Posted by Peter Ceresole on July 21, 2012 at 05:44:12 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Chronological reading posted by Mike Field on July 20, 2012 at 16:10:10:
As far as 'reading order' goes, I'd strongly suggest reading all the Lake stories in order
Yes; the order given in the 'Also by Arthur Ransome' list in the beginning of all the Cape editions seems to be the perfect guide. And thanks for the link to the Books Timelines. A splendid piece of completism.
Mind you, there are always anomalies, probably the clearest being in WDMTGTS for which the careful 'story based' date is 1932. But when they return with their father, Roger claims the first view of land by seeing 'the radio masts at Bawdsey'. But the Chain Home radar masts at Bawdsey were erected around 1936. However, the book was published in 1937 and AR had meticulously checked out the crossing, probably in '35 or '36, and seen the masts. So in they went. They were by far the tallest structures in the area, so Roger would have seen them first.
Huge fun, but as far as enjoyment of the books is concerned, perfectly irrelevant. But I am pleased about this thread, which has started me back into the books again. The sheer pleasure of plunging back tino the crystal clear elegance of AR's writing...