Bookworm by Lucy Mangan

[TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross]

I’m reading this and have just got to the moment which mentions the need for a Ladybird book on Maintaining Your Sanity on Mumsnet Given the Impossibility of Staying Away from Mumsnet.

Lucy: If you are on here, your book is JOYOUS. We have a LOT of childhood reading in common!

If anyone rejects this book(or Bookish)because of some crap sub editing, they are a human definition of cutting off your nose to spite your face. And, frankly, a bit ridiculous.

You seem very invested in this thread @CurlewKate Do you know the author?

No. But I enjoyed it very much. And I have no patience with “I think you’ll find…”ers.

Her paragraph (p 134 in Bookworm is):

On her first visit, Lucy meets a talking lion called Aslan who fills her heart with love and she promises that she will return to help him. But her brothers and sister do not believe her (though Edmund is lying.....)and she almost has to go on without them. At the last minute Aslan becomes visible to them.....'

But the children all meet Aslan together (apart from Edmund who's buggered off in search of that Turkish Delight). So Lucy doesn't promise to come back and help him because they are already there. Yes, her siblings don't believe her, but that's about Narnia in general (because she says Edmund has also been and he's all like, what no, I never).

In fact, Peter is the first to approach Aslan, not Lucy. I dunno, I think these are all pretty big plot points to get wrong.

It's interesting actually in the Narnia section, Mangan is making the point that although the books 'sneak in the God stuff', not to worry because 'no child has or will be converted to Christianity through reading about Cair Paravel...fauns and all the rest. If they notice at all '

and yet her remembered reading focuses not on the iconic scene where Lucy meets a faun, but on the rather more overarching image of Aslan filling Lucy's heart with love, which is Lewis's most literal Christian message.

(Actually I think when Lucy first hears Aslan's name she think of summer holidays never ending, or something like that, which is an excellent image of the very best thing a child could wish for - with always winter but never Christmas being the worst).

Fair enough.
But a) reading is subjective and b)there are thousands of brilliant books out there that don’t have careless errors in that I can go an enjoy instead
Each to their own.
Bottom line, the author got it wrong. Some people will find that annoying.

The mistake that infuriated me in children's literature 'really???' moments was a women being interviewed on Radio 4 who had written a musical based on Malory Towers, and referred to the 'five books' it was based on. That was a real shocker.

I don't think the author got it wrong. As you say, reading is subjective. I think, subjectively, her summary is a perfectly legitimate reading and it was the most relevant summary in context. But it's okay that you don't like it.

Reading is subjective yes. Confidently asserting a plot inaccurately is not subjective. It is misremembering and, while it may not be intentional it is factually wrong.

I think she's got the plot mixed up with Prince Caspian - in that there's a bit where at first only Lucy can see Aslan and she has to persuade the others to go with her, then later Aslan becomes visible to all of them.

You’re right. And Edmund sees him next and pretends not to. It’s one of the moments when Lewis does ‘nastyish sibling interaction’ stuff rather well.

Damn it, I had no intention of rereading the Narnia books (of which The Silver Chair is my favourite!) or Bookworm, but I may have to now.

Yes of course. Lucy says something to Aslan about how he has changed and he says it's because she's a year older (so not her first visit!)

And then actually I think it's Peter and Susan who don't believe he is there this time and Edmund can't see him but kind of believes because he's like, OK, I can't see him but you can Lucy, so let's tell the others (so he is kind of redeemed here after being so sly in TLTWATW).

Phew. Collective remembering!

So if we take Narnia as the canon, we can say that all those things Mangan mentioned DID happen, but not necessarily in her remembered order.

And considering LWW was the first published book, but chronologically Magician's Nephew is first, we can probably forgive her because it is quite a muddle this Narnia time!

Oh that makes so much more sense! that she's conflating when Edmund pretends Narnia isn't at the back of the wardrobe and when Peter and Susan are all Obviously you didn't meet Aslan, Lucy. That's quite sweet, actually, that it's run together in her head like that. Mea culpa, @splothersdog, you were right, she's got the facts mixed up. I quite like that though, it makes it feel more like you really are wandering through someone's slightly mad childhood memories.

This all rather speaks to my main beef with Bookworm though, in that Mangan proudly declares she was never a member of the Puffin Club. This could all have been avoided if she had sent that postal order.
Sniffup!

Spotera!

I’m a bit worried about commenting on here because I’ve already been suspected of shilling for Mangan🤣 but her writing about post natal depression in Bookish is very good.

I loved both Bookworm and Bookish. I didn’t notice the Narnia error, but it wouldn’t have put me off the rest of the book even if I had. I did spot the Bert Digweed error in Bookish - which to me is worse than the Narnia error because there’s nobody called Digweed anywhere in the Adrian Mole books (as far as I recall) so she’s either just got the name completely wrong somehow or confused it with a Bert from a different book altogether, whereas the Narnia error appears to just be mixing up books in the same series. Anyway, the Digweed error still didn’t put me off loving the rest of the book. People make mistakes and it doesn’t mean they don’t generally know what they’re talking about.

Just a warning to readers-she doesn’t like Peter Wimsey!!!!! Shook, I am. Shook….

Good. I get all jealous and protective when friends turn out to adore Peter W. You can't have him (though tbh Harriet is my true icon).

He’s MINE! Oh, actually, she’s mine and he can go back to the “Princess of moonbeams”. God, I hate Uncle Paul!

Peter is a pillock, in all fairness. He may have a late cut that is exceedingly characteristic, and punt terribly well, but I still think that the brains of the operation is Bunter. Harriet, on the other hand, is a goddess.

Adored Bookworm and Bookish. Like reading about my own childhood. Can’t imagine a mistake could possibly have lessened the joy taken from it for me.

He may be a pillock, but he's my pillock, like the deeply annoying boyfriend you outgrew in university but somehow find yourself Googling every so often and he hasn't aged well.

I came to Roderick Alleyn much later in life and instantly fell for Troy rather Rory.

Back when LM wrote for the Guardian she seemed genuinely well read and well informed on children' literature. I wonder did she actually write that on her first visit to Narnia Lucy met a talking faun and promised to return to help him, only for some clever clogs editor think that was a mistake and insert the only talking creature they could remember.