Journal 81

[Kate Mary]

There isn’t a sequel to The Book of the Year, Helen, but according to The Cave there were four editions and my copy is a fourth impression of the fourth edition so it must have been a very popular and useful resource for teachers in the 1940s and 50s, as well as being a great read for children and the not so young!

[Lenoir]

My copy has reached its first destination and I think I'll be getting it within about 9 days from now.
It's not coming straight to me this time but this way will be faster and more reliable.

[Lucky Star]

You always seem to be last to receive your copy. At least you have the certain knowledge that it will be well worth the wait. Enjoy.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm glad you've found a quicker way of getting your Journal, Lenoir!

[Moonraker]

I apologise for not writing down my thoughts on J81. I haven't been home much in the last three weeks and need to set some time down to compose a review. I will try to do this in the next few days, suffice to say now it was one of the best Journals yet.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Comments are very welcome at any time and I look forward to reading yours, Nigel.

[Lenoir]

I'm glad you've found a quicker way of getting your Journal, Lenoir!

Me too! It was delivered to me today (by hand). It is quicker this way.
Thanks to all the contributors and to Tony for all the hard work you do to make it possible.

[John Pickup]

I apologise for not writing down my thoughts on J81. I haven't been home much in the last three weeks and need to set some time down to compose a review. I will try to do this in the next few days, suffice to say now it was one of the best Journals yet.

Just a little shove, Nigel.

[Moonraker]

Oh dear. Thanks, John. I have been away so much, I had completely forgotten about it. We will have a house full later today until the beginning of next week, so I will try to post on Monday or Tuesday. (Might need another nudge).

[Moonraker]

As promised a post on J81 - albeit a short review!

Much has been said already about this excellent edition, so I will just add some of my thoughts.

John Pickup's Return to Rubadub was a comprehensive and most interesting article. The other article that stood out for me was Judith Crabb's The Fatty Trotteville Canon (Part Two). Two of my favourite series were given a really good insight by these two writers.

Anita's article was also of interest - it certainly shows that Enid had a real lack of imagination when it came to her book titles. I don't own a copy of Boys' and Girls' Circus Book or the retitled Enid Blyton's Circus Book, so will have to keep an eye out for a copy at some point.

I cannot mention every article, but suffice to say, I (again) thoroughly enjoyed this edition and spent a very happy couple of hours in my summerhouse in its company.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Interesting point about titles, Nigel. Boys' and Girls' Circus Book and The Enid Blyton Book of Brownies must be two of the worst as they don't sound like novels at all, and some of the Famous Five and Secret Seven titles are very vague (e.g. Five Have a Wonderful Time, Five Have Plenty of Fun, Well Done Secret Seven, Good Old Secret Seven, etc.) The Adventurous Four and The Adventurous Four Again! sound a little dull too (though the contents are not!)

The 'of Adventure' and Secret titles are more enticing, however, as they give an idea of the different settings. The Find-Outers titles are suitably intriguing and the titles of the Barney mysteries are delightful, linked by the letter 'R' and by an appealing fairytale feel.

The Mister Meddle titles are super too (Mister Meddle's Muddles, etc.) as they're alliterative and are a joy to pronounce. The Six Bad Boys, The Naughtiest Girl in the School and Those Dreadful Children sound full of promise as well, and The Land of Far-Beyond sounds gorgeously dreamy.

The best of Enid Blyton's titles whet the appetite, but it is a pity that some of them are so banal or even downright misleading.

[Bertie]

Very good point about the book titles of different series, Anita.

As you say, the FF and SS ones are mostly pretty generic and often don't say anything about the specific book contents - which makes it harder to recall which book is which in some cases.

'The ... of Adventure' titles are great, as anything put there - Island, Castle, Sea, etc - immediately sounds very exciting and makes you want to read about it. And I do like the fact that the Fatty and Barney R titles are very apt for the books, so it's always easy to immediately know which stories they are (as opposed to some of the generic FF and SS ones that are harder to place). And, as you say, the Barney R's also have a poetic, fairytale feel to their titles.

[Lucky Star]

I still can't remember the plots of half the SS books from the titles. The FF are a bit better as I read them all umpteen times as a child and they have stuck with me all through life.

[Boodi 2]

I'm glad to hear that I am not the only one who finds it difficult to distinguish between the FF and SS books based on their very non-informative titles. The titles of the FFO, Adventure, Secret and Barney/R books are much clearer and easier to remember!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I still can't remember the plots of half the SS books from the titles. The FF are a bit better as I read them all umpteen times as a child and they have stuck with me all through life.

Same here!