Julie Otsuka, Jamaica Kincard, adults’ and children’s books – welcome to episode 118!
In the first half – a topic suggested by Aileen, where we discuss authors who wrote both children’s and adult’s books and whether we read both. In the second half, we compare two novellas about immigrant experiences – Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid and The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.
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The books and authors we mention in this episode are:
Picnic in the Shade by Rosemary Edisford
Noble Ambitions by Adrian Tinniswood
The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood
Letty Landon by Helen Ashton
William series by Richmal Crompton
Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Frost at Morning by Richmal Crompton
Matty and the Dearingroydes by Richmal Crompton
I Ordered A Table For Six by Noel Streatfeild
Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Edith Wharton
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
The Lark by E. Nesbit
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
John Boyne
Sarah Crossan
The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
Barbara Euphan Todd
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Penelope Lively
C.S. Lewis
Chloe Marr by A.A. Milne
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
I’ve read Burnett’s children’s books but not Marchiness. Pooh and some of his Punch sketches, and one of Richmal Crompton’s adult books which I very much enjoyed. Lots more William of course.
I adored William books growing up – I probably still haven’t read them all as there are SO many.
Oh, that’s an interesting topic Simon. At first I thought most of my authors fell into one or the other category – or that I had only read their adult or children’s books. But Lewis is an author whose adult books I’ve enjoyed as much as his children’s. And Penelope Lively is a brilliant example – I’ve always adored her writing for children, but recently read a transitional work which hovers between the two, and I’ve realised that her writing is obviously going to be good, whatever the intended audience!!
Any you’d particularly recommend from Lively’s children’s or transitional writing?
That’s a hard one to answer, because it’s ages since I read her children’s books and I’ve only dipped a little into her adult fiction. But I read and reviewed “Going Back” in April, which started as a children’s book and is now marketed as an adult one. It was really good and I loved her writing – she’s so prolific, though, it’s difficult to know where to go first. However, as I also read and loved one of her short stories in an anthology, I may see if I can find a good collection of these.
thanks, good to know!
Interesting topic. Buddha was a very difficult read for me–that weird plural voice put me off completely. Wives of Los Alamos was written the same way: “Our Marcias got chicken pox…” too weird for me.
It does seem to divide people – I wouldn’t have thought I’d love it, but I did.
The discussion about children’s authors who also wrote for adults was wonderful! It took me back in my memory to being in primary school, borrowing all the Just William books from the library and watching the TV series. I really enjoyed Family Roundabout and also Blind Man’s Buff but did think The Ridleys was not as good and rather formulaic. Noel Streatfield was one of my favourite authors as a child but found Saplings rather unsatisfying. I liked The Secret Garden and enjoyed The making of a Marchioness but struggled with The Shuttle, finding it long winded.
Lucy and The Buddha in the Attic were both books that I probably would not have read had it not been for tea or books. However, I am glad that I did. Like you two, I preferred The Buddha in the Attic ( in fact I liked it so much that I have also just read When the Emperor was Divine, which covers the period of 1942 to 1946 and what happened to the Japanese in America then – I would definitely recommend it). Whilst it was interesting to read Lucy, I did not like it very much – there was so much anger and bitterness, in contrast to the way the women in Buddha in the Attic reacted to their adversity in generally more positive ways. That’s not to say the anger was not understandable in Lucy’s case but I did not warm to her as a character.
Thank you for another great episode.
Thank you Sarah! And I was wondering which you’d pick, and thought you might lean the same way as me :) It’s fun for me to try and guess, when you read along!
Given what you said about Richmal Crompton it will be really interesting to see your post if you ever rank her books – sounds like it would be really difficult to do!
The whole question of children’s and adult books makes me think of the famous C S Lewis quote about how a children’s book that adults can’t enjoy at all is not a good children’s book. So interesting that so many authors have written for both audiences in the past. I’m not thinking of as many more recent authors who’ve written for both, but Paula Fox and J K Rowling do come to mind.
Looking forward to reading these unusual Tea or Books choices, especially The Buddha in the Attic. Also the Tokarczuk!
Last thing – where did Rachel’s blog go!? All those lovely reviews! Hope it becomes accessible again soon!
It would be so difficult to rank RCs, not least because so many are very similar!
Yes, we’ve been a bit unusually modern recently in our picks, haven’t we? :D
And Rachel has taken her blog down for a bit, but it will be back at some point. Not sure when!
I’m so happy that you used my suggestion, and I can’t wait to listen! I recently read Mossy Trotter, which is Elizabeth Taylor’s only children’s book, and it was fine, but her gift was definitely in writing for adults. All her usual sharpness is blunted in this one. On the other hand, I love Margery Sharp’s children’s and adult books equally. I’ve only read one of Richmal Crompton’s adult novels, (Mrs. Frensham Describes a Circle) but I’ve read such glowing reviews of her William series, that I definitely want to read them. I always think of Rumer Godden as primarily a children’s writer because I read and reread her books so many times when I was a child. The Doll’s House is one of my favorite books. I also really loved The Secret Garden and The Little Princess but I can hardly think of them without crying. When my mother was seriously ill, she returned to reading her childhood favorites for comfort, and when she learned she was dying, she asked me to bring her her old copy of the Secret Garden to the hospital. It was her final bastion of comfort lit.
Mrs Frensham is such an interesting place to start!
And what a touching story about your mum – I can see her Secret Garden would be a lovely last book to read.
I read Picnic in the Shade earlier this year, and could not decide if it was a memoir (perhaps a fictionalized one) or a novel — what do you think? I was struck that there seems to be virtually no biographical information about Rosemary Edisford to be found online.
It’s a good question! My guess is that it’s a novel heavily informed by things she’s experienced in her life. Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow suggests it might be a pseudonym, because he also couldn’t find info.
I read Women Talking last month, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. Interested to hear yours and Rachel’s thoughts on it.
Oh good, I have been meaning to read Toews for ages (though this particular book wasn’t on my radar).
Commenting again, now that I’ve listened, to say that I have read one of Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s children’s books: Understood Betsy. It was another of my childhood favorites. It’s about a young girl who is extremely sheltered by the anxious relatives who look after her. But then she is sent to live with different relatives on a farm in Vermont, where she’s expected to be more independent, and the health and confidence she gains from this experience.
I really enjoyed the episode!
Oh lovely! I only heard of it after I started reading her as an adult. Thanks so much for the suggestion, and glad you enjoyed it.
Tea or Books: Episode 118
Thank you so much for another great episode, Simon and Rachel. I love your podcast so much!
Many years ago (late 1990s) I taught the great Jamaica Kincaid essay about Antiguan tourists, “A Small Place,” to Grade 12 and 13 (OAC) students in Markham (Ontario, Canada). I’ve always been bowled over by the incredible voice in that essay, and the anger which bubbles up so forcefully. I seem to remember that Kincaid implicates the reader through her highly effective use of second person narration.
I tried to read Lucy back then (in the late 90s) but found it boring and dropped it. I should try again, I guess! (Maybe not, Simon?)
Simon, I have a question about something you said in this episode. I guess I’m really thick, not to understand it, but can you explain, by providing an example or two, what exactly you were referring to when you made the following comments at around 32:48 about Lucy?:
“There were some really rather pithy observations, one I wrote down was, which really rang true, I think, for today is how do you get to be the sort of victor who can also claim to be the vanquished? We see so much now I think in this country and in America of—or in the past few years we’ve seen people in power who also want to act like they’re the silenced ones, or the victims— this sort of rhetoric of not being able to say what they think, even when they’re in control.”
Again, thanks so much for your great podcast and for the wonderful British Library Women Writers series. I currently own three: O, The Brave Music; War Among Ladies, and Home.
Best,
Debra
p.s. I discovered Julie Otsuka recently. In 2023 I read: The Buddha in the Attic and When The Emperor was Divine, both of which I admired greatly, and The Swimmers, which blew me away.