Favourites

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Inspired by blonde222's discussion of least favourite Marlow novels, I was planning to ask which everyone's favourite book was. But then I realised *I* can't narrow it down further than my favourite two school books and favourite two home books, so I wondered if favourite scenes might be better - say, your favourite scene from each or any book? And why?

I think my overall favourite is the Christmas play in End of Term. Because it the whole thing seems magical, because of Nicola's singing, because of the hawk angel (how much do I want Patrick to get together with Miranda?!), because Lawrie did get to be the Shepherd Boy, because their plan works out, because Patrick and Rowan bond, and because whenever I read it, it makes me get a Christmas-sy glow.

Hopefully everyone's not sick of discussion yet!

Comments

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

There are many... the first one to come into my head, though, was the foxhunting scene, the one where Nicola and Mr Buster end up going home very late with the three white hounds and the fox.

Is that in Peter's Room? I don't currently have copies of any of them except Falconer's Lure, and while I remember everything very well I have trouble remembering which title which part goes with.

I'm also very attached to Patrick and Nicola galloping with Patrick reciting, and even more to Patrick and Jukie's cross-country drive.

"I met a man this morning, who did not wish to die..." *shivers*

(oh, and hi, I'm new... have loved AF's work for many years but never thought to look for her as an LJ interest till a few days ago)

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Hi lizblackdog! I'd be the welcoming committee, but I've only known about this place for about a fortnight as well, so...

Yes, that bit is in Peter's Room - I always found it quite chilling and haunting.

Love the icon, btw - she is a cardassian, isn't she?

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

She is. My talented friend wuzit2u made her specially for me. Please note the little detasils like the spurs on her boots... *grin*

Every scene that someone's mentioned in these comments so far has made me think "oh yes, that one too!"

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too! It's a bit hard to choose favourites from AF's writing, isn't it? And a bit hard to get a decent debate going, when we all agree!

Is it Seska, by any chance? It's very well drawn!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

She's a rather cuted-up representation of one of my Internet personae. Definitely an OC. She even has her own fanfic, in which I've tried to keep the Mary-Sueishness to a minimum.

She does look a little like Seska, though; but then so do I. I was briefly tempted to make them related, but that would have raised the Mary-Sue factor much too high, considering she was already a shameless self-insert...

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Cool - sounds interesting - I've never actually read any Star Trek fanfic; don't know why, really. Is it based on ST:NG, Voyager or DS9?

It would be a tad Mary-Sue-ish to be realted to Seska, but I can see why it would be tempting!

God, this is totally off-topic. Shame on me, especially since it's my topic!

It's your topic, digress if you want to....

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

DS9 - I enjoyed Voyager, but DS9 is my "thing" - quite obsessed.

It's here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/lizblackdog/136883.html

It's...on the nasty side and was mainly written as an erotic piece, just so you know.

This is the last place on LJ I ever expected to find me plugging my pervy fic...

Re: It's your topic, digress if you want to....

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I'll have to have a look at that - yay for DS9 porn! I have to admit, I liked Voyager better (apart from Janeway - I know, completely unpopular opinions alround) because I found DS9 too dark even for me.

It does seem a little inappropriate here at first, but I'm pretty sure there's some porny stuff about the Marlows at school out there, so whatever, right?

Re: Marlow porn

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "oh, Lord, please, no".

My second thought was to imagine it written as AF might have done if she'd been inclined to write porn, with the characters firmly in-character... (i.e. no stupidity like twincest) and, you know, that could be bloody good.

My third thought was, I wonder if I could pull that off? Eeeek...

Re: Marlow porn

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I just can't quit imagine porn written as she would have written it, though. She always seemed to slide over that stuff so much. I'd like to read it, if you try to pull it off, though!

Re: Marlow porn

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It could be done. There would need to be sublety and a lot of things not quite stated; not too much insert tab A into slot B and as much dialogue as possible.

I may attempt it. If I do I shall probably have it finished by 2008 or so. That's the other thing I have in common with AF, sadly... that DS9 story took me a year...

Re: It's your topic, digress if you want to....

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

...and I adored Janeway, so it's not as unpopular an opinion as all that.

[anstruther.livejournal.com]

Hello fellow newbie! Like carmine_rose, I only found out about this community a month ago (and she's putting me to shame with her energy for posting new threads).

I really love the bit in Peter's Room with Nicola and the fox and the Fell hounds: the mystery of the death left between the beasts, and Nicola being as mute as the hounds.

Great icon...

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Ooh, a Marlow username - most cool!

At first glance I thought this community looked quiet, then I noticed that although there weren't any recent posts (till today) the comments were still coming in thick and fast. I like.

[anstruther.livejournal.com]

You definitely know your AF! I checked out your lj earlier tonight and would like to friend you, if that's okay.

I'm really enjoying the recent burst of activity too, I just hope we're not boring the Girls' Own veterans with our "new" topics...

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

More friends is always excellent. I shall friend you back. :)

[coughingbear]

Don't know if I have an overall favourite - will have to think more about it - but one scene I have always loved is the cricket final in Cricket Term. For all sorts of reasons; Nicola thinking 'Mr Talboy' like an invocation as she threw down the stumps, Val 'scuttling still', Lois's obsessive desire to win, the shifting response of the audience, Laurie shining the ball professionally as she prepares to bowl, Nicola's 'load of ruddy footballers' and cheering the Sixth. It's a wonderfully satisfying climactic scene because everything that happens comes out of the characters and events as we've seen them develop through the book (& series, but it was the first one I read, so didn't know lots of the backstory originally).

Also agree about the Christmas play in End of Term; I especially like the way it's told from Patrick and Rowan's point of view.

[owl]

And Nick and Lawrie bowling at the same time and Janice saying afterwards, "Every time, there was the same face coming at you," or words to that effect, oh, yes...

[coughingbear]

And Nick catching Janice out and not being able to help herself grinning.

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

And how Nick can't bring herself to dolly the Head Girl out.

[melandraanne.livejournal.com]

As well as agreeing with everyone else's choices (makes me want to go off and re-read End of Term and Cricket Term...) I'd like to add a couple of my favourite scenes ...

I'm not sure why, but I really love the short scene in Ready Made Family where Peter cuts Fob's toast into 'sailors', to the stunned looks from his sisters...

I'm also very fond of a couple of scenes from Run Away Home, like the Christmas Picnic - you can almost feel the cold and the fog, then the sun on the sea when it isn't in the sky - and Patrick staying watch with his rosary - and then the scene on the beach at the end, with Rowan and Nick...

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

All of the above but there are smaller scenes I like too. The canoe bit at the start of the Thuggery Affair; Nicola singing Fear No More in Falconer's Lure, and Lawrie singing Marching through Georgia; Nicola in Oxford; Peter in the Shippen and Lawrie's cheeky monkey in Run Away Home.

[coughingbear]

Oh yes, all of those too! Was reading the canoe scene recently and remembered how much I like it.

Also - Nicola running away to visit Giles and seeing the masts of ships over the houses; Mme Orly whenever she appears; Sprog's death (favourite may be the wrong word, but it's wonderfully written); Tim and Miranda rowing over Nicola/Lawrie in art class...

[blonde222.livejournal.com]

I can definitely say favourite book is Cricket Term. Cricket really does display true character in a way very little else can match.

Scene:
- love the hunting in Peter's Room, esp when all the adults are getting tanked up beforehand.
- love the Twelfth Night Party in Peter's Room - know just how Nicola feels when you see your friend getting off with someone else and totally ignoring you...
- love the scene in FL where they are all in the attic playroom looking through old books and toys and filling in Festival entries... "one mixed salad" etc

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I've just re-read Cricket Term, and I have to say, I know absolutely nothing about cricket and care less (not that I don't enjoy it - don't flame me!). So the fact that I like those sections, and even manage to understand what's going on most of the time, really displays to me AF's talent as a writer.

It's weird though - the first few times I read CT, I hadn't read Peter's Room, Thuggery or Ready-made Family, and I swear the whole Patrick/Ginty thing didn't register at all - I even remember reading attic Term and thinking "This came out of the blue!". Maybe I was so young I just missed the nuances?

[melandraanne.livejournal.com]

I read the school stories first - I must have been 13 or so - and couldn't imagine what had happened to change the Nick / Patrick friendship in End of Term to the Patrick/Ginty romance ... it took me a while to find Peter's Room in order to clear up the mystery. I remember I had to read it through a couple of times before I worked out exactly what had happened ... I think the first time I must have skipped the Despatches sections

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

I nearly put Lawrie and Grandmother on religion and Nicola running off to see Giles too.

[anstruther.livejournal.com]

Agree with everyone's choices so far, especially re The Cricket Term... A couple of extras:

- the throwaway comment about Giles's commanding officer considering him to "have the makings of a brilliant and responsible officer" in the scene in Autumn Term when he's encouraging Nicola and Lawrie to be bad.
- the "sunt lacrimae rerum" train ride and Nicola starting Persuasion again.
- the memory feat scene at the beginning of The Players' Boy.
- the siege at Essex House: Master Blount, "not me to Humfrey", and Nicholas leaping down from the wall as the French still leaped from the walls of Harfleur at the Globe.

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

The "sunt lacrimae rerum" thing made me have alump in my throat, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I'm embarrassed to admit I still have no idea what that phrase is meant to mean, other than not being "there are tears of things"...

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

Ha! After several years doing Latin at university, neither do I! Obviously I've been wasting my time.

I mean, I know what it means, I think, but I couldn't translate or explain it any better than Miranda did.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Neither could NIck, IIRC. Gah!

[owl]

the throwaway comment about Giles's commanding officer considering him to "have the makings of a brilliant and responsible officer" in the scene in Autumn Term when he's encouraging Nicola and Lawrie to be bad.

I love that bit. Giles is winding them so hard, and they don't realise it, and for once Lawrie does the sensible thing and Nick doesn't!

And the bit where he's telling Lawrie about ramming the other destroyer and 'he was lying the scuppers and the scuppers were running blood" It's so elder-brotherly, combined with Navy, which like Nick I find irresistable.

[owl]

in the scuppers, oops.

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

All of the above, but if I had to pick a few:

Nicola and Miranda leaping up and down shouting 'Hubris! Nemesis!' when the Sixth beat Upper V in The Cricket Term;

The cricket final, which leaves me breathless with suspense no matter how many times I read it;

and yeah, Nicola in Oxford, and how she risks mentioning Lord Peter Wimsey to Edwin on the train ride home.

[jen-c-w.livejournal.com]

the cricket final's pretty unbeatable, but I also really like the scene with Nick and Jan on the roof and the barley sugars, which I think someone mentioned in a previous conversation, and also the end of the cricket term where Lal gets the prosser, and Nick just has to shove her up for it, and then Nick's talking to Jan and Jan says she "nearly shouted with rage" when they gave it to Lal, and how it was just convenient...I think Nick is written beautifully there, and there's a real sense of wistfulness between Nick and Jan and what might have been had Jan not been leaving.

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

The first one I thought of was the fell hounds scene in Peter's Room Now I see someone mentioned that immediately! I read it aloud to a friend to convince her that she should try AF (it worked).