I have just finished reading The Pickwick Papers. What a bunch of characters. The poet Snodgrass, the lover Tupman, the sportsman Winkle and, above all, Mr Pickwick - that quintessentially English Quixote. Their travels took us to Dingly Dell Cricket Club, the Fleet Debtors' Prison with many incidents springing to life along the way. Some of it was, however, pretty heavy going and, when I had finished it, thought that I needed a little light relief before starting on my next book, Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White.
As The Enid Blyton Society Journal had just dropped onto the mat (and what a cracking read that was), I thought it was time to pick up a Famous Five. I picked up Five on a Treasure Island for the umpteenth time, and such is the quality of Blyton's writing, read it with the same spellbound enthusiasm that I had fifty years ago when reading it for the first time. Clever folk who criticise her books for the type of language she used - get a life, that's how we spoke in the 50s - need to envelope the era and the settings that she used. There is still a whole world of Blyton at our fingertips. I urge you, if you are not familiar or have forgotten how wonderful her books are, to check out a couple of websites. Keith Robinson's tremendous dedicated site to her work, www.enidblyton.net is a great starting point. With a message board, reviews, illustrations and much more, you can really get the feel of all things Blyton.
The doyen of the Blyton world has to be the official Blyton Society site, www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk This is the definitive website for fans and researchers of Blyton's work. There is a book listing which contains hundreds of illustrations as well as information on the author and the society. An incredibly active forum is the icing on the cake. Wonderful!
Now, I must dash - I've got to get back to Kirrin Island...
2 comments:
I don't know about The Woman in White, but I always liked The Woman in Black, a very creepy ghost story set on a small "island" -- well, more of a mound of rock sticking up out of the marshes, only accessible via a causeway and very dangerous when the air is thick with mist... On this island stands a single very large house, and a lawyer has to stay at the house to sift through letters and documents after the owner dies.
I have this on DVD, an old BBC drama that still chills my bones today! And of course the marshes and causeway always reminds me of Castaway Hill in Five Go To Smuggler's Top, which itself is very atmospheric. I must have a thing for mist and marshes.
Then there's The Woman in Red, starring Gene Wilder... Not quite the same thing though.
Yes, we saw The Woman in Black at a London theatre recently, such a creepy ghost story, we absolutely loved it, it was a great play.
http://www.thewomaninblack.com/
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