Bruce Beckham's Blog - Posts Tagged "swallows-and-amazons"
It makes a summer
Rather bizarrely, it may seem, I'm presently reading Swallows and Amazons for the first time.
I began this for research purposes - I felt it may have a bearing on my latest detective mystery, which is set on an imaginary Lakeland island.
However, what a beautifully written book!
It reads like the Famous Five with all the rough edges smoothed off. And quite a little adventure is developing.
There is an extraordinary attention to detail in the technical aspects of sailing - something I know next to nothing about. Yet, when viewed through the prism that is the perspective of the four children (competent sailors), this acquires an almost Zen-like elegance, if that makes sense.
I shall be interested to see what our ten-year-old makes of it when I pass it on!
I began this for research purposes - I felt it may have a bearing on my latest detective mystery, which is set on an imaginary Lakeland island.
However, what a beautifully written book!
It reads like the Famous Five with all the rough edges smoothed off. And quite a little adventure is developing.
There is an extraordinary attention to detail in the technical aspects of sailing - something I know next to nothing about. Yet, when viewed through the prism that is the perspective of the four children (competent sailors), this acquires an almost Zen-like elegance, if that makes sense.
I shall be interested to see what our ten-year-old makes of it when I pass it on!
Swallows and Amazons
I had no idea that Arthur Ransome's 'Swallows' and 'Amazons' were two families of children - so called because they sailed small boats of respectively the same names.
Reading a book that I ought to have read in the Sixties has been an interesting experience - but an enjoyable one nonetheless.
Swallows and Amazons is elegantly crafted, and conjures a marvellous sense of what life may have been like in 1920s Lakeland Britain.
Despite being a kids' book, there is a wealth of contextual detail - and everything you need to know about how to sail a small dinghy! - in other words, plenty to enjoy while the happy little adventure unfolds.
Sure, there could have been a couple more twists in the tale to build the tension at times - but I don't think this was the author's purpose. I understand he wrote it with a particular family in mind - and to please them. So who am I to question a man who played chess with Lenin!
Reading a book that I ought to have read in the Sixties has been an interesting experience - but an enjoyable one nonetheless.
Swallows and Amazons is elegantly crafted, and conjures a marvellous sense of what life may have been like in 1920s Lakeland Britain.
Despite being a kids' book, there is a wealth of contextual detail - and everything you need to know about how to sail a small dinghy! - in other words, plenty to enjoy while the happy little adventure unfolds.
Sure, there could have been a couple more twists in the tale to build the tension at times - but I don't think this was the author's purpose. I understand he wrote it with a particular family in mind - and to please them. So who am I to question a man who played chess with Lenin!
