General Chat

Just found this thread......my favourite book at Junior School was The Secret Garden, can't remember who wrote it (Frances somebody??) Also loved A Childs Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. Bought it for my own kids and it still sits in my bookcase now. The one that I hated was Animal Farm by George Orwell. Just Googled, it was Frances Hodgson Burnett

The replies to this thread bring back forgotten memories. I loathed Shakespeare - and still do - but found Steinbeck unputdownable and probably read his entire output. I may or may not have read Silas Marner but it reminds me of My Uncle Silas by H.E.Bates which appealed to me I did English Lit (marginably better than English grammar) because I had to. The subjects I mostly enjoyed were Art, Physics and Chemistry. Anyone do longer narrative poems? (The sedge has withered from the lake- and no birds sing) More purgatory! len

I forgot to mention when I sat my O levels we were reading BRAVE NEW WORLD by ALDOUS HUXLEY.................... I really did enjoy this book!!

Favourites were 'The Ghost of Thomas Kemp','Reach for the Sky' and 'Silas Marner' I didn't enjoy The Merchant of Venice,Of Mice and Men or The Taming of the Shrew very much... ...'The quality of mercy is not strained.It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the ground beneath'.... Yep! Still remember Portias bit! Sandra. xxx

LITTLE MISS PEPPERPOT Loved the books so much that I hunted them down for my own daughter when she was 8 - she liked them too but not as much as I who re read them all over again LOL

Len - English Lit was not one of my favourite subjects, but we had to endure several years of the 'Merchant'. Why, I don't know. Part of a grammar school education I guess? I still can't comprehend how I ended up in that school. 11 plus must have been easy to pass in those days! Deb

Hi Lesley.... it could possibly have been in the same group. I remember it definately had Children's Treasury of Literature in the title. It's so frustrating, I had given it to my children (now grown up) and still had it up until a few years ago when we moved house. I have seen a book online which has a very similar description and volume of 700 - 800 pages but the cover is defferent. I could be the same book in an updated jacket but I can't be sure. Thanks anyway. Gaynor

Enid Blytons Magic Faraway Tree, have read that to my four children. Little House on the Prarie was another. Plus That Was Then This Is Now (no idea who the author was). The Machine Gunners was another. Donna

Debs In 1940 I could repeat the whole play plus a few other things I needed for English Lit. I had a memory then..... but somehow mislaid it len

I was a great fan of Noel Streatfield .. Gemma and her Sisters was my favourite. I'd done all Enid Blyton and Arthur Ransome and horses scared me so no Jill at anything for me. By the time I was ten I'd read every book in our house (there weren't many) including the Book Club collection of Charles Dickens (all very tasteful in dark blue with titles in gold letters). Then, still ten, I discovered How Green Was My Valley and was blown away. My sons weren't interested in reading until the Harry Potter books came along. Now 17 and 18 they are voracious readers - favourite author being Magnus Mills. Neither of them were thrilled by the Magic Key books that they had in primary school. Our house is full of books. If we read them and like them we can't get rid of them ... help! Hapy Christmas to you all from someone who wishes she has shares in Amazon. A xxxx

Thanks Len! That brought back memories. Deb

Gaynor, I had Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Fairy Tales and my friend who I met many years after had Hilda Boswell's Treasury of nursery rhymes Collins and sons was the publisher.

Janet and john Malorary Towerers Mice and men

Debs You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, And spet upon my Jewish gaberdine, And all for use of that which is mine own. Well then, it now appears you need my help; Go to, then; you come to me, and you say 'Shylock, we would have moneys.' You say so: You that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold; moneys is your suit. What should I say to you? Should I not say 'Hath a dog money? Is it possible A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or Shall I bend low and, in a bondman's key, With bated breath and whisp'ring humbleness, Say this:-- 'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; You spurn'd me such a day; another time You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies I'll lend you thus much moneys?' len

the lion,the witch ,and the wardrobex

The Wind in the Willows Secret Seven Famous Five Treasure Island Reg

20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Several books by Robert Louis Stevenson Len

I think this was 'Old Chairs To Mend' by Noel Streatfield... 'Story' Emma and Paul know that there will soon be a new baby in the family, although their mother and father will not promise an exact date. One day, their father wakes them, and says that the baby is probably coming today, but it might be very late, so they are to stay the night with their Gran. They are to be taken to Gran's place by a neighbour, Mrs Jones, who is a bus conductress and whose bus goes right past Gran's place on the other side of London. The children get off the bus at the right stop, but when they ring Gran's doorbell, nobody answers! Just as the children are starting to get worried, a boy comes through the gate. He tells them that Gran has had an accident and gone to hospital, but there didn't seem to be much wrong with her. The boy has a key to Gran's house, and he lets them in. He explains that his father is a chair caner - he repairs cane chairs - and Gran lets him keep his work tools in her back room. The boy's father - Bert Boakes - soon returns, and says that Gran will be fine and should be home in a couple of days. The children spend an exciting day with him, seeing what the life of a chair caner is like. They also meet his brother Syd, who is a street acrobat, and his niece Connie who is a singer (but not a very good one!) When the children go home the next day, it seems 'as if miles of time had passed since ... yesterday morning. It was as if between then and now they had been in a different world' (Old Chairs to Mend, 1966:92). 'Writer's Thoughts' Old Chairs to Mend is one of Noel's books for younger readers. Like Bertram, it was published in the Hamish Hamilton 'Antelope' series. Noel's other books for Hamish Hamilton were Let's Go Coaching (in the 'Gazelle' series for very young readers) and The Grey Family (in the 'Reindeer' series for a slightly older age group, though still younger than Noel's usual readership). The characters in Old Chairs to Mend are aged eight and six, and there is nothing much in the way of characterisation. The book gives a very simplistic picture of a way of life that is likely to be unfamiliar, but interesting, to the readers. Editions and Availability UK Editions Old Chairs to Mend was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1966, with illustrations by Barry Wilkinson. US Editions There does not seem to have been a US edition of Old Chairs to Mend. Out of Print Old Chairs to Mend is out of print and very rare. In February 2004, the only two second hand copies I can find listed by online booksellers costs £13 and £18. (Source: Addall Used and Out of Print Book Search.).

Junior School - The Incredible Journey Senior School - The Merchant of Venice

I think the other book was actually called 'Children's Treasury of Literature' circa 1970 about 2 inches thick, The cover was heavily illustrated and blue-ish / multi in colour but if the jacket was removed the hard back cover was red with gold writing. I have searched and searched online and would love to find it again.