Favorite books as a kid.

[Bodian]

Yes - you're right. This is what I meant by the early books being more believable; once he started branching out into things like Missee Lee they lost their credibility a bit. But I think that's true of many authors - their first books are often the most realistic, and then they feel the need to become more outlandish to keep coming up with new things (a bit like many of the long running TV series' - they should quit whilst they're ahead). The only author to really avoid this was Wodehouse - who simply wrote the same story 80 times!

 

[Me and my Monkey]

The only author to really avoid this was Wodehouse - who simply wrote the same story 80 times!

The Columbo of literature!

 

[marcos3263]

The Machine Gunners was also a good one for me.

Brilliant book, brilliant author. Several of his were favourites- Fathom five was the follow up and was grittier for a teen market. The scarecrows was scary as hell and still a good read now (I'm 45) have read all 3 countless times.

For fun there was the black hand gang where the story was on the left page and a very detail picture on the right for you to. Find clues

 

[goldstone]

Swallows and Amazons. Excellent.

 

[Mackenzie]

I used to like those fighting fantasy books, I had loads of them (usually bought from the top floor of Gambleys).

 

[sams dad]

Yes - Biggles. I had dozens of these - and not long ago read quite a few of them. Not bad at all, very stiff upper lip along with the Sapper books and others of the era.

Another Biggles fan here.

 

[Two Professors]

Another Biggles fan-had the lot.

 

[GT49er]

Wasn't sure what my real favourite was, so read through this thread - and now even more confused!

Got to a mention of W.H.Awdry, and thought, yes! That, along with Sammy the Shunter (contemporary with Thomas, Henry, etc, but much less well known).
Then someone mentioned Narnia - changed my mind!
Then Arthur Ransome - dithering again!
Next up - Biggles. Oh boy, did I love Biggles books, even though Biggles really did occasionally ejaculate instead of exclaiming, yelling, or just saying or replying!
And after all that, you can throw in Alison Uttley (the Little Grey Rabbit books) for when I was very young, and of course, Jennings.

Smashing thread!

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

Where's Wally? I eventually found him on NSC posting under HB&B.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

The Paddington books and Emil and the Detectives

 

[GT49er]

Yes - you're right. This is what I meant by the early books being more believable; once he started branching out into things like Missee Lee they lost their credibility a bit. But I think that's true of many authors - their first books are often the most realistic, and then they feel the need to become more outlandish to keep coming up with new things.

You have a point. I haven't read much Arthur Ransome lately (I don't think it's the sort of stuff that's allowed in public libraries any more!) - but I did comparatively recently read Peter Duck (the one where they going chasing about in the Caribbean with pirates) to one of my children, and realised that in the end it tuned out to be Titty's dream - i.e. it didn't 'really' happen, if you know what I mean. That was something I hadn't noticed or realised when I had previously read the book, almost 60 years ago.
I wonder if Missee Lee was something similar?
BTW, I thought We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea was one of the best, and in many respects, quite credible (at least up to the point where their father just happened to be waiting on the quayside in Holland!)

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Chilly Billy

 

[Dick Head]

50
Now Black Jumbo was just coming home from his work, with a great big brass pot in his arms, and when he saw what was left of all the Tigers he said, “Oh! what lovely melted butter! I'll take that home to Black Mumbo for her to cook with.”

How sexist! No wonder it was banned.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Another Famous Five, Biggles and Peter Rabbit, morphed into those small war mags by Ace etc

 

[Weststander]

C.S.Lewis - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Was a magical read, decades ahead of the OK movies trilogy.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

The famous five series

Same here. Also The Secret Seven, The Magic Faraway Tree, Swallows and Amazons.

 

[whitelion]

Didn't really have novels in the house growing up so I read dictionaries and encyclopedias as well as the occasional annual.

 

[madinthehead]

Famous Five and adventure series from Enid BLyton , Narnia, Charlie and the chocolate factory and Adrian Mole..
Had a big phase of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and the rest of the books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone