St.Clare's v Malory Towers

[reelingintheyears]

Why was that thread just pulled?

Gah. I tried to post on here twice yesterday but MN went bonkers on me, crashing and all sorts.

I wondered where that last thread got to as well - I got particularly ranty towards the OP right at the end, after all my Malory Towers banter

I loved Malory Towers. One of my oldest friends gave me my DD the box set when she was born. We used to harp on about midnight feasts and ginger beer for ages - until I actually went to boarding school and told he it wasn't like that at all! Quite liked the Trebizon books too, but I was really jealous of Rebecca who had to 'choose' between tennis and athletics, whereas I was crap at both.

Oh my god I want a kindle now, just so that I can read that book instantly

mam'zelle Rougier vs Mam'zelle Dupont
thin vs plump
harsh vs sweet

I loved Malory Towers, and St Clares, and the Naughtiest Girl. And, well, all the rest.

But if I had to choose a school for my DCs (not that I ever intend them to board) it'd still have to be Hogwarts. Playing Quiddich sounds so much more fun than lacrosse or hockey or even tennis. Wizard, even...

Humphrey you can get a Kindle app thing for your PC. Or iPhone/iPod Touch/Android phone :)

thank god for technically literate people

thanks LawrieMarlow. I love your name, one of my favourite characters of all time

am considering a name change to ThalianotFailure

:)

I have various Antonia Forest names at my disposal. Am most sad that someone else got Rowan. ThalianotFailure would be a great name I think.

can i put in a good word for the chalet school books?

Loved st clare's. Never tried the others!

Does anyone have "Pomona"? or "Crispin"?

I am occasionally PomonaTodd. Sometimes MirandaWest, sometimes LoisSanger. Think I have NicolaMarlow as well, And GintyMarlow I think. Must check sometime :)

I was reading AS Byatt "The Children's Book" and came across someone called Pomona in there, and of course all i could think of was Antonia Forest. I'd never heard it before as a real name, and thought she'd made it up!

I'm most like Esther, I expect. With elements of Meg Hopkins, and probably also bits of Marie ( :( ), maybe bits of Pomona as well. But I wanted to be Nick, or Miranda, or Jan. At least I know not to try namechanging!

Just entering this conversation very late to say Hooray for all the Antonia Forest fans. Until the internet I thought I was the only one. They are the best children's books ever and I'm engaged in a long term struggle with my DD (10) to read them after giving her Autumn Term far too young in my eagerness. I always liked Lawrie although I know she'd probably be a nightmare in real life. I took to her in the first book (combination of preferring her name and envying her acting talent) and after that it was a loyalty thing... No one else? Miranda is probably the one I'd like to have as my friend.

Every so often I borrow them all when I visit my mum's - she still has them all, and acquires them when she can.

I think if I could 'live' in any of them, it would be Cricket Term - such a lovely depiction of school life when it all goes right when you're 13. If we ignore the fact you can be booted off to Colebridge Grammar if Keith raises the fees suddenly.....

Oh yes, the joy of the Cricket Term! My other favourite was always End of Term. I have to say I never quite went for the sudden arrival of the 70s in the Attic Term - all the fab gear never quite rang true... But still head and shoulders above anything else.

Oh, who wouldn't like a swirly shift?

just remembered Claudine the french girl, she and mam'zelle Dupont would squeal rather than sit in the sun and get a freckle

used to love belinda the artist, and when Catherine the doormat sharpened all of her pencils and she was annoyed because artists need some to be blunt.

Whipped Cream - I think it was called The Land of Far Beyond. I still have my copy. Anyone else remember EB's "The Put-Em-Rights"? About a nasty little group of smug middle class do-gooders.

yes! the land of far beyond. I was obsessed with that. used to dream about it.

Kingscote for me - I would love to think I was like Rowan but in reality am probably more of an Esther (minus the beauty)

I was wondering why no one had mentioned Rowan. She always struck me as quite enigmatic - what was going on with her? How did she manage to be a 16 (?17) year old farmer and yet so cool? Also isn't Lois Sanger a fantastic character? Sorry to gush but I've spent 30 years not being able to talk to anyone about this!

BTW, I do quite like Malory Towers too - have always remembered the first book especially - but it just can't measure up to Kingscote.

I love and simultaneously hate Lois Sanger - her thought processes are horrifically close to my own sometimes, the painful self justification and not being able to admint that what she is doing is wrong.

I also love the characters of Peter and Patrick. In Peter's Room when they get to explore their inner fears when they are Gondalling I wonder what type of character I would have created.

I often wonder why I like AF so much - because more so than a lot of boarding school books, there really is quite a lot of right wing sentiment in them!

But I do.

I found Rowan rather unconvincing as a 15 year old in AUtumn Term - did teenagers really talk like that, even then? But yes, she's pretty impressive.

What are you thinking of that's specifically right wing? They are all quite reactionary and quite us-and-them I know, but I'm trying to think of anything I should have found more offensive... Any more so than other books of the time. I do slightly struggle as the decades go by and AF's personal opinions come through more and more strongly.

And yes - the fabulous thing about Lois is how real her thinking is! And the fact that you can feel the pain of knowing she's wrong but not being able to be different. Inspired.