Books you thought no one else has read

[tweetysylvester]

It's so fun to find rare books to read, or just look up or hear about less known books, so thought I'd start a thread about this. Nostalgic novels, YA books, current titles you discovered very randomly...

I was lucky enough to have parents who loved poetry and Swinburne and Housman were amongst their favourites. Mine too. Ford Maddox Ford- The Good Soldier is a work of genius imo, though not jolly. Haven’t read any of his others.

Thanks for that information. I didn't know though have always loved that painting.

My favourite childhood story was Rupert the Bear and the Annuals at Christmas. Two of my friends told me they weren't allowed to read it by their parents because it was published by the Daily Express and their parents were socialists. How very sad.

The last GH I read was the Tollgate.

My two favourites are The Grand Sophy and The Unknown Ajax.

Yes! I’ve just remembered I have read The Crying of Lot 49. It was so long ago I’d forgotten!

Yes!! Just found my copy yesterday in fact (and gave to charity)! I was briefly obsessed with it as a kid.

LOVED the Adventure series and kept all 14 books, now unsure whether to pass them on to the kids as they won't have aged well. They've been republished and made a bit more PC I think...

My adult reading choices are depressingly mainstream 🤦‍♀️ Plenty of books from childhood I could think of.

One adult book I read as a kid was The Aforesaid Child by Clare Sullivan, I think my nan gave it to me. I read it a couple of times and think it was based on the author's own experiences of being a wartime evacuee. I found it on a similar level to Goodnight Mr Tom at the time. Have never heard of it since.

Here it is

@InigoJollifant - the books are yours! If you pm me your address, I'll get them packed up and into the post. It may be next week, now, because we are off to visit our new twin granddaughters on Friday, so this week will be a bit hectic.

I'm struggling to think how some could be made acceptable to current sensibilities. Wasn't there one called 'Cannibal Adventure'? I don't think even the title would pass muster. Iirc one of the boys went on a successful 😳 headhunting expedition and came back from it remarkably untraumatised. Not sure tween-me could say the same. Even though it all happened off screen.

If I'd had the titles I think I'd let my kids read them but possibly when they were older than I was and I'd definitely need to know their thoughts on them.

What is the point of taking a book from a previous age and giving it a PC makeover. I've never understood this. Apart from anything else it's an insult to the voice of the author. Nuances and meanings get lost. It's a cowardly and gutless way of thinking imo.

By all means have that chat with the kids about something being of its time. But don't sanitise the past like it wasn't different from the present.

I deliberately seek out older copies of books because of this.

Sorry @calliete just to be clear I'm not aiming those comments at you, rather those who would tinker with a text.

I knew someone who was trying to republish them but even though they edited out some of the more problematic parts they still got no takers.

I loved them too, they were just really exciting stories. People wonder why kids don't read any more, but sometimes they just want a cracking good story, not to read about kids who are living the exact same lives, with the same problems, that they have"

Totally agree - modern kids books are so worthy sometimes

I read the Abbey Girls series years ago, and found an unabridged copy of The New Abbey Girls on-line. They're encouraging a half-Italian girl to wear bright colours, and one of them says "you niggery people always look good in bright colours".

I don't think this is a new thing. Some Victorian children's books were way worse.

There are plenty of children's books which haven't aged well. I love Biggles, but some of the ones set outside of Europe have some very questionable attitudes.

I completely agree for adult books but for children's books when the offensive language is incidental to the story I think it's sensible, the alternative is just the book not being read at all.

I can absolutely not reread The Weirdstone of Brisingamen as an adult. It’s completely brilliant, but the bit where Peter and Susan and co have to escape through the Erldelving’s tiny, flooded tunnels gives me virtual panic attacks from the claustrophobia.

the bit where Peter and Susan and co have to escape through the Erldelving’s tiny, flooded tunnels gives me virtual panic attacks from the claustrophobia.

I hated that part as a child. Have never forgotten it.

Nowadays, if I see narrow underground passages coming up in anything I'm reading, I skip past. Don't mind a nice big cave.

ETA of course there is some point to narrow passages in children's adventure fiction - the adult villains can't get at you.

I read and reread The Pigman by Paul Zindel as a child, borrowed it from the library over and over and could see that no one else had it in between.
Usually I enjoy revisiting books I enjoyed as a youngster but I googled it to refresh my memory and the plot is so dark!

Me too. The worst bit is where Peter gets stuck going through the hairpin bend.

He’s called Colin not Susan. Weirdstone is great in many ways and the crawl through the tunnels is a fantastic piece of writing. However Alan Garner unfortunately failed to give Colin and Susan any personality, something he now acknowledges .

That should have been Peter not Susan obviously! They’re called Colin and Susan. Even their names are forgettable!