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Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton (Spoilers Included)


chesilbeach

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A few of us have decided to read Enid Blyton's Malory Towers books as a group read, and we're ready to start our read-a-long tomorrow!

 

From www.enidblyton.net (slightly edited for spoilers in later books):

Malory Towers is a boarding school for girls in Cornwall. Enid Blyton wrote six books for this series between 1946 and 1951. The heroine is Darrell Rivers, who enters the school in the first form, and of course it's not all plain sailing for Darrell and her friends!

 

We're starting at the beginning (a very good place to start) with First Term at Malory Towers originally published in 1946.  A brief synopsis:

Scared and excited, Darrell Rivers has just arrived at Malory Towers. It's fantastic - but huge. How is she gong to remember everyone's name, let alone find her way around? And will she ever have a special friend of her own? 

 

Please feel free to join in, but please bear in mind, there will be spoilers! :D

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I finished my latest read in the morning and have now picked up the MT omnibus but I'm troubled even before I've started reading the book! :lol: This edition doesn't seem to indicate in any way where the first book ends and the second begins etc. Am I supposed to count reading this omnibus as reading 1 book?  :hide:

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How many books are in the omnibus? Does it say on the cover? Is there no tables of contents? :o Maybe if you just flick through you'll notice a new book title every now and then.

 

Are you all planning on reading all of the books? I think I might join in with reading the first book, but I don't want to interrupt my other reading too much, so I'll stop after one (unless I really, really enjoy it).

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I just checked again and okay, I now know where the first ends and second starts. The book doesn't start with a table of content saying Book 1 pages 1-x and Book 2 pages x-y and Book 3 pages y-z. It starts with a page saying these are the chapters and silly old me thought they were all there was to the books :blush::giggle2: 

 

I think I will read all of the first three books at least, if I like what I read :yes: Do you have a copy? 

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I think I will read all of the first three books at least, if I like what I read :yes: Do you have a copy? 

 

Yep, I found an ebook today. :)

 

Has anyone actually started it yet? :giggle2: I haven't yet. I need to run some errands and then I gotta go for walkies with Moses. But today's the day! :D

 

I read half a dozen pages but had to put it aside to do some work. It might be the perfect read for my train trip tomorrow—I won't have to concentrate so hard!

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Hi all. May I please join in? I am going into hospital for a few days and wanted something nice and easy to read so I have downloaded the first three books. Thank you [ :)]

 

You'll be very welcome to join us Susanne! :friends3:  Best wishes for your hospital visit, hope it goes well and you're home soon.  :flowers2: 

 

Has anyone actually started it yet? :giggle2: I haven't yet. I need to run some errands and then I gotta go for walkies with Moses. But today's the day! :D

 

I finished my other book part way through my lunch break, so I've started the first few chapters … so nostalgic, makes me feel 8 years old again  :giggle2:

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Hi all. May I please join in? I am going into hospital for a few days and wanted something nice and easy to read so I have downloaded the first three books. Thank you [ :)]

Yes .. of course .. very happy to have you join us Susanne :) Best wishes as Claire says .. hope all goes well for you x

 

I've started now and am up to half term :) Lots of memories .. this was like the Hogwarts of our generation. Would like to talk about the swimming pool incident when we've all got that far. I'm wondering how it played out in the newer editions? I've just read my first 'simply wizard' :D I remember not liking Darrell much in this first book .. I think I probably identified with the terribly nervous Mary-Lou  :blush2: 

 

I will need to get hold of the third volume pretty sharpish. 

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I'm really sleepy and will read you guys' posts tomorrow and get back to them, but I want to say that I've started the book now and managed to read maybe 10 pages before dozing off (I woke up early today so am tired). I liked what I read so far!

 

We're allowed to post spoilers, right? Maybe we would post the page number or the part of the book before going into what we want to say, in case some read the posts before having read the whole book? Does that make sense? 

 

This is not a major spoiler but on page 10 or something, very early on, I thought it was funny when this Alicia girl called Miss Potts Potty in front of Darrell and Darrell was shocked :D 

 

Gwendoline seems to be a tiresome character.. I hope the other girls manage to shake her out of it :D :D 

 

This is going to be good!!! :exc: 

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(Oh and is Darrell a normal girl's name? I'm sorry if this is politically incorrect, but when I hear the name, I think of an African-American man :blush::shrug:)

There are female Darrell's ... think Daryl Hannah .. but it's not common. I used to think it was an odd name when I was younger .. Alicia was also new to me then and I wasn't sure how to say it :blush2:

 

Gwendoline is a major pain in the a***!

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There are female Darrell's ... think Daryl Hannah .. but it's not common. I used to think it was an odd name when I was younger .. Alicia was also new to me then and I wasn't sure how to say it :blush2:

 

Gwendoline is a major pain in the a***!

 

Ah yes Daryl! Still feels like such an unusual name. It's interesting how even some of the names are make for discussion when it comes to this novel :D Alicia is a normal name to me, but like you said, it was new to some earlier on. Fascinating! 

 

Edit: Now I remember why it think of an African-American man: the only 'Darrell' I've come across with is Darryl in The Office, US version, who's an African-American man. 

 

I've read 90 pages now and I'll be interested to see if Gwendoline learns anything!

 

Edit: I've noticed that so far I haven't run into any odd words or phrases, and I'm thinking I must be reading an updated version :( I guess calling Miss Potts Potty and therefore referring to someone being potty is the most exotic thing in the novel. 

Edited by frankie
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When I read it when I was little, I just thought Darrell was an odd name that I'd never heard of before for a boy or a girl. :D But then, that was also the same for the exotic Alicia … not a name us working class types came across back then … I didn't even know how to pronounce it! :lol:

Having said that, it's not the first time Blyton had given a girl a boys name, as there's George in The Famous Five series, although that's shortened from Georgina. I think she might have done it elsewhere too, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Someone I know gave all her girls names like Robyn, or Georgina and Phillipa, so they would be shortened to George and Phil (or Pip) and be boys names.

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I've read the first 6 chapters - and Gwendoline was a right pain! But I wonder how many Gwendoline-types there are in the present day? There seems to be so many of princesses/right little madams, in my opinion :mellow:  . 

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Thanks all. I have not started yet hopefully I can join in the conversation when I am getting discharged. Looking forward to reading the books and having a chat! Talk soon :)

Look forward to chatting Susanne :) Hope all goes well xx

 

I've now got to the second form (and have ordered the third :D) .. and thoroughly enjoying it :)

Such a different time though. Claire and I were talking about it yesterday .. how boys don't seem to feature .. unless they are brothers or cousins .. and the girls aren't talking about popular singers or pop bands. Very different from thirteen year old girls these days. 

I'm writing down the sentences/expressions that amuse me .. will have a list by the end :D No toast quote yet though .. I'm surprised .. hopefully one will turn up soon :D No midnight feast yet either ... I thought one turned up in every book :D

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Are we carrying one with the second book straight away, or just finishing the first?

I finished the first one this afternoon, and loved reliving my childhood reading. I must have read it at least a dozen times when I was young, and it was just like meeting someone from my own school days and reminiscing about stories from back then. :D

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Oops .. I went straight on :blush2: I thought perhaps because some of the others have them in one volume .. that they would plough on so I did  :blush2: Happy to stop though or discuss first one.

It is lovely to be with them all again and it's all so familiar like you say Claire. I read them goodness knows how many times too .. I don't remember if I had to wait for the next installment or not. They were all published by then but I don't think I had them all at the same time. 

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