tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post7042104498086249498..comments2024-03-08T17:06:56.189+00:00Comments on mrs miniver's daughter: maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955194101659665925noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post-63686741598966987852018-05-24T02:05:38.142+01:002018-05-24T02:05:38.142+01:00I must tell my sister that she is not the only per...I must tell my sister that she is not the only person who carries a torch for Pookie! What a wonderful mother, Lucille - we had a book for Christmas, one for birthdays - but the library at least once a week.<br />Greyfriars Bobby was so boring - but I don't care for animals and I never loved animal books. Or fairy tales, unless they had pictures of princesses in glamorous ballgowns. (There was one book, a birthday present from my aunt, that I adored for the fashion glamour. I'd have been a nightmare child had I been born into the pink princess generation.) Struwwelpeter made me feel slightly sick - still does, also Edward Scissorhands ... yuck! Never read the stories, just revolted by the pictures. <br /><br /><br />Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17554985023503646664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post-69752324208178280002018-05-23T22:30:53.990+01:002018-05-23T22:30:53.990+01:00Oh yes I had Pookie. Too much writing. Loved The B...Oh yes I had Pookie. Too much writing. Loved The Bobbsey Twins, Family from One End Street, Mallory Towers, M-M-M, The Little Princess, all the Rumer Godden Japanese doll books. I had two libraries to visit on rotation and a mother who would leave a new book on my bed to find when I came home from school.<br />Greyfriars Bobby was a dull blue book on the shelf at school. I had read all the others over and over and picked it up very reluctantly. I never managed to finish it. I also had Aesop's Fables and lots of Grimms and Hans Anderson.<br />My brother was given Strewelpeter poor boy.Lucillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14414527658216916537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post-10723476811348046622018-05-22T19:28:36.842+01:002018-05-22T19:28:36.842+01:00No, Mary, I've never heard of Ameliaranne and ...No, Mary, I've never heard of Ameliaranne and the Green Umbrella! I'll have to check it now...Vronni's Style Meanderingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17122302881528071270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post-63237641026758709072018-05-16T12:11:21.186+01:002018-05-16T12:11:21.186+01:00I think you'll enjoy this, Veronica. Yes, she ...I think you'll enjoy this, Veronica. Yes, she mentions The Family from One End Street - it was the pictures that I loved. And did you have Ameliaranne and the Green Umbrella with all the little Stigginses? I preferred the less godly Elizabeth Goudges - Towers in the Mist was so romantic!Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17554985023503646664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post-61241056299775097932018-05-15T19:08:42.447+01:002018-05-15T19:08:42.447+01:00I enjoyed Lucy Mangan's articles for the Guard...I enjoyed Lucy Mangan's articles for the Guardian so think I shall enjoy reading this. it's on my reservation list from the library...<br /><br />I loved Milly Molly Mandy and Enid Blyton - what about 'The Family from One End Street'? Did you read that? I have a copy bought in a charity shop and I'm saving it for a rainy day... I also loved the Swallows and Amazon's books and Elizabeth Goudge books (more God)and Rumer Godden, too.Vronni's Style Meanderingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17122302881528071270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post-70284602371016050352018-05-12T14:23:09.306+01:002018-05-12T14:23:09.306+01:00You are the only person I've ever come across ...You are the only person I've ever come across who remembers Pookie, Lesley-Anne. My sister had a grand passion for him (must have been his little trews!) but like you, I preferred Little Grey Rabbit's house - which also fell under the parental ban because I hid that one, too, as I didn't want to part with it. I must have had an urge for gracious living even then - never fulfilled, sadly! I never enjoyed fairy stories unless they had a bit of Cinderella glamour - all those dull Andrew Lang fairy books! I can see why little girls today prefer Disney princesses. My favourite Enid Blyton was the Valley of Adventure and the rest of that series ... taking off in a wrong plane to a treasure island, I thought that was thrilling! I don't know why grown-ups were so sniffy about her - what's wrong with a good page turner? Though I was quite aware that Alan Garner's Weirdstone of Brisingamen was classier .<br />I wish I'd retained that capacity completely to lose myself in a book - I can still do it, but it doesn't happen that often. I suppose you get more critical as you get older and anyway, you have to make your own dinner! Looking back, I realise how sympathetic my mum was - I don't ever remember being dragged away from reading to help with dishes, because that's what she'd resented as a child! I shuddered reading Lucy Mangan's book because she wasn't allowed to read upstairs on her own - but had to be part of the family circle even if her nose was buried in a book. That seemed such a cruel punishment for the naturally solitary! <br /><br /> Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17554985023503646664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731398893178184544.post-63425759524807057752018-05-12T08:26:35.986+01:002018-05-12T08:26:35.986+01:00Gosh Mary,you have got me thinking this morning. I...Gosh Mary,you have got me thinking this morning. I had a couple of the Pookie books as a child, but didn't much care for them- I much preferred the bustling efficiency of Little Grey Rabbit's world. What shocks me is how early I was introduced to the so-called classics. For a whole summer when I was about 5 I was terrified by the idea of The Pied Piper of Hamelin coming through my village to spirit me and the other children away. After that I went on to be traumatised by Hans Christian Andersen; the dog with they eyes as big as dinner plates from the Tinderbox and the poor little mermaid; Edward Lear- "Z was a box of Zinc- step in my little master, I'm sure we've all heard quite enough of your sad disaster" and Greek myths- poor old Prometheus having his liver pecked out. All when I was about 6 or 7! No wonder I preferred to spend my pocket money on Enid Blyton- I was a particular fan of the Five Finder- Outers, whom I am quite sure were a band of nasty little smart alecs, but a great relief from the grief and misery elsewhere in the acceptable canon for children at the time! Lesley Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18160145963741108919noreply@blogger.com