to think that Amy March is one of the most irritating literary characters ever.

[squoosh]

God she annoys me, throwing Jo's book in the fire, being a general brat and then sin of sins marrying Laurie when she had no business do any such thing.

I don't care what the subsequent books may say the Amy/Laurie union was a stupid idea.

They should have left her to drown in the icy river.

Matthew dying always brings a lump to my throat and I've read the bloody book hundreds of times. And yes Ruby's death is even sadder in some ways, pretty, flirty Ruby struck down by galloping consumption, or did she die from flirting......I always had my suspicions that she was being punished for liking the boys too much.

The films are never true to the books!

Never really liked Hardy.

How about the Abbey Girls?

I haven't read Return of the Native so it can't be me.

Mill on the Floss was an A Level set text. The bastards.

I always thought it was a bit of a moral judgement on poor ol' Ruby too, squoosh. Who knew - LM Montgomery had judgey pants!!

I disliked Maggie Tulliver. Finished reading and threw the book to the floor in disgust.

Also Cathy in Wuthering Heights. I just did not get that bloody book. Perhaps I should try again?

TooExtra - I love the chalet school books - Joey with her 11 children (and her threat to add quads, that is never fulfilled), and how every woman who gives birth has to spend 10 days in bed. And Matey inspecting the dormitories. And having to use French, English and Germans on alternating days. I would have loved to go to the Chalet School.

I have read a lot of the books mentioned on this thread - to my shame, though, none of the more erudite ones like Mill on the Floss and Wuthering Heights etc.

I do remember the Seven Little Australians series, and I thought it was very sad at the end - and then I read the book which is sadder!

Does anyone remember the series - The Swish of the Curtain - where a group of children find a deserted hall with a stage, and decide to make it into a theatre and put on a play?

Has anyone mentioned Noel Streatfield yet?

SDTG I introduced 9-yo DD1 to Noel Streatfield at the end of last year and she loves them. And I get to reread them too . Mind you, DD1 prefers to live in alternate worlds - one night recently, as I was leaving her room after saying goodnight, a wistful little voice said 'Mummy, wouldn't it be great if you could go and live in a book just for a little while? I'd go to Hogwarts and Narnia and I'd be Pauline for a bit too.'

Yes, SDTG, Ballet Shoes and White Boots, and the tennis one, can't remember the name.
I always ask forlornly on these threads if anyone is a fan of Violet Needham: Black Riders, Stormy Petrel, Bell of the Four Evangalists etc. Occasionally someone has read one of them but there appears to be no bunch of devotees despite there being a flourishing Violet Needham Society.

Poledra your daughter sounds lovely, I often wanted to live in a book when I was a child.

I too loved the Chalet School SDTG, although I always thought Jack Maynard was a bit suspect.

"Does anyone remember the series - The Swish of the Curtain - where a group of children find a deserted hall with a stage, and decide to make it into a theatre and put on a play? "

Remember it? I read them to dd. Repeatedly. She is now 17, directing a play when she should probably be revising for her AS levels, and her ambition is to do a degree in theatre practice and set up her own touring company.

Be very careful. Some of these books are dangerous!

Aw, I love Noel Streatfield. I think Thursday's Child/Far to Go are quite a bit more subtle than lots of ones she rather cranked out with the similar plots.

I love 'three of everything, all of the very best quality'.

Oh, and we have a little pony called Banner. Anyone get the reference?

I liked Streatfeild but never loved her although I was fond of Pauline, Petrova and Posy. The showbiz theme was overworked a bit.

The Swish of the Curtain had a profound effect on my teenage years too Seeker.

I hope my dd grows up like yours Poledra. I remember that feeling from a child, the desperate yearning to become the character I loved so much. The Dark is Rising series was one of my obsessions, I wanted to be Jane actually I still do

The Chalet school are most notable for the amount of children who fell down cliffs. And the fact that singing or speaking in a clear voice OFTEN brought people back from the dead. I remember one thread where we all speculated on the AIBU threads from Chalet School parents

Fascinating how breathing cold air gives you bronchitis in the Chalet school too.

Mind you, I've had arguments on mumsnet about that!

I loved how everyone was interrogated as soon as they joined the Chalet School as to whether they were Catholic or Protestant. Was dying for a Buddhist to join the gang.

Tennis Shoes is the tennis one, HintOfBream. I don't know how she came up with that title.

I really do enjoy re-reading childrens' books from my childhood - there are so many good ones. I've got most of the Malcolm Saville Lone Pine stories - when I was a child, I really wanted to be Peta, from the Lone Pine series, because she and the handsomest boy character (whose name I completely forget) ended up as a couple. I've added to my collection of Eva Ibbotson books too - I like her childrens books as much as her books for adults.

And head injuries make your hair curl.

And finding love means you give up your ambition to be an archaeologist.

Yes, I am a fan of Violet Needham! I was quite obsessed with The Black Riders as a child and think her best novels are really excellent, though I find some of them rather weak/mannered these days and can't be bothered with the magical objects. But the ones where she looks at statecraft, and the character of Count Jasper, who starts off seeming like an evil tyrant but one then realises is rather a principled and effective regent, are v impressive.

Does Mary Lou fall in love? I haven't read that one!

And no one is ever allowed to keep their full name. You enter the Chalet School as Annabel and within 5 minutes Joey will have you rechristened as Bill.

Mooncup a goddess indeed. . Yes, I know what you mean about the the slightly magical ones but the minute I pick one up and start reading I am totaly sucked in, magic or not. The later ones have very flimsy plots too. The earlier ones with Jasper and Dick are the best. I've got 11 of them, and very expensive they are these days though Girls Gone by have done some. I am always hoping to spot one I havn't got in a second handbookshop. Can't understand why so few people are familiar with them.

Shortenings are ok but not nicknames. Hence deliberations between the triplets about whether Richenda could be Ricky or Shendy...

I don't remember Mary-Lou falling in love, but going back to the thread title she is definitely one of the most annoying characters in children's fiction.

I always fantasised about going to the Chalet School too but in practice I would have hated it, so bloody wholesome and all that sport.