fajrdrako | Books from Childhood... (Reply)

1. What book or books were special to you in your childhood?

Many, many books. I was an only child, and ill in bed a lot, so books were often my primary companions. A few favourites:
Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, and his other books especially When We Were Very Young and
Now We Are Six.
Merrylips by Beulah Marie Dix
The Lost Queen of Egypt by Lucile Morrison
He Went with Christopher Columbus by Louise Andrews Kent and Paul Quinn
Enid Blyton's series of "Adventure" Books: The Island of Adventure, The Mountain of Adventure, The Sea of Adventure, The River of Adventure - I think there were two others; why can't I remember the titles?
Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit, three fantasy stories about four children (Robert, Cyril, Anthea and Jane) who find a wish-granting creature called a Psammead in about 1906. Equally, her two slightly-interrelated books The House of Arden and Harding's Luck, both about time travel.
Silver Pennies by Blanche Jennings Thompson, an anthology of poems for children

The most significant book in my young reading life was probably Sir Francis Drake, a biography of Drake for children. I don't remember the author's name. I was nine years old and I loved that book with a passion. It was a turning point in my love of history.

Comic books were also important to me. Adventure Comics was my favourite, until I discovered Fantastic Four with issue #18 ("The Return of the Super-Skrull") and Spider-Man with issue #4; that was a major epiphany for me. Then there was mention Journey into Mystery - which had me fascinated by Norse myth for years - and best of all, Sgt. Fury and His Howlin' Commandos, subtitled, "the war comic for people who hate war comics."

2. What was particularly special or memorable about those books?

They took me to new worlds - perhaps, given the fact that so many of them were historical in orientation, I should call it 'old worlds'. These books excited me. They made me laugh. They brought new ideas and a sense of curiosity to a life that often seemed painfully boring.

3. Have you re-read any of them as an adult?

Some of them. I recently reread The Lost Queen of Egypt (found second-hand by a friend in California) and Merrylips, which I found via Interlibrary Loan. All my life I have often reread A.A. Milne and often quote him.
King John was not a good man
He had his little ways
And sometimes no one spoke to him
For days and days and days

4. If so, were the books as good as you remembered them?

Yes, by and large. I find I don't enjoy E. Nesbit's quite as much as I used to, though I still love her characters and plots.

5.What do you think about movies being made out of children's classics (like the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of The Rings, etc)?

I hated the Chronicles of Narnia when I read the books as a child, and disliked the movie for similar reasons. I can't think of The Lord of the Rings as being for children - I was fifteen when I read it, and consider it an adult work. (A rather sophisticated adult work at that.)

But the question is about movies. In principle, I like good movies based on good books. In practice, movies based on books are rarely as good as the books. That being said, if The Lord of the Rings is under discussion, I think the Peter Jackson movies were nothing short of brilliant - they are among my favourite movies of all time. (Just as the books are among my favourites.)