Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

[Jenny]

Odd. Very odd. I've wanted to read this story since I saw the movie "Saving Mr. Banks." I did not enjoy it very much, other than getting "the story behind the story."

[Brittany (booksandbottles)]

I read this back in May as a side read while on a flight...I have never seen all of the movie, and honestly wasn't impressed very much by the book.

[Maple]

I read it a couple years ago after seeing Mr. Banks. I was kind of disappointed in this series. Mary Poppins is magical, but not in the loving, caring kind of way that we know Julie Andrews as Mary. The book version is kind of a bitter crank.

[Jenny]

Oppressive, even!

[Francesca]

That's a shame that the three of you found it to be disappointing or average. I've never read any of the books but I've always adored the movie and therefore Mary Poppins herself, I mean who doesn't love any character that Julie Andrews brings to life.

[Maple]

Don't get me wrong, I love the Disney movie; it's wonderful. But Disney did something magical to it, because it is vastly different than the books. I can understand why Travers might have been upset with the movie because they had changed EVERYTHING but the names.

[Jody]

Oh no! I bought this book for my daughter a while back & have been looking forward to reading it to her - now I think I might read it myself first. We're currently reading Matilda, and I'm not really that much of a fan of how hideous & nasty her parents are. Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in completely sheltering her from the darker side of life, but she's six ... she could use some magic in her life!

[Jenny]

Jody, I think I would skim it first then. The things that I would recommend you take a good look at are: the visit to the candy shop with Mrs. Cory and her daughters, the weird birthday party at the zoo, and the conversation the bird has with Mary Poppins about the twins. That chapter almost reads like a death happens, at least the reader knows something wonderful has been lost and that the reader himself may have lost this treasure as a child.

[Jody]

I think I'll keep it in the drawer for another year or two yet then. There are plenty of other books to read together!

[Francesca]

Manda wrote: " I can understand why Travers might have been upset with the movie because they had changed EVERYTHING but the names."

This I can definitely understand. Maybe if you read the book first you prefer it and vice versa. I mean, movie fans consider Kubrick's version of The Shining to be a masterpiece, yet Stephen King himself (and a lot of his fans) hates it because it's so different to the book. The only thing the two share is the names and the fact it takes place in a hotel, everything else is different and even the tone of each is different.

[Francesca]

Jody wrote: "Oh no! I bought this book for my daughter a while back & have been looking forward to reading it to her - now I think I might read it myself first. We're currently reading Matilda, and..."

It's a recurring theme in pretty much all Roald Dahl books that there are always some vile, nasty characters in them. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed them all when I was younger and still mostly do now but I still always felt a bit off about how over the top and almost cartoony evil a lot of the characters were in his books. Particularly most of the adult figures in them were either evil or negligent.

[Jody]

I'm sitting on the fence about Roald Dahl now - I always thought that I loved him, but now I think that I just loved a couple of the books that he wrote. I think I'll read some of his adult fiction & see what I think.

[Francesca]

The BFG was always my favourite of his but I think it was just due to how lovely the character of the BFG was. A lot of the other books of his that I loved, I think were also influenced by how much I loved the movies based off of them. I've always loved the original Willy Wonka film with Gene Wilder, and still do, the second version with Johnny Depp I also thoroughly enjoyed, Matilda was just a lot of fun, and I always liked James and the Giant Peach. Even so, there were aspects of all of them that I didn't really like so I never found any of his works to be completely perfect for me even if I still enjoyed them or thought they were good.

[Jody]

For me, it's The Witches - I love love LOVE that book. One of my all-time favourites. I do love Charlie, although the sequel was absolutely woeful. I haven't read the BFG though, although I do really want to.

[Francesca]

I thought The BFG was one of the most endearing characters he ever created. I kind of pretend The Great Glass Elevator doesn't exist, it was just bad. Loved the first one, though, even though I've always had quite a strong dislike for Grandpa Joe. The Witches was great too!