November Books

[callmemadam]

. As you will see, most of the books read last month were comfort reading, which means much re-read.
Torley Grange, Gwendoline Courtney. Confirms my opinion that the author’s scarcer books are scarce for a reason.
Second Honeymoon. Joanna Trollope. Readable as ever.
Crow Lake, Mary Lawson. Lately I’ve read a lot of books set in Canada and perhaps that’s why, while reading this, I kept thinking it was set much further in the past than it really is. I liked it a lot. The plot and characters are reminiscent of Jodi Picoult but unlike her books this one is sparely written, with no padding.
Books by Jane Shaw
Susan Pulls the Strings
No Trouble for Susan
A Job for Susan
Susan Rushes In
Susan at School
Susan’s Trying Term
Susan Muddles Through
Susan’s Helping Hand
Books by Anthony Buckeridge
Jennings’ Diary

When I was very young I was seriously ill and had a year off school. For years afterwards I had to have an annual check up at one of the big London hospitals. In my memory it was always very cold, there was a two-bus journey with long waits for the buses and then a lot of waiting at the hospital, so it took all day. In order to sweeten this pill, my dear mother always bought me a bran new book. Not a Children's Press or Puffin, either, but a 5/- one, which she could ill afford. One year it was Jennings' Diary. I suppose I was about seven and a lifelong love affair began. These books still make me laugh out loud.

According to Jennings
Jennings & Darbishire

Curtain Up, Noel Streatfeild
White Boots, Noel Streatfeild
Summer of the Great Secret, Monica Edwards
The White Riders, Monica Edwards.

Oh dear, this was a disappointment. I love Monica Edwards and have had this book since I was a child. I always liked it because it was set in autumn and had all those lovely, cosy farmhouse scenes. This time, the magic failed to work. There's all the illegal driving and use of firearms, which look different to the adult reader. Then Meryon is insufferably arrogant in this book. He is condescending to the girls and worse, to Mike Merrow. Imagine a fifteen year old schoolboy telling an older, experienced farmer not to worry about the cow about to give birth because 'calves are born every day without any trouble.' It's a wonder Mike didn't clock him one.

Cranford, Mrs Gaskell
Read this as preparation for the TV series but nothing could have prepared me for what appeared on the screen. For some reason it put into my head Our Village by Miss Mitford. I'd never read this before and found it such hard going that I didn't finish it. I know it is much loved by its admirers: any here?

Wings Over Witchend, Malcolm Saville
Katherine at Feather Ghyll, Anne Bradley
This is a lovely, cosy girls' book. If you like the later Gwendoline Courtneys, you'd enjoy it.
Penny Plain, O Douglas
Strange to think how recently I've discovered O Douglas and how quickly she's become established as a top comfort read.
Keeping Faith, Jodi Picoult
I said I wouldn't bother with any more Jodi Picoult books but I was gripped by this and am now reading another one.

Comments

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

I think I still have a scar from being beaten up by my sister for making such a noise laughing at the Jennings books. And they still work.

Do you know where the character names come from? It is the most lovely thing.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Oh, those names. Venables, Atkinson, Temple, Bromwich, Binns Minor, Blotwell. It's like a litany. No, I don't know where the great man got the names from.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

I've been looking for an on-line source for this to no avail, but apparently it is the Spurs line-up circa 1970. And Venables is none other than the more famous.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I've just looked this up in The World of Jennings by Jonathan Cooper. I did know it, I'd just forgotten. There was a real Jennings, whom Buckeridge had been at school with. He was called Diarmaid Jennings and in 1998 Michael Crick tracked him down in Australia. He was still a wildly eccentric character, then aged ninety. Apparently the lost glove/search party plot which appears in Jennings & Darbishire was a true incident from his own schooldays. According to Cooper, 'The characters were all drawn from a mixture of various people known to the author.' Which doesn't explain how he picked a future Spurs team.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

There are so many possible explanations for this, each more glorious than the last.

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

How do they compare to the Just William books? Those used to make me cry with laughter as a child.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Both authors created a world in which the heroes are always the same age, the surroundings don't change and the supporting cast (William's family/school masters) behave predictably. The boys both create havoc but in different ways. William does behave badly by civilised standards whereas Jennings' escapades tend to result from good intentions going wrong or from twisted logic. I do like William but I prefer Jennings. Come to think of it, I'd rather hear Martin Jarvis read a William story than actually read one myself.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Y'see, I did like JW a lot, but I didn't think they were funny, just interesting and fun.

I think it's really difficult to tell whether someone else will be amused by something, unless you know them incredibly well. But I would recommend them to anyone, and probably to anyone who would like in principle to read funny children's books. (What a horrible sentence, sorry. I hope it makes sense.)

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

Your comfort reads are so similar to mine - it's uncanny. When I was a child Susan Pulls the Strings was my essential ill in bed read. I hope your comfort reading this month has provided a bit of comfort. I have been thinking about you and huskyteer a lot.

I am a Gaskell-ite and very fond of Cranford.

But I am pretty certain that Binns Minor never played for Spurs!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Spooky! Susan Pulls the Strings has always been my favourite. Thank you for all kind thoughts: escapism is the thing, sometimes.

I dote on Binns Minor and especially the Form Three and Early Bedders Guided Football Missile Club.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I'm Nicola. It's many years since I've read Jennings. I must re-read them. I adore Noel Streatfeild, too. I've just read Party Shoes which has been re-issued by Oxford Children Classics in a very attractive hardback. 'Bout time, too. Regards.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Hello Nicola, always nice to meet another Jennings fan. Party Frock, as it is called here, was a great favourite of mine as a child.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love that book.