Good Enid Blyton Winter/Christmas Reads

[Chrissie777]

There are quite a few good ones to choose from, but as a child I loved the feel of Rat-a-Tat.

Me, too!

[Chrissie777]

A couple of favourite Christmas reads for me are "The Christmas Mouse" by Miss Read and "Christmas at Nettleford" by Malcolm Saville. I can highly recommend them. And stating the bloomin' obvious how about "The Christmas Book" by Enid Blyton?Kate.

One of my favorite Christmas reads is "Winter Solstice" by Rosamunde Pilcher and "Silver Bells" by Luanne Rice.

[Chrissie777]

One of my favourite Christmas reads is A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.
I recorded the 1987 TV film (now available on DVD), starring Denholm Elliott as Old Geraint, which we watch every Christmas. For those not familiar with the book or film, I recommend both as wonderful Christmas entertainment.

Agreed - another great Christmas read.
I remember watching the 1987 film on television and enjoying it very much, Deborah. I believe it's only available on a Region 1 DVD, which can't be played in the UK.

Eddie, you should be able to play it on your laptop.

[Chrissie777]

You're quite correct Eddie, without a multi-regional DVD player one is quite scuppered although, so my son tells me, there is a code which can be used in order to play Region 1 DVDs in the UK. Maybe someone on the forums may know more about this.

Since 2008 we had 2 Pioneer multi-regional DVD players. Each only cost $ 100 on amazon, so it's no big deal actually.

[Chrissie777]

The Sittaford Mystery aka Murder At Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie(1931)

It was a typical Dickens Christmas: deep snow everywhere, and down in the little
village of Sittaford on the fringe of Dartmoor probably deeper than anywhere.
Mrs. Willett, the winter tenant in Captain Trevelyan'ss country house, was,
with her daughter Violet, giving a party.Finally they decided to do a little
table rapping and after the usual number of inconsequential messages from the
"other side", suddenly the table announced that Captain Trevelyan was
dead.His oldest friend, Captain Burnaby, was disturbed. He quickly left the
house and tramped ten miles of snowy roads to Exhampton.There was no sign of
life in Trevelyan's house.A back window was broken in and the light was
"burning”and there, on the floor, was the body of Trevelyan.Inspector
Narracott took the case in hand, and after wandering through a maze of false
clues and suspects, he ultimately discovered the murderer of Captain
Trevelyan.Mrs. Christie has never
formulated a more ingenious or enthralling plot and her characterisation is of
the vivid type which marked The Murder at the Vicarage and The Murder of Roger
Ackroyd.

I could swear I once read a crime novel by Agatha Christie which took place in a train stuck in a snow storm. It's not "Murder on the Orient Express" though.

[IceMaiden]

You're quite correct Eddie, without a multi-regional DVD player one is quite scuppered although, so my son tells me, there is a code which can be used in order to play Region 1 DVDs in the UK. Maybe someone on the forums may know more about this.

Since 2008 we had 2 Pioneer multi-regional DVD players. Each only cost $ 100 on amazon, so it's no big deal actually.

Easiest option I've found is to buy a cheap external USB plug in DVD player and when you put a region 1 disk in set the region to 1 in the pop up box that appears. That way you don't have to alter your computer's built in disk drive (which will lock permanently after five attempts at changing the region setting) because it's the DVD player that will be set not the computer. I've got two, one set to play region 1 and the other region 2 so I can watch either without having to worry about changing the setting or accidentally locking it.

[Fiona1986]

I've got a Pioneer multi-regional DVD player too. My parents had bought a bundle of TV, DVD player and VCR and I got given the Pioneer one as they didn't need two. That was at least twenty years ago, and yet it still works. It has developed one or two idiosyncrasies over time - sometimes the pause button stops the DVD - but how many DVD players now would last 20 years? I'll be gutted if it does die eventually as I'll need to shell out for another multi-region player (which no doubt won't last as long) as I've got various region 1 and 4 discs as they were cheaper than the UK ones.

Your solution is great for watching on computers or laptops, though, IceMaiden!

[pete9012S]

Yes a great solution IceMaiden.
Hope your player lasts for a good few years yet Fiona.



Anyone fancy The Rat A Tat Mystery for 77p on kindle from amazon?
It has a good review from our very own Rob:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08 ... tkin_p1_i0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lucky Star]

I love that Rat-a-Tat cover. But not on Kindle. I have the hardback and a paperback, those will do me.

[Chrissie777]

I've got a Pioneer multi-regional DVD player too. My parents had bought a bundle of TV, DVD player and VCR and I got given the Pioneer one as they didn't need two. That was at least twenty years ago, and yet it still works. It has developed one or two idiosyncrasies over time - sometimes the pause button stops the DVD - but how many DVD players now would last 20 years? I'll be gutted if it does die eventually as I'll need to shell out for another multi-region player (which no doubt won't last as long) as I've got various region 1 and 4 discs as they were cheaper than the UK ones.

We are using the 2nd Pioneer DVD Player since 2009, so our's lasted on an average 5 to 6 years. I have to admit that I use it a lot (every day for 3 to 4 hours).

[Red Tower]

14 Dec 2010, 10:41

... Stephen,don't know if you've ever mentioned it before,but I wonder,what is your favourite Enid Blyton book of all time, and why?

warmest regards

Pete

My favorite Enid Blyton book is House-At-The-Corner. This stand-alone-book is surely a classic. It garners a lot of emotions just as the other Blyton standalones, but in my opinion, House-At-The-Corner tops them all. It is a while since I read it (mind you for the second time), but nonetheless,the family intrigues, Dad's accident, Aunt Grace's monetary rescue makes this book a classic. It should be one of those Enid Blyton books that ought to be turned into a movie and if the emotions in it are well captured, it could be a very strong Oscar contender.
Stephen I.

Just found this post further back in this thread - I'm going to start reading this book today in memory of dear Stephen who we so sadly lost this year.

Really? Oh my word

[IceMaiden]

I've got a Pioneer multi-regional DVD player too. My parents had bought a bundle of TV, DVD player and VCR and I got given the Pioneer one as they didn't need two. That was at least twenty years ago, and yet it still works. It has developed one or two idiosyncrasies over time - sometimes the pause button stops the DVD - but how many DVD players now would last 20 years? I'll be gutted if it does die eventually as I'll need to shell out for another multi-region player (which no doubt won't last as long) as I've got various region 1 and 4 discs as they were cheaper than the UK ones.

Your solution is great for watching on computers or laptops, though, IceMaiden!

I did buy a multi-region DVD player once but it didn't work. It wouldn't recognise anything but region 2 despite the fact it was advertised and sold (at a higher price) as a 'region free' player.

Who remembers video rental shops? We used to rent a video player, I remember the shop electrician coming to the house now and then to work on it as it was chewing up the videos - yards of what looked like plastic spaghetti spilling out of it . Or video tapes that were jumping in parts where it had been rewound over and over in the same place. I taped all the 90's FF series and annoyingly Treasure Island would flicker and lose the sound and colour for the first ten minutes which no amount of turning with a 5p piece would fix. You just don't have those memories with dvds.

[Katharine]

Yesterday I spotted Christmas Stories on my bookshelves.

A bit late for Christmas perhaps, but the tree, cards and decorations are still up and I don't want to wait nearly a year to read it, so I've started reading it.

[GloomyGraham]

A bit late for the Christmas just gone but you can put this one on your lists for next year.

Just re-read 'Five Have a Puzzling Time' and thought 'Happy Christmas Five' must be one of the rare stories about some of her major characters focussed on Christmas.

I've been surprised in some of my other re-readings that there doesn't seem to be a particularly Christmas story for many, which is funny when she wrote a couple of Bonfire Night stories for the SS. You'd think almost every one of her popular series might have a Christmas story.

[Fiona1986]

Who remembers video rental shops? ... I taped all the 90's FF series and annoyingly Treasure Island would flicker and lose the sound and colour for the first ten minutes which no amount of turning with a 5p piece would fix. You just don't have those memories with dvds.

We used to borrow videos from the local shop but also the library. I think we always took the same ones from the library - I remember borrowing one of the Little Mermaid sequels quite a few times which was a bone of contention because my younger sister was scared of the evil ray creature in it. She was scared of just about everything though so there were always arguments about what to rent/borrow.

A scratched DVD is no better than a dodgy video sometimes!