Posted by Peter Ceresole on October 07, 2004 at 08:59:08 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Endings of AR Books posted by Mike Dennis on October 07, 2004 at 07:48:38:
PP and WH but mainly the latter.
Same here. I read WH more often than any of the others. I think it's both because of the winter setting, which is hugely attractive and because of the character of the Ds, who clearly corresponded to something special for AR. That's also the reason I like PP so much.
When I was little I loved PD. Now, I never read it. But I do read BS, which has a wonderful evocation of the 1930s on the Broads. That kind of thing used to bore me when I was small- I wanted to get on with the adventure. But now, the historical and 'adult' side are what I like. That's one of the reasons I like WD, too.
See? Books for all ages.
And speaking of endings; the one but last line in BS, "Poor lads... So young and with nothing left to live for" had me foxed for 20 years after I read it (well actually I didn't think about it much) but then I realised how well it applied to people around me and how wise it was.
Even wiser was AR's cap to it- "Let's go and catch another". The authentic voice of the man who got on with it, moved on, talked his way through another closed frontier.