of a book.

David Cook continued his look at the FFO books with a review of The Invisible Thief - definitely one of the best books in the series (in my opinion).

John Lester wrote about Jo's appearances in some of the Famous Five books. I can't say I'd given much thought to her character before, although I know she's quite popular with some people. However I enjoyed reading John's comments.

Anita reviewed The Troublesome Three. I've never read this book, in fact I'm not sure that I remember hearing about it before. I shall have to keep an eye out for a copy as it sounds quite interesting, although unlike Anita, I didn't particularly like the illustrations, or at least not the ones included in the article. For me they were too cartoonlike. As this book was published in the mid 1950s I suppose it was a sign of the times that drawings were changing.

This journal really spoiled the reader for including rare 'gems', as the next item was a story from the 1920s - The Mysterious Car. A pleasant story, and a fascinating glimpse into the hobbies of young boys almost 100 years ago.

It was followed by Tony's article about the book 'Let's Pretend', again another very early work by Enid and something that probably many of us wouldn't know much about without interesting articles like this.

Next came a letter from a school boy who had been involved in a class project on Enid Blyton There used to be letters on the forums from time to time, but I can't recall seeing one for a long time. I'm wondering if that is because Tony hasn't been able to upload any for a while, or sadly because times have changed, and that children are no longer studying her at school?

The penultimate page has a review by Robert Houghton of the Famous Five Survival Guide which was a new publication. I have a copy on my shelves, waiting to be read. I must admit I assumed it was just a modern annual type book with extracts and info, but apparently not. After reading Robert's comments, I shall be making sure that this book is moved to the top of my 'to read' pile. :)

The last page is a colourful display from 'Our New Website'. I suppose I take this website for granted a bit, in that it always seems to have been here with all it's information. So it was interesting to see it being promoted only a year before I joined. As I 'lurked' for a while before actually taking the plunge to join on-line, I'm guessing I only stumbled across the website shortly after it was launched in that format.

It also made me wonder how people had managed to find out about the Enid Blyton Society before such website existed - having a quick 'Google' is taken pretty much for granted these days.

However, despite the advantages of having the internet readily available, nothing beats curling up with the journals and other books and eagerly turning the pages to find out what is next. :)
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