Talking meme: Answer 1. Books

[dimity_blue]

The talking meme is here, and I'm still accepting questions if anyone wants to ask any.

lost_spook asked: Do you have a childhood favourite book? (Or 3 or 5 or 10, as needs be!)



I have several!

Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Lost Prince.
FHB is better known for her other novels, but I always liked this one best. The version I had as a kid cut out the religious overtones so the book focuses more on Marco, his father, and his best friend. It's a really good adventure book and pretty wonderful to get lost in, though you can see the ending coming from about chapter 1.

I never liked Little Lord Fountleroy as a kid. It wasn't until I re-read it recently that the grandfather's snide sense of humour made it marginally more palatable.

The Princess at the Chalet School by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer.
This was the first Chalet School book I read. It was a present from one of my favourite relatives, my Auntie Vi, and I loved it. I have a great deal of affection for all of EMBD's books, and especially the Chalet School series.

Princess Elisaveta has been ill and her doctor recommends a boarding school for her. A boarding school where she can be anonymous.

The Chalet School is set in the Tyrol Alps at first and the series began in the late 20s. If you like boarding school stories, this is the best one I've read.

The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit.
If you've heard of E. Nesbit, you probably haven't heard of The Enchanted Castle. The Railway Children and The Phoenix and the Carpet completely overshadow it, which is a total shame. The Enchanted Castle is about 3 children who are stuck at school over the summer holidays and who find an enchaned castle and a princess with a magic ring that turns her invisible.

Okay, so the castle turns out to be a country estate that's open to the public certain days of the week, and the princess turns out to be the housekeeper's niece, Mabel, but the ring really did turn her invisible and now she's worried she won't be able to turn visible again...

It's available for free from Project Gutenberg too.

I also love her book Harding's Luck, which is a time travel fantasy, but I only read that one a few years ago.

Okay, I managed to pick 3 in the end.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Very good answers all! ♥ I haven't actually read The LOst Prince or The Enchanted Castle, but I have heard of them both. (I never could get hold of much E. Nesbit for some reason, apart from The Railway Children, but I read The Secret Garden and The Little Princess by Frances HOdgeson Burnett. I always avoided Little Lord Fauntleroy, although given how good she usually was, it probably can't be entirely awful, can it??)

:-)

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

Amazon UK has a complete set of FHB ebooks for not very much (99p). It contains the lot. But although I enjoy some of her stuff, she seems badly addicted to overly angelic children and a lot of her shorter stories are extremely religious.

I ignore those and stick to her full length stories.

While Little Lord Fountleroy isn't full of religion, he's so adorably sweet he makes your teeth rot. I hated him when I first read the book and didn't like him much the 2nd time around.

A lot of E. Nesbit's ebooks are on Amazon too.

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, but then again she's also responsible for both Mary and Colin in The Secret Garden - she must have tired of the angelic stuff herself from time to time! ;-)

Yeah, that's what I've heard about LLF. I think I'm happy to have it remain unread!

[stargatesg1971.livejournal.com]

The Enchanted Castle sounds good. I might just give it a read, the big kid that I am LOL. Thanks for the link for a free download.

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

I still love it! But I find most of E. Nesbit's books stand up to adult scrutiny.

[stargatesg1971.livejournal.com]

I'm sure they do to a point but if I bear in mind it's a childrens book it should be okay, besides, I watch quite a bit of childrens TV LOL.