I've just read I Capture The Castle for the first time...

[punygod]

...at the ripe old age of forty, solely due to seeing it mentioned so often on these boards.

How did I miss it for all those years? It was so beautiful.

Thank you, Mners, I now have a new favourite book. I just wish I'd read it when I was younger.

[punygod]

Oh, he's not coming back.

Great quotation about the towel

I just love Cassandra's turn of phrase. I laughed out loud when she says about her sister "I suddenly had the urge to batter her."

Not very nice, but funny.

[GothMummy]

I love the bit where they dye all their clothes, and eveything else, the same colour.
Topaz was brilliant, how old do you think she is supposed to be?
I dont think he was coming back for her either :(

[swampster]

I love it. I used to read it every summer when I was a teenager. That and Carrie's War.

[Malabrigo]

I also hated it.

[riverboat1]

I love that book, and it has one of my favourite lines ever in it: "No towel in the world is worth marrying a bearded man you hate"

Sound advice!

[SanityClause]

It has a hopeful ending, perhaps.

(I think she would have been better off with Stephen. He was lovely, and really going places.)

[saffronwblue]

I read I capture the castle when I was a teenager and have loved it ever since. I agree about the status it gives unrequited love based on one kiss.
I don't think Simon was going to come back for her. I think as well as her funny thoughts and accounts of conversations, it is the descriptions that are so compelling. Remember the bluebell scent in the department store?

[ElizabethHoover]

All those over privileged women drifting around. Boring

[MorrisZapp]

I re-read it recently. Found shades of domestic violence in some of Mortmains behaviour, plus the cake knife incident is a bit troubling isnt it?

The film has a gorgeous, very positive ending. Loved it almost as much as the book.

[emeline]

How sad to hate such lovely books, I'm so sorry!

Have just ordered the wreath suggestion upthread, looking forward to it.

So... I don't think Capture has a sad ending... He's coming back for her, isn't he.. Once his head has cleared and a few seasons have passed.

[ElizabethHoover]

i HATED It - also read if because of musnet - I also hate all the Cazalet books

[gazzalw]

The Go-Between is DW's favourite book!

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

punygod I was at least 10 years older than you when I read it! I thought it was ok but it isn't going to make it into my top ten. I passed it on to someone else as I didn't think I'd ever read it again. She really enjoyed it and has read it twice though.

Perhaps I was just too old??

The Go-Between is lovely, certainly a favourite even if not in my top ten.

[Cooroo]

Late to the party ... RiverTam yes yes! I Capture the Castle and Cold Comfort Farm are 2 of my all-time favourites. DD 18 far too busy with english a level to read anything else but these are waiting for her! I persuaded her to pick The Handmaid's Tale to compare with 1984 and she loved that

Thought the film of Castle very well done too

[RiverTam]

I am jealous of you having that first reading of it! It's a wonderful book, and stands up to rereading. Can't wait for DD to be old enough to introduce her to it!

I always put it together with Cold Comfort Farm, which I also love, but not quite as much. Haven't reread the Go-Between recently and half our books are in the loft, will go for a rummage this weekend!

[mollister]

BTW I sadly tired to get my teenage daughter to read this (ICTC) but like a Traveller in Time which I also love she found it too old fashioned.
I despair of finding anything she will read!

[Trills]

Glad it's not just me.

[OwlCapone]

I read it a while back because of MN and thought it was crap!

[Supermam]

I finished it last night. It's wonderful! Loved Cassandra - she was so funny. The opening paragraph was probably the best I've ever read! I can't believe I was never introduced to it as a child; I've always been an avid reader. Perhaps it wasn't/ isn't fashionable. I'm certainly going to recommend it to my bookclub and friends.

[lurkingaround]

The Go Between! There's a blast from the past. God I loved that book. Thought it was wonderful. I read and re-read and re-read it many times in my 20s. And then I forgot.
I'm surely due a re-read!

Wonderful book.

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

I'd second The Go-Between, it's a really lovely book. I've read it about 6 times.

I read I Capture the Castle a couple of years ago. It was ok but it didn't really grab me, I passed it on to DD1. The first sentence is one of those which will appear in those "Guess the book from the first sentence" quizzes.

[mollister]

Have you read the Once and Future King by TH White? I have it on my favourite book list with I capture the castle. I saw that R4 are about to serialise it. It is very funny but beautiful too.
Other favourites are Miss Garnet's angel by Salley Vickers - and I agree about Nancy Mitford, anything by her is marvellous.

[tshirtsuntan]

Thanks for the suggestions,will check them out

[TheLovelyBoots]

Or The Go Between by LP Hartley?

I loved this one too - I agree.

[TheLovelyBoots]

I loved it! One of my favorites. It's my MIL's favorite book from when she was a young girl. I'm giving it to my niece for Christmas.