Your first ever CS book
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#1: Your first ever CS book Author: Elisabeth,  PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:16 pm

Island was the first CS book I ever, ever read and it was the most muddling thing to find myself plunged into the middle of all these names and places without having a clue what was going on! Did anyone else start in the middle of the series and find themselves incessantly wondering:
Why does everyone talk so funny?
Who's this Joey person and why is she everywhere at once?
Which kids belong to who?
Why on earth do they call lunch Mittagessen?
Is Len a boy or a girl?

Anyone else want to share their very first impressions of the Chalet School?

Last edited by Elisabeth on Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:48 pm; edited 1 time in total

#2:  Author: Rachael,  PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:20 pm

*chuckle*

Oh yes!! Wrong was mine and Joey was off to Canada and all we hear from her is that letter! Very strange to then find she was the central character!!
Also got Lintons, Excitements and Triplets at the same time so took a while to work out who was who and all the maiden/married names etc ...

Think I graduated to EBD from Blyton so wasn't too worried about how they spoke - Kaffee und Kuchen made a refreshing change from lashings of ginger beer!! Very Happy

#3:  Author: Ally, Location: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:22 pm

I was lucky my first book was School from my primary school library. I don't ever remember reading a later book and being confused, but maybe I thought they were different people.

#4:  Author: pim, Location: the place where public transport doesn't work properly! PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:40 pm

My first one was School At, my wonderful Auntie bought me School At, Jo of and Princess as a 3-in-1 for a Christmas present. I think I was about 8 or 9 and had been reading Enid Blyton forever so wasn't too bothered by the language but I did get confused later on as I jumped from there to Rebel and then to Ruey and I had no idea who belonged to who or what!!!

#5:  Author: Elisabeth,  PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:53 pm

Rachael wrote:

Think I graduated to EBD from Blyton so wasn't too worried about how they spoke
Me too. I didn't really mean the old fashioned language, it was more the random German words and the un-motherly way Joey spoke of her children.

#6:  Author: claire, Location: SOUTH WALES PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:06 pm

My first was future and never really got into in, then about 6 months later found some early Tirol ones and really liked them (when I found Future again realised it was part of the series - and liked it more then, probably as it full of references that I 'got' after reading the earlier books)

#7:  Author: Kat, Location: Swansea PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:35 pm

I got 2 at the same time - Fued and Triplets. Can't remember which one I read first, but I liked them. Don't remember being confused by any of it though. Enjoyed them so much that Mum went into town and bought me 2 more - and everytime she went into town she looked for more for me Smile

#8:  Author: Vikki, Location: Possibly in hell! It's certainly hot enough....... PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:18 pm

My first was New House. then I read Lintons, (which was fine because it was in the same time period, but than I went on to Island!!! That's where I got confused,......)

#9:  Author: ali, Location: medway, kent PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:57 pm

My first was Island, my mum bought it for my younger sister to take on holiday, she hated it. I ran out of reading material and thought it might be worth a try and never looked back. My sister thinks I'm a little odd though! I don't remember feeling confused, just excited that there were so many titles.

#10:  Author: Guest,  PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 9:38 pm

the first one I ever read was Does It Again. At one point they're talking about one of Joey's books which Prunella has. They all get excited saying that JoeyMaynard wrote it, but the author of the book was Josephine M Bettany thus rendering me as confused as Prunella! Who is this person who apparently has two names??!!

#11:  Author: Sioned, Location: Manchester / Anglesey PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 9:40 pm

Sorry that was me forgetting to log in!

#12:  Author: Donna, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:31 pm

I can't remember which I read first Sad I'm fairly certain it was a Tirol book though, as i felt no confusion at all! I was lucky in that, even though Huyton (where I live) can barely count as a town, it did have the main library for the borough, and they had a very good children's library, complete with many, many copies of the pB CS books! Unfortunately, it also meant that I didn't actually *own* many copies myself, and because I read so many of them, so many times, in a fairly short space of time, I really have no idea which one was first! Smile

*still spitting over the fact that the library had copies of almost every CS book but obviously sold them at some point - and not to me*

#13:  Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:54 pm

My first was Exile. My mother had bought the paperback withdrawn from stock at our village library as she'd never been able to read it as a kid and had been totally confused for the rest of the series... I thought it was a very good story, but I didn't have a clue what was going on (The same happened when I went to see the 2nd LOTR film having not seen the first - or read the books)! I then borrowed the first few chalets from the school library and a friend, so the next time I read Exile it made a lot more sense!

#14:  Author: AuntieBethy, Location: Wilmington, Delaware PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 2:12 am

My first was Jo Returns, and my second was Eustacia, both hardbacks. I was about 10 or 11. My first impression was, who is this Jo, and why are they making such a fuss about a girl who had already left school (Jo Returns)? None of the other school books I read had old girls hanging around!

#15:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:36 am

I started with Jo of, so no real room for confusion until I picked up a few Swiss books without having read the UK ones.

Hello to AuntieBethie! I've noticed your name as on-line in the (US) evening, and it's nice to see you posting. Are you an American, by any chance, or transplanted to Delaware from elsewhere? (*keeps hoping another one will turn up*)

#16:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 6:43 am

My first was a three-in-one of Ruey, Leader and Wins the Trick. Luckily, I had Adelheid to talk about the books with, as she'd read more than me, so I wasn't too confused.

#17:  Author: Ruth, Location: Lincolnshire, England PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:59 am

My first was Eustacia. I loved it. Eustacia annoyed me and *wicked* I was so so glad when she had her accident.

#18:  Author: Katarzyna, Location: Preston, Lancashire PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 10:11 am

I was lucky enough to read School at as my first book, leant to me by a school friend. I then bought several of the Tirol books as they were re-printed.

Looking in my local library i then found a copy of Althea which confused me completely!

#19:  Author: Sarah_L, Location: Redcar PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 1:34 pm

I was lucky too as School At was my first one, followed by the first twelve in pretty much the correct order I think.

#20:  Author: LL, Location: Tottenham, London PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 2:34 pm

My first was Tom Tackles, which I rather liked. The muddle with Tom and Rosalie etc did drive me mad though! by the way, Kathy_S, I'm an 'American' too. i just don't live there anymore.

#21:  Author: Abi, Location: Alton, Hants PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 3:34 pm

My first was At War, and was I confused??!! It comes in in the middle of a staff meeting, then they evacuate across the channel, and as I was in year 4 at the time we hadn't done the War yet! I had no idea what was going on and didn't read another till I was in year 7, and that was Mary-Lou, which I loved.

#22:  Author: Elisabeth,  PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:31 pm

Some of the books are worse than others as far as having to have read other ones is concerned. Reading War first must have been dreadful Abi. I remember I read it quite early one and all this random crossing the channel was most confuzzling. The thing with Island was that the blurb on the back of my copy said that Joey Bettany gave the school some boats but as far as I could see there was only a Joey Maynard! I also couldn't understand what made Joey think she could just walk in and out of the school at will. Not to mention all this strange business about people suddenly going to Canada!

#23:  Author: Abi, Location: Alton, Hants PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:33 pm

Yes, I suppose the whole Joey thing must have been quite weird.... I was so cinfused already that I don't think i took that in!

#24:  Author: claire, Location: SOUTH WALES PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 8:36 pm

On the back of my pb of exploits it calls Jo 'Joey Maynard', good job I already knew she came to marry Jack or would have confused me completely, as it was took months to realise the error

#25:  Author: AuntieBethy, Location: Wilmington, Delaware PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:52 am

Kathy_S wrote:

Hello to AuntieBethie! I've noticed your name as on-line in the (US) evening, and it's nice to see you posting. Are you an American, by any chance, or transplanted to Delaware from elsewhere? (*keeps hoping another one will turn up*)


Hi, Kathy! Yes, I'm American. We used to live in Belgium when I was young, and the only English-language books available were from England, so that's how I found the CS series. I remember going to a special English-language bookshop in Brussels to get them. I also enjoyed the Enid Blyton school stories, and Angela Brazil's as well.

If only they were easier to find here! Amazon does carry the lastest paperback editions of CS, but for the Angela Brazil ones, I would have to order from England, which I'm hesitant to do because of the cost of shipping.

#26:  Author: Mandy, Location: Derry, N.Ireland PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:01 am

My mum introduced me to the books as she was and is a big CS fan. I think she got me the first one out of the library when I was about 7 or 8 but I didn't enjoy it (what was I thinking!). A couple of years later I decided to try them again and loved them. I can't remember what the first couple were.

I started buying them to keep and my mum kept saying 'why are you buying them when you can get them out of the library?' Isn't she glad I did now I have the complete collection in PB. Very Happy

#27:  Author: Nicole, Location: New Zealand PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:03 am

The first two books I read were Lintons and Richenda. Much confusion till I figured out that it was a series of books and that these 2 were set nearly 20 years apart.

#28:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:46 am

Wow! The Americans triple in one day. (Even if one is a London-based Texan Smile .)

AuntieBethie wrote
Quote:
If only they were easier to find here!

*agrees with this completely*
I did obtain some of the paperbacks from Amazon a while back, but a number of my orders came back months later as oops- out of stock after all.

#29:  Author: Sarah_L, Location: Redcar PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:31 pm

Who are the other new Americans?

#30:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:59 am

Sarah_L wrote:
Quote:
Who are the other new Americans?

AuntieBethie, and LL the London Texan. That makes 3 of us, tripling the one that was me all by myself.

#31:  Author: KB_2, Location: Australia PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 9:54 am

Did you feel lonely before, Kathy?

#32:  Author: Guest,  PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:50 pm

She probably did! Kathy and Bethie, nice to meet you. I did live in the US for 5 years, so I still count. I have some CS books for sale on Amazon if you're looking...

#33:  Author: LL, Location: Tottenham, London PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 4:37 pm

Bother, that was me. Sorry for confusion!

#34:  Author: Chloë, Location: London: when away from home planet! PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 9:22 am

I read school first but gave up after a chapter or two then a few years later i read them all in order for the first time and it was a HB of school too! (Xan's collection)

#35:  Author: Liss, Location: Harrow, London PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:56 am

I read *Jo of* first, and then my mother's old HB of *School*, so there wasn't too much confusion there - I had *Princess*, *Head Girl* and *Rivals* pretty early on as well. The book that did cause me the most confusion, though, was *Peggy* - the beginning totally threw me.

#36:  Author: Julie, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:13 pm

I read New House first which was ok but I got confused over who "Bill" was and the German was also puzzling. I just assumed that when Joey etc left school then that would be the last that we'd hear of them (how wrong was I LOL) so when I read Peggy as my second book I was very muddled.

It wasn't helped by the way Armada used to only list about 8 books of the series on the inside pages and they were never in chronological order so it did take me a while to work the whole series out

#37:  Author: Rachel, Location: Plotting in my lair PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:32 pm

The snippets of French and German used to really confuse me a a child - especially as there is seldom a translation (except in Jo Returns ? when someone is made to repeat the phrase "I really don't know what to say" several times until they get their accent perfect!).

I'm sure I read *somewhere* that all the snippets used were in fact very basic and most schoolgirls of the period would have had no trouble whatsoever reading them. It's only us uneducated twenty first centuryites who struggle Wink

#38:  Author: BethC, Location: Worcester, UK PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 9:06 pm

My first was New Mistress, closely followed by Jo Returns: as far as I remember they seemed to make sense, although I'm not sure how many of the links I actually made at that stage.
Don't know why, as an eight-year-old, I was so hooked by a book more or less based on a teacher rather than the girls!

#39:  Author: Julie, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:54 pm

Rachel wrote:
The snippets of French and German used to really confuse me a a child - especially as there is seldom a translation (except in Jo Returns ? when someone is made to repeat the phrase "I really don't know what to say" several times until they get their accent perfect!).

I'm sure I read *somewhere* that all the snippets used were in fact very basic and most schoolgirls of the period would have had no trouble whatsoever reading them. It's only us uneducated twenty first centuryites who struggle Wink


LOL - very true Rachel. But I guess lots of us started reading the books when we were still to young for school to be teaching us foreign languages (well that's my excuse anyway)

I never did German (I chose French which for some reason meant that I could do Spanish as a second language but not German) so I have this weird idea of how the German words sound. The Gathering did dispell some of my more bizarre pronounciation myths but to me, they'll always sound the way I decided they did years ago in my head

#40:  Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 2:52 pm

I think my first was Princess I can't really remember it was from the school library. I had read all the books from other authors I liked and didn't know what else to choose. Went to the local library and found a whole shelf of them. I was very lucky in that they must have had all of them - and the librarian kept them in numerical order. So I always chose the lowest two numbers I had not read. BUT there was obviously more than me reading them as they were never all there at the sane time so all birthday and Christmas money was spent buying them.

#41:  Author: LL, Location: Tottenham, London PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:09 pm

I have quite a decent knowledge of both languages so i understood the stuff..

#42:  Author: Ella, Location: Staffordshire PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:05 pm

The first CS book I was given was a paperback of Exile, which appeared in a jumble sale when I was about 10. Something about the first few pages put me off - and I hadn't a clue what was going on! (It is now somewhere near the top of my 'favourites' list!) Shortly afterwards I acquired a paperback of New House which I read in an evening, and thought was wonderful... I then tried Exile again, with a bit more success!
Bizarre the way my mind worked! It probably didn't help that, somewhere between the two, a friend had got Wins the Trick It took a while to work out that all the characters had grown up. Very confusing! Rolling Eyes

#43:  Author: Donna, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 8:22 pm

I didn't understand the languages when I first started reading them, but i did manage to pick up quite a few pieces which I could then use when I started secondary school! ("ferme le bec" springs to mind! Wink)

#44:  Author: claire, Location: SOUTH WALES PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 8:46 pm

My french teachers was very impressed that I knew what 'Les Iles Normandie' were - thanks EBD

#45:  Author: Mora, Location: Lancaster PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 10:02 pm

I read Eustacia pretty early on and I got some rather strange mental pictures of rooms which I can't quite shake, but now they don't fit into the rest of my ideas of how things look. I also couldn't understand the imporance of Madge, Mademoiselle and the Robin at the beginning.

#46:  Author: Sugarplum, Location: second star to the right! PostPosted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 2:29 am

I started on School At and worked my way through chronoligically so I never really had much difficulty .....thankfully,,,,, I think if I had started in the middle I'd have run a mile!

#47:  Author: Margot's Devil, Location: Sydney, Australia PostPosted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 12:47 pm

I read 'Excitements' when I was about 10/11, I read the first few pages and then got very, very confused with all this stuff about 'inter V' and 'upper 111b' etc so I didn't even read any further, few yrs later I read it again and loved it and then I got 'princess' and 'Jo of' so it all started to make more sense. ROFL

#48:  Author: Ciorstaidh, Location: London PostPosted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 3:42 pm

My first was Jo of, so I wasn't too confused. I had picked up a style 3 pb, so it had (in order) the whole series in the front. I went on from there and rarely looked back.

And as for languages, I remember both French and German teachers being most impressed with me (and probably dying to laugh when I asked "when are we going to get to the "my brother is at my father's house" stage?") *points out, for those who don't know German, that the genitive is the hardest case to learn and in Scotland is only taught to Credit classes in Fourth year!

#49:  Author: pim, Location: the place where public transport doesn't work properly! PostPosted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 3:51 pm

*shrieks at the memory of trying to drum German genitive into head aged 14*

Seriously though, as I knew absolutely squit German when I started reading the books I had no idea what was going on; I didn't know any French either but that was easier to get the gist of! None of it ever came in useful at school though, but as I got older the French and German got easier to understand (and I do blame EBD for my choice of degree...). Now when I read EBD's French I find myself sitting there going 'I'm sure that's not right' or 'Surely she'd be better using such and such' Embarassed

 

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