Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Which other authors do you enjoy? Discuss them here.
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Julie2owlsdene
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

If it doesn't have mystery of adventure in it, Eddie, I may be hard to convince. :lol:

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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by Eddie Muir »

There is an element of crime in it, Julie, with poor old Toad in court:

Image

:lol:
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by burlingtonbertram »

Just reading "The Willows In Winter" by William Horwood; a sequel to Kenneth Grahame's classic.

This edition is HB, published in 1993, and has 288 pp.

It has all of the much loved characters of the original, plus the addition of Mole's Nephew.

- Mole is feared downed in the icy River; even the stoats and weasels are coerced into the search-party. Badger organises a memorial
- After a long period of good behaviour, Toad discovers the joy of flying
- Ratty sees 'beyond'

It's quite enjoyable. If you liked the original, I dare say you will like this too.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Sounds interesting, BurlingtonBertram. I might well give it a try one of these days.
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by burlingtonbertram »

Well, I have finished the Willows In Winter. I'd recommend it as a sequel to Wind In The Willows, although I do think the further adventures of Toad could have gone down a different route. They are a bit 'samey'. Still, a decent read 7.5 / 10


I was never too keen on Toad in the original. These days I notice that I am starting to share character traits with Badger - most alarming.
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by Courtenay »

I've never yet managed to get all the way through The Wind in the Willows - despite now having a beautiful hardcover edition with EH Shepard's illustrations in colour! - but I will one of these days.

I was glad to see, from earlier in the thread, a mention of the beautiful stop-motion animated film and TV series of The Wind in the Willows from the 1980s. The series was shown on Australian television too when I was very little. It's so long ago for me that I barely remember what happened in any of the episodes, but the theme song can still bring tears to my eyes! :D
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by walter raleigh »

It wasn't that bad was it Courtenay? :shock: I quite liked it myself. :roll:
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by Courtenay »

I meant tears of heartwarming nostalgia, Walter! :lol: :P It brings back lovely childhood memories, as well as being a beautiful song and lovely animation in its own right. I think it was early exposure to British products like this, along with plenty of Enid Blyton, that gave me the idea that Britain must be a special kind of place. And I was right. :wink:
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by Paul Austin »

Kenneth Grahame is a brilliant rejoinder to the widespread belief that you can only make a mark in your youth - he wrote The Wind in the Willows in retirement - he was a senior banker before then.
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I think some of Kenneth Grahame's other books were also quite well-known, like The Golden Age and Dream Days which he wrote when he was in his thirties. One or both of those were praised by Oswald Bastable in E. Nesbit's The Wouldbegoods.
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Re: Any Kenneth Grahame fans about?

Post by burlingtonbertram »

I got a DVD for fifty pence yesterday: a documentary about The Wind In The Willows and the author himself, by Griff Rhys Jones. It was quite sad: I didn't realise that his beloved (if difficult) son was perhaps the inspiration for Toad. Nor did I know that the son had probably committed suicide, whilst at Oxford, on a railway line. Interesting documentary though.
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