tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post4129498888088063441..comments2023-10-25T05:30:54.507-04:00Comments on Oh Get A Grip!: Book NostalgiaAshe Barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03390519279886657608noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-10118811977100106912013-07-18T18:31:01.161-04:002013-07-18T18:31:01.161-04:00Sacchi, thanks for starting this great thread abou...Sacchi, thanks for starting this great thread about the books we loved when we were young. Giselle, did you ever read the "Madeleine" books when you were a child (or had them read to you) or the books about Babar the elephant? My mom read the English translations to me. Madeleine is a little girl in boarding school in Paris, & Babar becomes king of the elephants in some African country, prob. a former French colony. <br />Enid Blyton didn't seem to cross the Atlantic when I was young, but I saw her books everywhere when I lived in England for a year at age 22. (I thought I was too old to read them then.)<br />I was introduced to the novels of E. (Edith) Nesbit by a grade-school teacher with good taste in children's lit. There is a trilogy, starting with Five Children and It (& I was delighted when the movie version was shown on TV). I think Nesbit was contemporary with the author of The Secret Garden. I'll never forget Nesbit's phoenix character who befriends the children, but then he has to leave them to build his own funeral pyre when he has reached the end of his 500-year lifespan. (A new phoenix emerges from the ashes, but I don't think he's the same.) Jean Robertahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08805088081675965859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-71349697732911561512013-07-17T12:16:25.951-04:002013-07-17T12:16:25.951-04:00Looks like it was published in 2006. Trust me, I&...Looks like it was published in 2006. Trust me, I'm not THAT young!<br /><br />Jeremy, you (and everybody else) will be delighted to know that I stumbled across Sophie fanfic that I wrote when I was nine, and I've posted it on my blog: http://donutsdesires.blogspot.ca/2013/07/the-best-book-youll-ever-read-and-its.html<br /><br />Drop whatever you're doing and read it. Yes, there are pictures. And yes it's in French, but I translated it (with commentary).Giselle Renardehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15955755448116234634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-40379565360227007852013-07-16T18:45:38.987-04:002013-07-16T18:45:38.987-04:00Gisele, The Secret Garden was one of my very favor...Gisele, The Secret Garden was one of my very favorites, too, and I re-read it many times. The very early part in India (with all the adults dying of the plague) was confusing to me at first, and I don't think my granddaughter is ready for it yet, but I hope to interest her in it later. And Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, although her father was never into those when he was a kid. (He was reading Tolkien when he was eight, so I hope she'll get into those. The movies may help or hurt, I don't know which.) I really loved books that took me into detailed worlds, historical, fantastical, or just geographically distant. Sacchi Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801164916418570059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-65284378136525000832013-07-16T07:56:04.631-04:002013-07-16T07:56:04.631-04:00Giselle, est-ce que c'est ça? Le personnage ne...Giselle, est-ce que c'est <a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Ma-vie-sorci%C3%A8re-Anne-Sophie-Silvestre/dp/2747019667" rel="nofollow">ça</a>? Le personnage ne s'appelle pas Sophie, mais l'écrivain est Anne-Sophie [Silvestre], et la description indique qu'Elodie est une "apprentie sorcière."Jeremy Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01980177431018869829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-25578410829565153112013-07-15T22:30:13.963-04:002013-07-15T22:30:13.963-04:00I'm embarrassed to admit I read "The Baby...I'm embarrassed to admit I read "The Baby-sitters Club" books in the late 80s. My sister read the Sweet Valley books and I judged the hell out of her for it. heh.Giselle Renardehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15955755448116234634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-55180912865317202572013-07-15T16:07:45.460-04:002013-07-15T16:07:45.460-04:00Does anyone remember Enid Blyton? An English write...Does anyone remember Enid Blyton? An English writer of children's books she wrote dozens of stories - The Famous Five series and many more. My sister was an avid reader of them and I would read them after - they were really for girls, so my gayness showed up rather quickly. One character Georgina liked to be called George - a budding lesbian for sure. Can't imagine what they would read like nowadays.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10305127219838784688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-72306214490364670722013-07-15T16:01:40.713-04:002013-07-15T16:01:40.713-04:00When I thought about books I loved when I was youn...When I thought about books I loved when I was young, the first one that came to mind was "The Secret Garden." I think I loved it because I found it puzzling. I'd like to take another look at it now, with a better grasp on the social mores of the period.<br /><br />There were a few Quebecois series for middle school readers I loved. I tried to track down the "Sophie, l'apprentie-sorciere" books that I mentioned in my very first post here at The Grip, but they don't seem to be available for sale anywhere. So sad. They were hilarious, about a witch-in-training who was a tomboy and a klutz, and couldn't get anything right.<br /><br />In English, there was a book called Howliday Inn about a cat and dog (the ones from Bunnicula) in a haunted house (?) that I must have read a million times (and can't for the life of me remember what it was about, apparently).<br /><br />Giselle Renardehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15955755448116234634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-15042386217409492312013-07-15T15:49:32.663-04:002013-07-15T15:49:32.663-04:00I want grandchildren too! That's why I always...I want grandchildren too! That's why I always date people who have children from previous (or, when I was younger, current) marriages. I'm a man with a plan. hehGiselle Renardehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15955755448116234634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-61559633280642777742013-07-15T14:26:06.357-04:002013-07-15T14:26:06.357-04:00Having kids is wearing, but grandkids are fun, at ...Having kids is wearing, but grandkids are fun, at least at this point.<br /><br />When they left today she was reading The Pushcart Wars, which they'd found at the local library booksale. She'd generally rather read to herself than be read to, which is handy, but I'd like to be re-reading that one with her. Sacchi Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801164916418570059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-12659132026502930222013-07-15T11:59:53.913-04:002013-07-15T11:59:53.913-04:00It's always interesting to find how others fou...It's always interesting to find how others found this genre through whatever reading history. My dad introduced me to typical boy's series--Pioneers, civil war, YA adventure. My love of the outdoors led me to Field and Stream, Outdoor Life mags. Reading was never boring for me like it was for other kids. Reading is something I did so as NOT to be bored.<br /><br />I too do much of my reading and critiquing on line, (I'm Flasher editor @ ERWA). It does cut into simple pleasure reading time, but it also lets me take the temperature of what's happening and exposes me to writing at all levels.Daddy Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927663248424944119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-90346626090580971412013-07-15T09:06:30.487-04:002013-07-15T09:06:30.487-04:00What a fun ramble back through time, Sacchi. I won...What a fun ramble back through time, Sacchi. I wonder if we were all bookworms. I certainly was. <br /><br />I never was lucky enough to find a copy of The Sheik, nor was I really exposed to bodice rippers, but Ian Fleming provided plenty of titillation during high school. <br /><br />I kind of envy you having a grand-daughter with whom you can discuss the delights of reading. Though I don't regret not having kids, I'd really like to have had grand kids.<br />Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-71171036443782267642013-07-15T06:52:49.431-04:002013-07-15T06:52:49.431-04:00i love the idea of your bookmarking spicy passages...i love the idea of your bookmarking spicy passages for friends as a youngster. great post, Sacchi. i have an urge to write YA & children's books myself. reading was such an essential part of that time. so lovely that your granddaughter is a reader at 7. Amanda Earlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09059621442042833693noreply@blogger.com