The Adventure Series!

[Chrissie777]

How could you remember all the details? Most forumites here can remember even the slightest detail. I read, I enjoy and I forget. I could never remember the details.

Yes, that amazes me, too!

[Chrissie777]

...and in Sea they are only too happy to keep hitting Horace Tipperlong on the head with a big stick!

But the children are under the impression that Horace is one of the baddies. I think this excuses their behaviour.

[Chrissie777]

A good example of the illustrations helping the reader to visualise the action comes in 'Circus' when Enid describes Jack (I think) climbing into the boot of a moving car while he's clinging to the back. The boot falls open under his weight and Jack is able to get inside. To a modern reader, this would make no sense, as boots of cars flip up rather than fall open, and if he was on top of the boot hatch it certainly wouldn't open - but the illustration (sadly missing in modern reprints!) helps us realise how this is possible on a car of the 1950's.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... +Adventure" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One of the best illustrations in "Circus"!

[Rob Houghton]

Gosh, Chrissie! I had to scroll back 10 pages to even find out what these quotes were going on about! I was wondering who was remembering a lot of details, as quoted by Sixret!

I do tend to remember most details from books I've read. I could list the plots of probably all the major Enid Blyton books, though I'd have slightly more trouble with The Secret Seven because all the titles are similar - but every other book - Find Outers, Famous Five, Adventure, Barney, one-off novels etc - the plots stay with me after I've read them. I'm often quite surprised when people read books again after only a couple of years and say they don't remember the plot!

[Chrissie777]

I remember we discussed elsewhere, too, that at the time these books were published, many children would have suffered the temporary absence or perhaps permanent loss of their fathers in WWII, and so a strong fatherly character like Bill - adventurous yet caring - would have resonated deeply with many young readers.

Very good point!

[Chrissie777]

Lucky Star echoed my feelings exactly, Mountain is a good book but not as good as the others. I can quite understand why this book is special for you, Francis, as it introduced you to a great author.

Actually I like Mountain a lot more than "Ship" and "River" which are for me the weakest of the Adventure books.
Cruises are just not very appealing to me. I took the car ferry from Hamburg (leaving at 4 p.m.) to Harwich, UK (arriving around noon time the following day), twice and couldn't sleep a wink, because the extremely loud ship engines kept me awake all night long. Fortunately I don't get sea sick, but I need a quiet surrounding in order to fall asleep.
From what cruising friends told me it's a common thing for cruises to go from one harbour to the next harbour during the night and stay in/at a harbour during the day, so the people on board of the cruise ship can take day trips.

Mary Higgins Clark, one of my favorite crime authors, wrote many compelling crime novels which I have enjoyed since the late 1970's. But she absolutely loves cruises and cruise stories are a repeating theme in her books.

[Chrissie777]

Lucky Star echoed my feelings exactly, Mountain is a good book but not as good as the others. I can quite understand why this book is special for you, Francis, as it introduced you to a great author.

Same here, nobody seems to like "Five on a Secret Trail", but it introduced me to EB and I still enjoy re-reading it after almost 53 years.

[Rob Houghton]

I feel the same way about Five Go To Mystery moor - one of only two Famous Fives I read as a child. For me, its still one of the best FF books - though many seem to disagree!

[Courtenay]

Gosh, Chrissie! I had to scroll back 10 pages to even find out what these quotes were going on about! I was wondering who was remembering a lot of details, as quoted by Sixret!

I have to admit I also find it very difficult to follow when someone unexpectedly quotes a post from weeks or months (or years) back in the thread — especially because in this forum at least, the "quote" function doesn't say when a quoted post was written. I can't even remember posting what Chrissie quoted me saying about Bill!

[Chrissie777]

Gosh, Chrissie! I had to scroll back 10 pages to even find out what these quotes were going on about! I was wondering who was remembering a lot of details, as quoted by Sixret!
I do tend to remember most details from books I've read. I could list the plots of probably all the major Enid Blyton books, though I'd have slightly more trouble with The Secret Seven because all the titles are similar - but every other book - Find Outers, Famous Five, Adventure, Barney, one-off novels etc - the plots stay with me after I've read them. I'm often quite surprised when people read books again after only a couple of years and say they don't remember the plot!

Sorry for reviving this old thread, Rob. I simply couldn't resist. There are not too many threads on EBS on the Adventure series...they are my favorite books together with the FF.

Well, the one good thing about getting older: I can re-read crime novels after a few years, because I have most of the details forgotten.

[Moonraker]

Lucky Star echoed my feelings exactly, Mountain is a good book but not as good as the others. I can quite understand why this book is special for you, Francis, as it introduced you to a great author.

Same here, nobody seems to like "Five on a Secret Trail", but it introduced me to EB and I still enjoy re-reading it after almost 53 years.

I like Secret Trail.

[Courtenay]

I like Secret Trail.

And being a contrarian.

[Chrissie777]

I like Secret Trail.

Nigel, you seriously like it?
Was it also your first EB or first FF book?

[Rob Houghton]

I like Secret Trail.

And being a contrarian.

I'm sure he said he didn't like it at one time, lol!

[Rob Houghton]

Sorry for reviving this old thread, Rob. I simply couldn't resist. There are not too many threads on EBS on the Adventure series...they are my favorite books together with the FF.

No worries about reviving old threads, Chrissie - very enjoyable - but I was just amazed how many pages back you'd quoted from, as we had been discussing stuff more recently! It keeps us on our toes!