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Confession time! Tell us your literary sins to win an entire set of 20 Puffin Classics

383 replies

EmilyMumsnet · 13/04/2015 10:57

Literary shame is a powerful thing - if you've ever nodded sagely while your friends discussed Bleak House or chuckled knowingly about the The Wizard of Oz - the film is the same thing isn’t it? – you'll know what we're talking about. But now we're giving you the chance to 'fess up! Tell us which Puffin Classic you have never actually read, and you'll be in the running to win the entire set.

The Puffin Classics are back, and with a bold new look – twenty brand new covers for the classic tales, from Huck to Dorothy to Alice to Peter. One lucky poster will receive all twenty, while 5 randomly-selected runners-up will win a copy of their never-read tale.

Here's the full set list:
The Call of the Wild, Tom Sawyer, The Wizard of Oz, King Arthur, The Jungle Book, Black Beauty, Huckleberry Finn, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, The Odyssey, A Little Princess, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The Wind in the Willows, Treasure Island, Heidi, Peter Pan, Little Women, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

This competition is now closed. And the winners are:

Belo - full set of Puffin Classics
happysouls - The Call Of The Wild
Punkatheart -Heidi
Miisty - Tom Sawyer
Pigeonpea - Huckleberry Finn
kohl - Wind In The Willows

Thanks for all your contributions, we'll be in touch with the winners shortly

Confession time! Tell us your literary sins to win an entire set of 20 Puffin Classics
OP posts:
ShadowStone · 13/04/2015 17:37

Relatively easy starter version of the Odessey that was meant to say.

ShadowStone · 13/04/2015 17:36

I've read most of them, but not Black Beauty. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. As I understand it, it's about a horse, and I'm sure it's a very good book if you like that sort of thing, but stories starring animals generally bore me senseless.

Same with Wind in the Willows. I read a heavily abridged version of that when I was a child, and have no desire to revisit it ever again.

The Odyssey though - I read that a few years ago and it was a really hard read. It seems a bit out of place on that list, unless it's a relatively easy starter

BitterChocolate · 13/04/2015 17:35

I've read everything there except The Wizard of Oz, which (big and shameful confession coming) I didn't even know was a book. Blush I have also never seen the film all the way through in one sitting, and I was in my early 40s before I ever saw the beginning of it. I suspect I'm still missing a section of the film, just before she gets swept up by the tornado.

keithymon88 · 13/04/2015 17:35

Never read King Arthur. Whatismore I actually did not know it was a book - let alone a classic.

Cerealchanger · 13/04/2015 17:35

I've not read Tom Sawyer or huckleberry Finn. This is making me want to reread some of them though - I loved Anne of green gables!

chrystabelle · 13/04/2015 17:34

Not read Huckleberry Finn, Call of the Wild or A Little Princess. I always preferred to re-read my favourites - I read the cover off Heidi and Black Beauty.

LeonieJ33 · 13/04/2015 17:33

I have read many of these but not The Odessey or Call of the Wild (saw the films I think) I would love this collection to read to my daughter x

Punkatheart · 13/04/2015 17:32

I have never read Heidi. All I know is there is a goat, a girl and her grandfather....

Badgerwife · 13/04/2015 17:32

lol where do I even start? There's loads I haven't read, but I'd never even heard of Geraldine McCaughrean's The Odyssey. I don't recognise the author's name either.

iammamam · 13/04/2015 17:32

as an adult

iammamam · 13/04/2015 17:31

I got half way through little women and an adult and gave up to it :-/

myblackboots · 13/04/2015 17:29

Mmm quite a few I've never read: The Call of the Wild, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Odyssey, Treasure Island and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. But I did read A Little Princess over and over again as a child - always have liked a happy ending.

mrsdarlingx · 13/04/2015 17:27

I've read and loved most of those but it's a little embarrassing to admit I'm not sure I've even heard of The Odyssey!??

polyhymnia · 13/04/2015 17:26

Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I never fancied it - my dislike of science fiction overcame my Francophilia.

(Have probably read Call of the Wild but have very little recall of it).

NerrSnerr · 13/04/2015 17:25

I have never heard of Tom Sawyer. That's a sin isn't it?

bughead · 13/04/2015 17:23

Heidi, as when young always thought she was somehow to wholesome, maybe should get to read it now I am older and hopefully wiser..

ItsJustPaint · 13/04/2015 17:22

From that list I have only read black beauty about 10 times

I'm not embarrassed to say I haven't read something... There are so many books in this world and so little time...

FrozenAteMyDaughter · 13/04/2015 17:22

Erm, I think lots of them, but I am so old now I can't quite remember. I have definitely not read The Call of the Wild though.

Justmuddlingalong · 13/04/2015 17:21

Heidi. DP and I had a conversation about that book, just a few weeks ago. I have never, ever seen him reading a book, so can't quite believe his shock that I hadn't read it, yet he supposedly has.

Emerald33 · 13/04/2015 17:20

Out of these the ones I haven't read are:

The Call of the Wild, The Wizard of Oz, King Arthur, The Jungle Book, Black Beauty, Anne of Green Gables, A Little Princess, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Treasure Island

I read a summary of the Jungle Book once and basically it said it was far more violent than Disney ever let on! I tried Anne of Green Gables too, but the girl in it was way too wishy washy (from what I remember)

Ardagh1 · 13/04/2015 17:19

I have not read Call of the Wild or Journey to the Centre of the Earth

over40andmumtoone · 13/04/2015 17:18

I've read all of them except Huckleberry Finn

araminem · 13/04/2015 17:17

I read a lot as a child, but there are a couple there tht i have never read. However, the one that sticks with me the most is The Wind in the Willows. When people talk about its characters (and they seem to do a lot) I tend to nod and smile! Cannot bring myself to admit it

GiantGaspingSatanicCyst · 13/04/2015 11:37

The only ones I've read on that list are Black Beauty and A Little Princess.

I also have an English degree but have never read Middlemarch, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, most Dickens, most Hardy, any Henry James or DH Lawrence...I could go on.

I am a voracious reader also and have been since childhood.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 13/04/2015 11:37

I haven't read Call of the Wild or Journey to the Centre of the Earth. And I'm not sure which King Arthur this means.

I would like to win them though! DD refuses to read my old paperbacks because they're not shiny and new Hmm. (I suppose if a lot of kids feel like her, that's good news for publishers!)

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