happy
Pony Trekker
Posts: 50
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Post by happy on Dec 22, 2008 18:52:51 GMT 1
Hi all,
I just wondered when you were having a break from your pony books what books you also read as a child that you remember.
In my teenage years I read a series called Heartlines does anyone remember these. Typical cheesy 80s teenage love stories. Them and a series called sweet dreams.
I also loved a book called Friends by Rosa Guy which I read over and over again. ;D
I bought a few off the internet the other day and they are so bad!!!
xx
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Post by haffyfan on Dec 22, 2008 20:47:04 GMT 1
I use to read sweet dreams sometimes too...either from library when they ran out of horse books I hadn't borrowed a hundred times or what my nanan (another compulsive book buyer - but mainly Mills and Boon or catherine Cookson) bought from jumble sales for me. I also loved and have re bought in last few years The famous Five, malory towers and St Clares, Trebizon (still shocked at how much Unforgettable Fifth set me back, I always liked them but didn't realise they were so collectable!) I also recently bought another non horsesy childhood fave The Ice Mountain. I also read and enjoyed most of Judy Blumes books... I think all young girls of my era beg/stole or borrowed Forever at some point...it was definatly the must have read in your early teens!
Oh Sweet valley High books too...anyone remember them...some of the ones aimed at slightly younger readers had horsesy content...they were always my favourites I must admit.
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happy
Pony Trekker
Posts: 50
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Post by happy on Dec 22, 2008 21:13:02 GMT 1
Oh wow you have got me going now. I was addicted to Sweet Valley High and the Sweet valley twins (when they were yournger) when I was a bit younger, Jessica always used to frustrate me as Elizabeth always had to take the rack for stuff she had done ;D. There was one sweet valley twins book which was to do with riding though.
It was funny after I posted I thought I must post again and put Judy Blume. Definitly "Forever" and also "Are you there god its me margaret"
Malory towers was also great. I must read them again.
Never heard of the ice mountain what's it about?
xx
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Post by Claire on Dec 22, 2008 21:14:11 GMT 1
I am sure we have had this topic before. I will try to find the link some time.
I was too old for the Sweet Valley books and others of that era. I did read the Trebizon series but as an adult! The was little or no romance in the books I read as a child. I mean Henry and Noel kissing was about as hot as it got then! ;D
Fav childrens books included:
Narnia series Beverley Nichols series (Stream that stood still etc) Malory Towers, St Clares, the 'Adventure' series all by Enid Blyton and when I was much younger the Wishing Chair and Enchanted Forest books. Was never fussed by the Famous5 or Secret 7 tho. E.Nesbit books Ursula Moray Williams Gobbolino, Little Wooden Horse and the series about toymakers and a doll that comes to life. Cannot remember the names of the books tho - can anyone help me out? Flambards series - altho the first one is horsy (Oh this series DID have some romance in it)
My all time fav non-horsy books were the Carbonel books by Barbara Sleigh about cats and witches. If you havent read them I cannot recommend them highy enough!
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Post by haffyfan on Dec 22, 2008 21:56:09 GMT 1
Ice Mountain was about Ice dancing...I guess it was prime Torveil and Dean era (really sad fact for you now Christopher Dean went to same primary school as my OH abeit a few years before my OH)
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Post by haffyfan on Dec 22, 2008 21:57:02 GMT 1
Claire mentions Ursual Moray Williams - Did any one else love Bogwoppit?
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Post by Claire on Dec 22, 2008 22:25:23 GMT 1
Oh yes forget about Bogwoppit, also another one by her about a cat stuck on a desert island. Forgot its name too. I am not thinking very well tonight.
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Post by zoe on Dec 23, 2008 18:24:38 GMT 1
I loved pippi longstocking too, also Roald Dahl was a firm favorite and I remember liking the worst witch books by Jill Murphy( think that is the name) I'll probably think of some more as soon as I post this
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happy
Pony Trekker
Posts: 50
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Post by happy on Dec 23, 2008 18:47:32 GMT 1
OOh I loved the worst witch books as well.
xxx
I also liked Carries War does anyone remember that?
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Post by Buster on Dec 23, 2008 19:28:12 GMT 1
I read Carries War That was pretty good!
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Post by Claire on Dec 23, 2008 20:19:23 GMT 1
Oh yeah forgot about Carrie's War loved that too. And Agatha Christie books. (Still read them sometimes if i want something light) BTW konstanze I get a lot worse ragging than that on here. I keep telling 'em I'm the mod of this forum and I deserve a bit of respect but do they listen? ;D
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Post by cally on Dec 28, 2008 12:54:31 GMT 1
I adored James Herriot's books and am buying them all again with their lovely Thelwell covers. Other than them and pony books I don't really recall reading anything more- I started reading rather 'serious' books early on, especially biographies and non fiction. When my school friends were getting into Mills and Boon I was reading Ghandi and Dostoyvesky so I've always been quite odd.
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Post by Claire on Dec 28, 2008 13:09:41 GMT 1
I love James Herriots books too but for some reason I was quite an older teenager before I read them. The TV shows of course were an institution over here and everyone watched them! But the books are such a brilliant mixture of humour, seriousness and a real insight into the nature of both human and animal. Cally I actually live where the books were set. Darrowby is actually the town of Thirsk where there is now a museum dedicated to the author. He covered a pretty large area from the North York moors on one side to the Yorkshire Dales (my bit) on the other. So often I go past places mentioned in the books such as the Wheatsheaf Inn where he spent his honeymoon. I can understand how he fell in love with the place as it is stunning. If you ever come to visit I can give you the james herriot tour!
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Post by garej on Dec 29, 2008 12:32:59 GMT 1
I love the books and the TV series. I actually had series 7 (the final series, all the series are now on DVD) come early, it wasnt supposed to be released on boxing day, but I got it the 18th December
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Post by cally on Dec 29, 2008 22:57:13 GMT 1
Claire I will definitely be visiting Yorkshire when I 'make the trip' as my Dad came from Halifax. How lucky are you, though- real Herriot country! I'm reading him now!
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Post by susanb on Dec 31, 2008 4:40:51 GMT 1
My second big literary love (aside from horse books) as a child was mysteries....both series books (yes, all the old Nancy Drews...the first I read, The Hidden Staircase, was and is still my favorite), and non series, like the works of Mary C. Jane, who wrote a dozen books, all stand alones, which featured both boys and girls, together, as protagonists (frequently siblings, but sometimes friends). Her books were set primarily in New England, Maine and New Hampshire, but one was set in Quebec City, Canada. Some other favorite authors/titles were:
The Ghost in the Swing by Janet Patton Smith, a book that's become shockingly rare and expensive, about a girl named Joan who, while visiting her aunt while her parents sort out some marital difficulties, stumbles across the family secret: her mother was not the youngest of two sisters, but the second of three...the youngest disappeared forever when she was about the same age as Joan. But Felicia didn't disapear, she died, and is now haunting the old family house trying to figure out exactly HOW she died...and of course she enlists Joan's help to solve the mystery. Oddly enough, not a creepy book at all...Felicia isn't scary, she's the same pain in the butt she was when she was alive.
The Haunted Cove by Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, in which a brother and sister vacationing on the Oregon coast solve a mystery and foil a kidnapping of a famous musician
The Mystery of the Silent Friends by Robin Gottlieb, in which two girls figure out the meaning of clues programed into antique Swiss mechanical dolls to track down a treasure
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, a Newbery Winner (back when they wre picking books kids actually loved), in which an odd group of people, more connected than they know, are brought together in an apartment building to solve a mystery and thus win a fortune...and maybe a bit more
A few bits of historic ficiton were beloved:
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan, which told the true story of Norwegian children smuggling gold out of German occupied Norway
Marta Finds the Golden Door by Frances Cavanah, which tells of Marta leaving Austria for the US after she and her father are targeted when her father, a professor, speaks out against the Nazis
A few, very few, fantasies became favorites...I didn't really get into fantasy as such till I was an adult, so the few that slipped past my defenses as a child were very good indeed:
The Snowstorm by Beryl Netherclift, in this timeslip, three siblings (two girls, one boy) staying with their great-aunt at the family's ancient house, Farthingales, discover that a snowstorm with a model of the house inside it, allows them to slip into past eras in the house's history, and for their ancestors to come forward into their time as well. All the coming and going turns out to be a series of clues that allows them to recover treasures lost 100+ years before, thus saving Farthingales from ruin (this one is an English book, that had more or less simultaneous printings in the US).
Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key, the basic premise of two children from another planet, castaways in this world, trying to get back to their people, was used in the Disney movie of the same title. Beyond the basics, they pretty much threw the rest out, and the rest was the good stuff (what a surprise). Like many, if not all, of Key's works, this is basically about people from a Utopian society coming into contact with the people of Earth. (The only title of his still in print, The Forgotten Door, is a good read too).
Last, but certainly not least, like almost all lovers of horses, I also love dogs....I read many dog books, but probably my all time favorite is Lad, a Dog, by Albert Payson Terhune
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Post by susanb on Dec 31, 2008 5:52:18 GMT 1
Claire....you're about the 10th person who has raved about the Carbonel books....am definitely going to have to look into them. The New York Review of Books has the first book in print in hardcover, and they're releasing Kingdom of Carbonel in May 2009, Carbonel & Calidor in September 2009...is that the lot of them, or are there more in the series?
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Post by fizz on Dec 31, 2008 10:44:36 GMT 1
I read the Famous five and Secret Seven avidly as a child. I also read a lot of factual books about horses and was reading things like Bloodstock Breeding by Charles Leicester at age 13 and any other books on racing or thoroughbred breeding I could get my hands on. I wanted to work in the racehorse breeding industry but my school careers service hadn't a clue. Now I could have done one of those National Stud training courses, but in the 1970s you would have had to know someone. I became an artist instead and my parents didn't like that much either and used to tell people I was doing History of Art. Such is the still existing stigma of art!
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Post by Claire on Dec 31, 2008 13:20:00 GMT 1
Susanb - yes there are just the 3 Carbonel books. The last one Carbonel and Calidor was written quite a while after the other two and IMHO doensn't quite capture the magic of the first ones. It is a good time to read them because until quite recently they were all out of print and were quite expensive to buy. I remember selling a copy of Calidor for over Β£100 3 or 4 years ago!
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Post by susanb on Dec 31, 2008 17:05:33 GMT 1
Claire....WOW! I had no idea the last book was that expensive (they often are though, aren't they?). It's good it's being reprinted then. I've seen the New York Review series....they're done quite well...hardcover, cloth spine with gilded stamping, picture cover covers, and not over priced (about $11.50)...hmm....maybe I should plan on getting a set for a cat loving person I know for Christmas next year....
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Post by Claire on Dec 31, 2008 18:16:30 GMT 1
I'd be interested to see what the US editions were like. I wonder if they have the original distinctive illustrations by V .Drummond? The first editions were nice books and I always get a little shiver of excitement looking at them, they bring back so many happy memories of reading them. Thought I'd post a couple of pics of the 1st UK eds for you to compare with the new ones.
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Post by susanb on Dec 31, 2008 18:27:17 GMT 1
Oh...those covers are lovely! Especially love the Calidor one...I'm a sucker for creepy castles ;D Here's a link to the publisher's page for New York Review...hopefully I've linked to the right page for Carbonel (the only one in print as yet....the other two are forthcoming in 2009). It says illustrations are by V.H. Drummond, though the cover art is different. www.nybooks.com/nyrb/browse?subcategory_id=73&order_by=date&how_many=30&start=30They have some interesting title choices....as many English/Irish as American in fact....they've done a couple by Ellis Dillon, including Island of Horses, John Masefield's Box of Delights and Midnight Folk, Penelope Farmer's Charlotte Sometimes, Eleanor Farjeon's The Little Bookroom, Edith Nesbit's House of Arden, etc. It's just really cool that someone is still producing good books in good hardcover editions!
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Post by susanb on Jan 6, 2009 3:35:05 GMT 1
One last link, remembering because I just got their hardcopy catalog...for anyone looking for a luscious leather bound copy of a favorite book...they do both children's and adult books and, like the New York Review, mostly a mix of American (Wrinkle in Time quartet, LIttle Women) and British (the Lang Fairy books...each bound in the appropriate color leather, which is pretty breathtaking when you look at them altogether... Narnia, Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, etc.). Of particular interest (on this forum anyway) the pair of horse books...Black Beauty with the Lucy Kemp-Welch illustrations, National Velvet with the Ted Lewin illustrations) Not cheap, but I have several (the poetry set, Tolkein, Jungle Books, Little Women) and I have to say if you really love a book and want a gorgeous copy (but a first printing is out of the question), worth it. www.eastonpressbooks.com/leather/category.asp?id=4
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Post by susanb on Jan 6, 2009 20:58:29 GMT 1
I know....I really posted that link because misery loves company...I was just drooling over the catalog last night. They've actually added to the poetry collection since I bought mine, and I'm toying with the idea of calling and asking if they'll let me order the new books without buying the whole set again.
Re Narnia...yes, that's one of the sets tempting me....and they've done his Space Trilogy too (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength). Oh, and the complete Sherlock Holmes....arrghh!!!!
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Post by Claire on Jan 10, 2009 13:09:09 GMT 1
What Narnia editions have you got konstanze? Last time I looked (a while back admittedly) you could get some very nice editions with dustjackets for a reasoanble price on ebay.
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Post by sarah on Jan 11, 2009 19:08:43 GMT 1
Anything and everything - once I finished with junior section at library I sneaked into the adult section - but obviously nothing too risquΓ© was allowed!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2009 18:45:18 GMT 1
When I was little it was books like The secret garden, The railway children and The waterbabies.
I liked Watership Down and James Herriot's vet books.
Then when I was a bit older I got into James Herbert's The rats, The fog and The Jonah.
I also read all of Catherine Cookson and some of my mums Agatha Christies.
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chris
Stablehand
Posts: 27
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Post by chris on Jul 18, 2012 20:45:25 GMT 1
I've only read two Enid Blytons; maybe they're not as common on this side of the Pond as they are in their native land. I recall one was about two children learning about the native animals of England from a Gypsy. The other was a mystery; had to do with, I think, an island, some smugglers, and an adult called Bill?
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Post by Claire on Jul 18, 2012 23:35:46 GMT 1
I think those 2 are The Children of Cherry Tree Farm and The Island of Adventure. I loved the 'Adventure' series as a child!
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vera
Pony Clubber
Posts: 247
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Post by vera on Jul 19, 2012 0:30:39 GMT 1
I read the school library from A to Z in primary School and the same again in high school. I loved the Narnia books and am about to read them to Zane; the Billabong books. I always loved to find anything Australian as they were rare back then. I did the same in High School, but was more discriminating and would not continue a book I found boring. I loved fairy tales and had original editions of Ha. ns Christian Andersen and The Grimms' brothers, not sanitized for children. I also got hold of The Arabian Nights and my mother was horrified, but she let me go on reading it. I also became obsessed with Georgette Heyer, Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie and Patricia wentworth. I was reading them in high school and I would love to get hold of some more Patricia wentworths as all our copies fell to pieces!
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