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[lyras]

I still seem to be working 12-14 hour days. *cries* In lieu of a proper post, that book meme, borrowed from thistlerose, erastes and quietliban at the last count.

Name...

Three books that have marked your childhood...
The Chalet School in Exile by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
A Dream of Sadler's Wells by Lorna Hill*

...and your teenagehood:

Comments

[lyras]

OMG! *clings* Ella at the Wells and Return to the Wells were my favourites - I couldn't get enough of them. Ella, Timothy and Mariella were all such lovely characters.

(So, the ones set in the Highlands: were they accurate? I loved all those snowy journeys up north, and the Hogmanay, and Robin!)

Was also obsessed with the CS - mainly I suspect because Armada had only brought out a few random titles by the time I started reading, so I kept having to piece all the different generations together. And then they brought out the entire series as I grew up - I was so lucky!

[lyras]

I don't think Jane got lost on Arthur's Seat - wasn't that somewhere in the Highlands with an unspellable name? Beinn Abhouridh, or something like that :).

Do you get hardbacks of the Chalet School titles these days? Because I discovered a few years ago that some of the pbs had been horribly abridged. Reading the hardback of Three Go to the CS was quite a revelation, if I remember rightly!

[lyras]

Yay for FriendsFriends! You know, I've mentioned those books on here several times, and no one has ever remarked on them.

The first couple of books hold a special place in my heart, but I think she was really hitting her stride by the time she got to Ella.

[abigail89]

No amount of money in the world could get me to read Dickens.

I hope find a copy of "The Persian Boy" at the library but every library around here sucks. I guess I'll break down & buy it.

[lyras]

Heh, Dickens is almost one of my guilty pleasures, I love reading him so much!

Funnily enough, I checked The Persian Boy out of our library only yesterday.

[magnetic_pole]

I'm not nearly so well read as you, clearly, but Bleak House! I haven't read it in nearly ten years now, but in my memory this is one of my perfect novels.

*also, takes notes for future reference!* M.

[lyras]

Why not so well read? I've never had that impression!

And Bleak House has been my 'desert island' book since I was about 18. I never get tired of it.

[magnetic_pole]

It's sad and rather embarrassing, but going back to grad school has more or less killed my interest in reading fiction. I read your book updates with envy, because the old Maggie would have had much more to discuss with you. I love your book entries.

Bleak House, oddly, *was* my desert island book. It was the only book I took with me on a dirt-cheap, self-catering trip to the Canary Islands when I was studying in London many years ago. My roommate and I quickly discovered that there was almost nothing to do where were were staying, and we had no money for anything but a week's worth of pizza, anyway, so we went to the beach, course reading in hand, and fell in love with Dickens. Not the way that book was meant to be read, I'm sure, but I've never forgotten the experience. M.

[lyras]

Ah, I can completely understand being put off fiction by university. I still remember taking my last English exam and celebrating because I'd never *have* to read a book again!

Sunshine, pizza and Bleak House: sounds like a pretty perfect week to me!

[retsuko]

WOW! I'm impressed at your ability to narrow things down to three books, and three books only. If I do this meme (which seems highly likely, given its content), I may barge through the rules and do five, or seven. Or ten.

Anyway, neat choices. I came to Anne of Green Gables late in life, due to a children's book graduate school course, but I wish I had read it when I was little. Anne's my kind of people. ;-D

Also, you have good taste.

[lyras]

The three 'favourite' books are just those that sprang to mind this morning. I bet I could've included a good twenty or so others in there. :P

The Anne books are lovely. I still occasionally reread them when I'm ill.