I thought that everyone had read this book but appears not .
Has anyone here read it and what do you think ?
Yes I read it years ago and I have also picnics in the fields at Slad where the book is set (we nearly bought a house near there) fond memories of that time when I first met my husband .
I enjoyed the book and Laurie Lee’s gentle account of a simple country way of life largely lost us now.
I also enjoyed Winifred Foley’s ‘A Child of the Forest’ set on the other side of the Severn an area I also know well 
Times were different then m`dear. A classic.
Laurie Lee’s ‘Cider with Rosie’ is a lovely Book of an age gone by when Villages where heaven in and hardly any vehicles in the street.
I have been to Slad and Stroud. Laurie ‘s daughter now runs things and shows people round and gives lectures about his Books.
In Passing
There is a beautiful Mansion at the front of Slad overlooking the Valley. It used to belong to Rudolf Steiner as a School for his teaching method for children. This method is now taught at many Schools in the UK He was also a devote of Goethe, German Poet , Playwright, Scientist, Statesman , Artist and Philosopher. It looks like something out of a Bronte Story. It is now run as an Education Centre for Adults I was there on an Art Course and half expected D’Arcey to come riding over the hills any minute on his Horse!.
From page one I was fascinated by the families move to another Run -down House. The Family had very little money and seem to live on bread. When settled in after much scrubbing, their hard working, creative Mother grew vegetables in the garden. I think it was 14 loaves a week they had delivered. Foraging in the hedgerows for blackberries, they had a wonderful time outside in the beautiful countryside of the Cotswold The children all did well at the Village School too.
The Book is full of unusual characters and situations and hilarious times as well.
And which boy would not like to be under the ‘Hay Cart with Rosie’, drinking Cider from a flagon?
It was also broadcast as a Story on Radio and you can buy the CD DVD. It is also a film as well
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/Ah3rAT.jpg
Laurie Lee outside his cottage in Slad Stroud. Gloucester.
It was standard reading when I was at college, but I can´t honestly say I enjoyed it, I certainly never wanted to read it twice.
Ive not read it …I really need to read the first couple of pages of any book to tell wether I can get along with it,if not then I may as well not bother cos the rest of the book would be too much like a slog.
No fun in reading a book if I cant get along with it.
I went to Slad some years ago - and Laurie Lee had just died!
I missed him by about a week.
With the money he made form Cider with Rosie he bought a cottage in Slad where he lived for the rest of his life.
I first read it many years ago but still have a copy on my shelves I have his books on my ereader too in “Red Sky at Sunrise”. Sort of an omnibus edition which has “Cider with Rosie”, “As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning” and “A Moment of War”. I read it fairly regularly.
Captures a time long gone as you read you can see it in your head. Because he is a poet I guess it makes his writing so evocative. One of my favourite books.
Never heard of him or the book.
All very ‘English’ by the sound of it.
Actually, I haven’t read a book of fiction for years - except perhaps the Bible.
You read ?
It was required ‘English Literature’ read and discuss when I was at Grammar School, and I have the DVD. Good for when I am feeling nostalgic!
I always find these 20th century supposed ‘classics’ to be very disappointing…like ‘Catcher in the rye’ or ‘To kill a mocking bird’ for instance
These are books that exercise the mind .
To Kill a mockingbird especially is a great book giving a unique insight into America in that era and was far ahead of its time re racial issues .
There are lots and lots of books that do that Muddy !
TKAM was by no means unique
First and foremost a book has to be well-written and unputdownable…it has to grab your attention and command you to read it, neither of the two I referred to do that !
I have very little time for art, book and film critics, all they can offer is their own opinion. Over the years I have read many books that I couldn’t put down, but hardly any of them were the classics… they were just books that grabbed my attention. Reading the right books is no better than drinking the right wines, so comes down to basic snobbery. How sad that such individuals are governed by the majority’s opinion rather than forming their own.
An excellent post Twinkle I agree with every syllable !
[quote=“malcolm, post: 961304”]
There are lots and lots of books that do that Muddy !
TKAM was by no means unique
First and foremost a book has to be well-written and unputdownable…it has to grab your attention and command you to read it, neither of the two I referred to do that ![/QUOTE]
For you perhaps malcolm, others will have a different experience to your opinon.
One of my favourite books of all time. Still re-read it occasionally. Think there was also a television version…
Same here. I was forced to read it under pain of death just to pass a course as it was required reading at school. I enjoy reading, when its something I want to read. But this was done under threat and I had to literally strain every ounce of willpower to drag my eyes over it and couldn’t wait to ditch it. It may be some classic of sorts, but it was one of them books which very nearly put me off reading for life.