What Would Nicola Read?

[owl]

Has anyone ever read a book because Nicola (or Lawrie or Ginty) did first? For me it was Ramage and Brat Farrar.

It also happened the other way around in my case; I was thrilled to find that Nicola in Autumn Term was reading The Flight of the Heron, as the only other person I'd found who'd done so was my mother.

Comments

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

I read Mask of Apollo cos of Nicola. And I was very impressed that she liked Peter Wimsey cos he was my favorite.

[nicolap.livejournal.com]

Gosh, yes. Peter Wimsey, and Persuasion (although not until Karen said I wasold enough, cos I am a good girl...) and even tried Hornblower, although was completely unable to read that as it is stultifyingly dull.

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

I read The Mask of Apollo, and got entirely different things from it than Nicola. And Peter Wimsey, though I would have got around to him eventually on my own.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I read one of the Ramage books becase of Nicola too! I also read A Sword for Mr Fitton, The Greengage Summer, and am half way through The Constant Nymph. I have The Mask of Apollo on my shelf. I tried to read it, but when I tried it was beyond me. I mean to read it now I'm a bit more mature in my reading. Also, as a Chalet reader, I was disappointed that Nicola didn't buy the Chalet book she found in Oxfam in Attic Term.

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

Murder, Must Advertise

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone remember which Jean-Jacques Rousseau book is mentioned in one of the 'Term' books? I believe Nicola noticed the fifth form discussing it.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I think it's Contrat Social.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Rather disturbingly, my reading tastes seem to have been formed by Ginty - I definitely picked up both The Greengage Summer and Brat Farrar because Forest mentioned them.

[owl]

Oh, I read Brat Farrar because of Ginty reading it! I'd forgotten.

[mrs-redboots.livejournal.com]

I tried to read The Mask of Apollo because of Nicola, but hated it!

But I loved Lord Peter long before I loved Nicola! And I don't share her taste for Hornblower, either.

[owl]

Poor Hornblower, he's getting no love!

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I love Ioan Gruffudd, but I suspect that just makes me part of the problem. ;)

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

I read Hornblower as a result of the combination of Nicola and Ioan Gruffudd and I have to say I loved it. I've read them all, from his time as a Midshipman through to his retirement. I tried Ramage too, and thought it was okay, but not as good as Hornblower. Though I also liked that he had served with Hornblower once.

I tried Henry Esmond purely because of Nicola and found it tedious beyond belief. Well, I say purely Nicola but it was actually Crommie's comment about Dickens-haters invariably enjoying Thackeray. Not this one!

I'd read Peter Wimsey independently but I was equally thrilled when I first saw Balliol.

I'd forgotten about Brat Farrar. Is it any good?

[owl]

Mmmm, Ioan.....

[anstruther.livejournal.com]

The Mask of Apollo, Persuasion, Dorothy L Sayers (courtesy of frankie_ecap), the Lyke Wake Dirge, Ulysses.

I'd already read A Little Princess and was surprised that Miranda was the only person to have read it.

[elizahonig.livejournal.com]

Various poems that get mentioned--Patrick quoting poetry, Lawrie reciting it. I even memorized all the ones they'd memorized. Like so many here, I read *Persuasion* and Hornblower, liked the first, not the second; also was already a Peter Wimsey fan and appreciated the references. Doesn't Karen say that she likes Edmund Crispin better?--I read those as well, and enjoyed them, but certainly couldn't share Karen's preference.

I'd like to read *The Constant Nymph*. It sounds so dreadful from the title, and is actually also mentioned by Sayers (in *Nine Tailors*) by a character whose taste we are supposed to doubt.

I liked Dickens so didn't bother with Henry Esmond, though I've also read and not actually hated other Thackery.

I've read what are evidently the "Ginty" books but cannot remember where they are mentioned by her. I'm sure I read them independently. Rumer Godden is one of my favorite authors, just for her quirky style.

I was somewhat startled, too, by the fact that only Miranda knew about *A Little Princess" and Sara Crewe. How plausible is that?

I feel like there are loads of things I looked into because of Forest, and this thread is reminding me of them. My best friend and I pursued D.L. Sayers references with similar fervor, resulting in more than a glancing knowledge of change-ringing and the ability to sing all the verses of *Lord Randall My Son* and *Aupres de ma blonde.*

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Yes, me too (about A Little Princess, I mean).

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

I think Nicola not knowing A Little Princess is reasonably plausible, though surprising. I'm always surprised by which books otherwise well-read people don't know.

I was very excited last summer to hear 'Aupres de ma blonde' on a tape of French songs - the tune was nothing like the one I had imagined!

I'd forgotten about all the poetry. I especially liked the ones Patrick recited while they were riding across the Crowlands in the dark.

One thing the Marlow books persuaded me not to read was all the Gondal/Angria stuff and anything by Emily Bronte. I had once tried, and failed, to read Wuthering Heights, and now I know why.

Sara Crewe

[colne-dsr.livejournal.com]

From the publication date (1976) of "The Attic Term", I don't think it's too surprising that none of them had heard of "A little Princess" - I was generally pretty keen on school books at that time and for a few years afterwards (in fact I still am, more or less), and I'd never heard of it either. I think it had been out of print for some time and didn't come back into public view until the BBC did a very good adaptation of it in 1987. Apart from Enid Blyton and the occasional Angela Brazil, boarding school stories weren't fashionable in WH Smiths.

PS - it was Sandra Grigson that was the only one to know about Sara Crewe - Miranda didn't know, and didn't care either. I've just checked - P59 of the paperback edition.

PPS - the book Nicola saw in Oxfam was actually called "Sara Crewe, or What Happened at Miss Minchin's" - wheras now it's always published as "A Little Princess", and as far as I know that was the original title. Anyone know the publishing history?

Hornblower / Brat Farrar

[colne-dsr.livejournal.com]

I loved Hornblower too, Ramage rather less so. Definitely second division next to Hornblower. Two more Hornblowers to go, then I'm on to Alexander Kent.

Brat Farrar is excellent, one of those rare books which I read and immediately went back to the start and read again.

Re: Sara Crewe

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's a good point. I had an old copy that belonged to my mother and was at that stage of reading everything I could get my hands on when I read it. But it wouldn't have been readily available or popular. And the thing about the title puzzled me too.

Re: Sara Crewe

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

I just googled it and Wikipedia suggests that A Little Princess was a later revised and expanded version of Sara Crewe. Which seems plausible.

Re: Sara Crewe

[coughingbear]

I think it was available then (as A Little Princess) - I have a Puffin copy which dates from the mid-seventies. But I could always imagine Nicola not being that attracted by the title! I bet it's one of the books in the Trennels collection, though, and that Rose has read it.

Re: Sara Crewe

[elizahonig.livejournal.com]

I actually own a copy of *Sara Crewe* and can tell you from the copyright page that it was written in 1888 and was still in print at least until 1918 (my edition) even though *A Little Princess* was first published in 1905. The latter is indeed a very thorough revision of the former. In *Sara Crewe* the heroine is a spoiled and unpleasant girl who gradually learns from her misfortunes, very unlike the introspective and semi-saintly heroine of the later version.

*Little Princess* has, I'm certain, never gone out of print in the USA. I'd guess that it's always been one of the great best-selling early children's books, right next to (Canadian) *Anne of Green Gables,* also about a plucky orphan. But perhaps that's because Burnett, although one somehow thinks of her as English, was actually an American writer. Wiki readers will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think she lived for a time in England and set her books there, but in fact she views England with the romanticizing eye of a foreigner. Sorry--I teach this stuff (as a hobby) so it's on my mind.

It certainly makes sense that if Nicola saw a copy of the old version at Oxfam it wouldn't ring bells for anybody. Not many people would have heard of the book under that title.

[melandraanne.livejournal.com]

I read 'Mask of Apollo' and it started me off on all Mary Renault's books ...and a lifetime obsession with Alexander the Great and Hephastion. I also tried Dorothy L Sayers because of Nicola, and loved them. I'd already read quite a lot of Ramage and Hornblower at the time (I found End of Term when I was about 14, but it took me a long time to find most of the rest...) although I'll always be more of a Bolitho fan ! I was delighted to find 'A Sword for Mr Fitton' ... As for the Brontes, I must admit that Peter's Room encouraged me to continue reading about the Brontë family, although I'm not that keen on their books...
I also felt that my English teacher when I was 13 had a lot in common with Cromwell, as many of Nicola's 'punishment' books were ones we had to read with her, including Mill on the Floss and Dombey and Son...

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I read the Hornblower novels because of Forest, which led me eventually to the Aubrey-Maturin series. I always think it's a great shame that Nicola/Antonia didn't seem to have read those.

I'd already got into Mary Renault before I discovered the Marlow books, so to discover Nicola reading one was very exciting to my teenage self, since none of my peers at school had even heard of Renault.

The poem that keeps going though Patrick's head in The Thuggery Affair - even though I've read a lot of war poetry, I'd never come across that before and now it's one of my favourites.

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

AF actually did read, and love, the Aubrey-Maturin series. From an interview I found online:

"At the present time, my favourite books, surpassing all others (!) are Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey novels.""

The interview can be found here (http://www.maulu.demon.co.uk/AF/author/interview95.html)

I do think Nicola would have been a fan, if Antonia had written more of the Marlows.

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm actually really glad about that. I know quite a few were published before AF died, and after the last Marlow book was published, so she did have chance to discover them but not write about them. When I started the series, I felt a really weird pang, like when you find something a dead relative would have liked. So I'm glad AF had read them, even if we never saw Nicola with them.

Thanks for the link.