Round To The Front, Where The Engine Lives.

[rionaleonhart]

My favourite quote so far from For Richer, For Poorer, Victoria Coren's poker memoirs:

There is not enough money in the world for Ram. He is ever so handsome and the lady croupiers get lost in his big dark eyes, but Ram doesn't seem to notice women. If the dealer was topless, Ram would still look at the cards. He once had a girlfriend who asked Ram to write her a love poem. He wrote, 'On the moors there's heather and bramble, but all I want to do is gamble.' They are not together any more.

(I'm reading this book very slowly, I know, but it's absolutely not because I'm not enjoying it. I am savouring it. It's a great book to take to a coffee shop and read over a mug of hot chocolate.)

I bought For Richer, For Poorer on the way to see The Unbelievable Truth being recorded a couple of weeks ago, which leads nicely into my next paragraph: whilst waiting for the recording to begin, valderys and I started talking about throwing underwear at David Mitchell, for some reason (as a general concept; we weren't making plans). We eventually concluded that the only way one could fittingly throw pants at Mitchell would be if they were very sensible plain M&S knickers, still in the five-pack. Nobody should actually do this; there's too much potential for injury, and you'd almost certainly be kicked out of the recording. It's just a thought that amuses me.


I spent the weekend at my aunt's, and in the course of the visit I read The Worry Website, one of many Jacqueline Wilson books belonging to my adorable tiny cousin-once-removed. I cried. I haven't read a Jacqueline Wilson book in so many years, and I'd forgotten what a wonderful writer for children she is.

You know, my first attempt at fanfiction - conceived before I even knew what fanfiction was - was actually a wildly ambitious idea for a film called Harry Potter and the Double Act Twins, in which Ruby and Garnet, the twins from Jacqueline Wilson's Double Act, went to Hogwarts. My best friend from primary school and I were going to write the script and play the twins. There were extremely fierce fights about who got to play Garnet, which, because I am meeker (...more Garnet-like, in fact), I lost.

I still have my handwritten notes on problems we would need to get around when filming it. These notes tell me that I was thinking we could get the necessary owls from bird sanctuaries, although what I've actually written is 'bird sancuo places'. The plan for Quidditch is 'Players sit on brooms suspended by springy wires. They will easily be able to swing round'. There's an illustration, but I note that the illustration doesn't show exactly what the brooms are to be suspended from.

To my recollection, we only actually rehearsed one scene, which involved my brother Joseph (playing Harry Potter) crawling along the landing towards the imagined Voldemort and snarling 'YOU... KILLED... MY... PARENTS' in the most dramatic way you've ever heard.

LET'S ALL REMINISCE ABOUT JACQUELINE WILSON'S BOOKS. I suppose it's possible that you didn't read her books as a child, in which case I can only apologise for your life. Go back in time, read them, and then come back here and join in the reminiscing.

Comments

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

These notes tell me that I was thinking we could get the necessary owls from bird sanctuaries, although what I've actually written is 'bird sancuo places'. The plan for Quidditch is 'Players sit on brooms suspended by springy wires. They will easily be able to swing round'.

RIONA THIS IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER READ

HOW IS TINY YOU SO UNBEARABLY ADORABLE

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

Also Jaqueline Wilson was completely the formative author of my childhood. I met her at a signing once and I can remember it so clearly; she looked so exactly like she always does, grey hair, grey clothes, gentle smile, all those rings. In year--eight, I think, I remember doing a book review presentation on her book Girls Under Pressure because that book meant so much to me as a fat kid ): I'm pretty sure I got really emotional in front of my whole English class.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Double Act made me weep as a child. Partly it was because, as a triplet, the emotional agony of twins-splitting-up felt very real to me, but also because, as you say, Jacqueline Wilson writes very well for children. Oh, and The Mummy Cat - I read that in a bookshop, in one sitting, and ended up in floods of tears (the girl's name was the same as mine, and I also had a beloved old cat - she died a few weeks later, in fact - but also because, again, the writing was so horrifically sad).

... I think most of my most vivid Jacqueline Wilson memories involve crying, somehow.

[elfwhistletree.livejournal.com]

I read several Jacqueline Wilson books as a notional adult - it was possible to pick one up when we got home from school "just to see" what my daughter was reading, and get through all of it in an hour or so before I had to be grown up again and sort out food and stuff like that.

Yes, she is an excellent writer - her books managed to be about "issues" without ever being preachy or dull, and that's brilliant :-) I probably have mixed them all up in my head though - because I read them in a hurry and didn't ever reread them or devote much thinking time to them.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

I've never read anything by Jacqueline Wilson. I've never heard of Jacqueline Wilson. What kind of books does she write?

Also, you were an incredibly adorable child.

[prologi.livejournal.com]

I've never read any Jacqueline Wilson, but I think I watched a film adaptation of Double Act on a summer afternoon between two and five years ago. I expected it to be, well, a small-budget kiddy film, but it was really really good. I'll have to find some of her books now.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

There is a thing you should see:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3iQNtdoTGY

[timydamonkey.livejournal.com]

I had a funny moment of "what Jacqueline Wilson books did I read?" after reading this post, so I pulled up the wiki list of her books to see what I remember.

On the way, I found a hilarious review for Glubbslyme claiming it was teaching kids witchcraft. REALLY? That's not what I got from that book...

So I've read... let's see:

The Story of Tracy Beaker
The Dare Game
Girls In Love
Girls Under Pressure
Girls Out Late
Girls In Tears
Cliffhanger
Buried Alive!
How to Survive Summer Camp
Glubbslyme
The Suitcase Kid
The Mum Minder
The Bed and Breakfast Star
Double Act
Bad Girls
The Lottie Project
The Illustrated Mum
Vicky Angel
Dustbin Baby (didn't they do a film of this?)
Lola Rose
Midnight

...It feels like more than that, but equally that's a lot. XD

I remember hating Ruby in Double Act, I thought she was a jerk. XD

I got rather annoyed with Ellie's friends in the girls series too, actually...

I remember being out shopping for books once when I was about 12 and a grandma started chatting to me. She asked if I read Jacqueline Wilson, and if I had any recommendations for her eight year old granddaughter, who'd just read one of her books and really loved it, so she'd decided to look for some more. It was a pretty neat conversation.

[timydamonkey.livejournal.com]

Also, this reminds me all of those good old books I read as a kid that apparently nobody has ever heard of (sadly)... like

Angela and Diabola by Lynn Reid Banks. I loved that book. It's also a twin book, actually, with a pure good twin and a pure evil twin. (Diabola would be in Slytherin hands down. Angela would probably be put in Gryffindor in fanfic, but she's more a Hufflepuff really.)

Dick King Smith's Sophie series. I can't tell you how awesome it was to read about a tomboy character when so much little girl fiction isn't. They were... Sophie's Snail, Sophie's Tom, Sophie Hits Six, Sophie in the Saddle, Sophie is Seven, Sophie is Lucky. Mind you, he wrote plenty of other stuff that people do know about - The Queen's Nose, for instance. (Also a good series!)

The Josie Smith books by Magdalen Nabb! That was adapted into a pretty good TV series, I used to record it. XD They were... Josie Smith, Josie Smith and Eileen, Josie Smith at Christmas, Josie Smith at the Seaside, Josie Smith at School, Josie Smith in Hospital, Josie Smith at the Market, Josie Smith in Summer, Josie Smith in Winter, Josie Smith in Spring, Josie Smith in Autumn. I definitely didn't read the season ones (I don't think they were published at the time I read the series), and maybe not the market one either.

The Milly Molly Mandy Storybook by Joyce Lankester Brisley was pretty cool too. An older book than the others on this list, but I really enjoyed it.

There were these Charlie and Angela books I can't for the life of me remember the name of and it's really irritating me. Um... Creative googling took way too long (it got swamped in Moonface and Twilight results). These books are apparently obscure enough I can't even pull up my book list on the author, but while I can't recall the order, I believe the books are My Best Fiend, Holiday With the Fiend, The Fiend Next Door, Revenge of the Fiend, Trouble With the Fiend, Calamity With the Fiend, Disaster With the Fiend. They're by Sheila Lavelle.

And of course there were Roald Dahl books... which people do know. And Enid Blyton who is, again, known. :P Malorie Blackman's Whizziwig (and various other stories)! The Mister Majeika stories!

These were all things I read when I was about... six to ten? I definitely remember being about the same age as Sophie when I read the Sophie books...

And sorry for the comment of random, but your post made me get all nostalgic. XD

What books did you read when you were younger? Any obscure ones?