I was raised on Enid Blyton. Reading was my constant companion, and a battered Enid Blyton book became almost a permanent extension of my hand. I don’t care what the grammar police say about her, or that she was allegedly a bit of a dragon – I grew to love reading because of her books, as have millions of other children.
I read them all and was transported to the various worlds of The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, Malory Towers, St Clares, The Wishing Chair, and my favourite place to be, The Magic Faraway Tree.
I would read with a torch under the covers for hours, eventually nodding off hoping that Silky, Moonface and Saucepan Man would visit me in my sleep. Or, that the next morning Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog would be standing on our doorstep, desperately in need of a sixth member to return to Kirrin Island with them and asking if my bags were packed with enough homemade ginger cake for the trip.
So it was with some trepidation that I read about Hodder giving Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series a 21st-century makeover.
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Just after 4pm yesterday, the judges for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction announced the longlist.
A total of 138 books, 14 of which were called in by the judges rather than being submitted by the publishers, were considered for the world famous ‘Man Booker Dozen’ longlist of 13 books.
Andrew Motion, chair of the judges said:
Here are thirteen exceptional novels – books we have chosen for their intrinsic quality, without reference to the past work of their authors. Wide-ranging in their geography and their concern, they tell powerful stories which make the familiar strange and cover an enormous range of history and feeling. We feel confident that they will provoke and entertain.
Here are the lucky 13…
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
The old timer of the group, if he wins this year it will be a history-making hat trick.
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We thought it was about time we shared our current reads with you. First though, please welcome our newest rabbit to bounce down into the burrow – Woodie – he’s our new digital creative who joined us last week and has already settled right in, given his shared interest in zombie film making (with some of the team I hasten to add – not all of us are fascinated by flesh-eating cinematography). He also drinks green tea, but we’re trying to ignore that. Anyway, say hi to him if you’re on Twitter, he’s @Wooodie (yes, with three o’s – bet he gets asked that a lot).
Woodie ‘I’m reading Stephen King’s, Just After Sunset a collection of short stories. I used to read King a lot when I was younger and loved his style of writing. His ability to instantly capture the reader and submerge them in his dark and usually twisted world is excellently shown off with the short story format. Some of the stories are more like tales of the unexpected than horror. Haven’t finished it yet but would recommend it as a great introduction to Stephen King or a worthy insight into his ability to briefly dunk you into his cadaverous cup of macabre tea!
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Ok, apart from being hot cross bunnies with this weather (28 degrees and fur; not a good combo) there is a definite buzz in the office this week as a few people have been rabbiting about us, or rather, Twittering. It’s great to see there is some excitement about our return! So basically, if you’re not getting the latest Tweets from the Rabbit, then you are seriously barking (book lovers’ site or pet shop? Discuss). Anyway, what I’m trying to say (badly) is follow us on Twitter and become a BookRabbit fan on our Facebook page. DO keep up!
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Well BookRabbiters, we’re all feeling pretty terrified excited here at the Warren as launch day approaches! A quick round-up of what’s been happening in the office this week – we’ve begun some user testing and the tech team are painstakingly working their way through the site stamping on any nasty bugs. Design are still fine-tuning the overall look and feel of the site, while the rest of us are editing the content and making sure there aren’t any bloopers.
We would still very much welcome your eyes and (rabbit) ears to spot any problems after launch. We’re doing our best to make the new site a lean-mean-book-lovers’-machine, but it will be your day-to-day use of it that will uncover any hidden niggles – so don’t be shy in letting us know through the usual channels. Continue Reading »
Thanks for all your comments and emails which we enjoyed reading over the weekend – it’s good to know you’re all keen to see BookRabbit spring back into action. We’re all working hard here at the Warren to make it happen.
The design team have been busy re-designing the homepage, so when you guys arrive in your thousands on D-Day it will look and feel a little fresher with some cool little layout changes, but the hardened BookRabbit fans among you will still feel right at home. Ooh, and there’s been some tweaking of the logo, take a look, as we’d like to know what you think…
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