The occasional scrivener

Swallows and Amazons, a series by Arthur Ransome

Whew! I just completed an extended trip down memory lane. I last read them in my early teens, but still remember nearly all the plots.

• Swallows and Amazons: the first book.

• Swallowdale: the arch-nemesis of the Amazons, the Great Aunt, makes her first appearance.

• Peter Duck: my battered Puffin paperback was liberated from the school library in Kuala Lumpur. It’s marked

HIGHGATE HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
HQ KUALA LUMPUR GARRISON
c/o G.P.O. KUALA LUMPUR

The last date is 16.10.75. As we didn’t move to KL until 1977, I’m guessing this book was sold out or given away.

• Winter Holiday: the D’s, Dick and Dorothea, make their appearance.

• Coot Club: a favourite.

• Pigeon Post: a bit different from what I remember. I focused a lot more on Dick back then, guess it was identification with him.

• We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea: a great book.

• Secret Water. Not one of my favourites.

• The Big Six: classic juvenile detective story

• Missee Lee: a swashbuckling tale involving a female pirate chief with a passion for Latin. Our heroes are forced to endure that fate worse than death: lessons in the holidays. The shiftless youngest, Roger, unexpectedly shines as a Latin scholar. Mildly racist in a 30s kind of way.

• The Picts and the Martyrs: an interesting book. The premise is that in order to be nice to Mrs. Blackett, the D’s have to be “naughty” and live in the woods, cooking their own food and generally having a typical S&A-type adventure. This is because the dreaded Great Aunt would blow up if she found them living with the Amazons. Interesting juxtaposition of morals here.

• Great Nothern?: early eco-friendly children’s literature. The setting is in the Scottish Highlands, which lends it another flavour than the Lake District or the Broads. I thought I likes this book better than I actually did.

Posted at 17:16, in the books » read category. Comments [0]
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