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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

What would you read on Jackanory

11:04 / 04.07.05

What with Jackanory being revived it got me thinking, what would you read on there. I'm going to have to be very pedestrian and go for the Hobbit, on the grounds you can do all the different voices for people like Gandalf and Smaug.

For some reason as well I can see Haus doing The Dream Quest
of Unknown Kadath by Lovecraft, don't know why.

All Acting Regiment

11:09 / 04.07.05

Clockwork Orange. Strong characters, opportunities for different voices, and of course the language.

13:33 / 04.07.05

Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend".

It'd be great, I'd do it on a set made up to look like his house. Scare the little bastards rigid.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

13:56 / 04.07.05

'American Psycho' or 'The S.C.U.M. Manifesto'. With 'Of Walking Abortion' as the theme music.

Whisky Priestess

13:59 / 04.07.05

The Judge's House by Bram Stoker

This because it will scare the holy crap out of any child brave enough to listen to the end. It may also induce terror of rats in an entire generation of the young and vulnerable.

Another one I'd read would be Jewels in an Angel's Wing by Ian Watson (sadly it's not online) because small children should be introduced to good sci-fi before their parents start telling them that it's all rubbish and stupid.

15:01 / 04.07.05

Oooh, if doing Matheson how about "The Shrinking Man", I think it's scarier than "I am Legend" just because of my arachnophobia.
Seriously though if I was doing Jackanory I'd do "Little Grey Men" by B.B.: it's a fantastic childrens' book about the last gnomes in Britain and their search for their missing brother. It's full of adventure and poignant moments and love for the british countryside.

16:38 / 04.07.05

I'd do 'The Man Who Was Thursday' by Chesterton. I think it's a fantastic and fun story anyway, and it would really lend itself to the Jackanory format.

I often read aloud to myself, it's great fun, I'm looking forward to the day when I get to read books for the little Benny's.

16:44 / 04.07.05

About A Boy by Nick Hornby. So all the children would phone up to complain about the flat prose and unconvincing characters. And grow up to hate him.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

16:50 / 04.07.05

Slaughterhouse 5.

A fall of geckos

22:04 / 04.07.05

Definitely The Borribles. Though it might be better with Ray Winstone narrating.

paranoidwriter waves hello

22:25 / 04.07.05

Hmm....tough one....

For young children: 'The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles' Julie Andrews Edwards.

For teenagers: '1984' George Orwell.

For young adults: 'Diary of a Drug Fiend' Aleister Crowley.

For the patient: 'The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi)' by Hermann Hesse.

09:26 / 05.07.05

Finnegans Wake.

Or The Epic of Gilgamesh.

A personal childhood favourite. No, really.

07:07 / 06.07.05

Epic of Gilgamesh rules the school. I read that last year and was mind-blown. The kid's need to learn all about badass Gil, and pre-bible Noah.

How's about the o.t.t. splatterpunk of Poppy Z. Brite's "Exquiste Corpse". That serial killers in love stuff will go down great with the moody teens.

14:29 / 06.07.05

Alex! *shocked* No way! About a Boy is gorgeous! I actually read the whole novel aloud to my girlfriend when she first moved over to England, because I loved it so much I wanted to be right there with her when she experienced it. I like the affectlessness of the prose style, and I love the characters, and it has some of the best effortless emotional target-hitting, and some of the best counsel in Young Adult writing. To my mind.

What age group is Jackanory actually aimed at, does anyone know? And why do so many Barbeloids think that that age group, more than any other, should be listening to horror novels?

I would totally read the Little Pete Stories. I'm currently reading these to Tangent as well, so I will be in practice when the call comes from the Beeb. I would mostly read them because I absolutely love being a small, cross, sublimely self-confident little-king sort of a boy, and Little Pete's dialogue is just perfect for that kind of child. (I also just found out, from that link I posted, that they were banned from "Listen with Mother" in the 50s, so they're just as cutting-edge and subversive as all your Poppy Z Brite and suchlike. So there.)

14:33 / 06.07.05

Sorry if I sound grumpy. It's just there actually is lots of good (scary, if that's what you want), wide-ranging, well-written children's literature in the world, so I don't see why a really good forum for its dissemination should immediately be taken over by adult fiction. Bah, humbug.

paranoidwriter waves hello

14:40 / 06.07.05

And why do so many Barbeloids think that that age group, more than any other, should be listening to horror novels?

Well children do like gore, horror, grisly things, and general weirdness. Look at Roald Dahl's success or the relatively recent success of the 'Goosebumps' type of books, or Perrault, The Brothers Grimm, and even the fact that most of us have told or been told a scary story by torchlight at some point in our youths (haven't you?). Plus, (personally) I enjoy scaring children; it's something that's been passed down to me from generation to generation. They love it (within reason, of course).

14:51 / 06.07.05

Yeah. Like I said. Strong thread of 'horror' within children's literature (Brothers Grimm arguable, of course, but mainly marketed to/consumed by children over the past hundred years or so). Why go straight to adult horror for examples?

paranoidwriter waves hello

18:01 / 06.07.05

Like I said. Strong thread of 'horror' within children's literature ...

Oops! Sorry Deva, I spent too long editing my last post and didn't see you'd added another post to explain further. Apologies.