to tell rachel2205 about some of my favourite books, and why they are so great and other people should read them.
The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper – in particular the second book in the series, entitled The Dark is Rising. Just yesterday, as I was driving through the misty, country roads with the bare trees, and birds silhouetted against the sky, and a chill in the air, I had first Dark is Rising moment. Read it, you’ll see… I get Dark is Rising moments every year.
Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones – a remarkably layered book, you can read it again and again and always get something new from it. The two urns in the garden spelling out Now Here or was it No Where or is it Now Where?? and the wind that whips up the leaves into in the leaf monster are truly great.
Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransome – my *comfort book* – ’tis the first novel that I (annoyed my mum by going ahead and) read without her. It’s a wonderful book. I love it.
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth – I think this one won the Booker Prize a few years ago. I can’t discribe accept to say it’s about a slave ship and is a very powerful, must-read book.
Swallows and Amazons
You’re what – 30? and I’m 48 – I suppose I was about 7 when I read the books (there was more than one – am I right?) and I knew straight away that they were superior to The Secret Seven and the Famous Five (both of which I used to read in reverse chapter order, being a weird kid…). I’ve not read Swallows and Amazons since – I have a vague recollection of them, but when it came to me passing on my favourites to my children, Arthur Ransome did not get a look in. I wonder why that was…..?
Tell me why we should read them> I have vague remembrances of independent children who went off and did their own thing without annoying grown-ups – my brother aged 11 went camping with 2 friends and toured around Northern Ireland (living off packet soup and Smash) – I can’t imagine any responsible parent allowing that nowadays.