klu9The Dubai "expats" of today are reminiscent of the "Shanghailanders" of a century ago, as described by Arthur Ransome, journalist & author of the Swallows and Amazons books
https://chinarhyming.com/2026/03/08/dubai-2026-shanghai-1927-remembering-arthur-ransomes-shanghai-mindset/
alice 🪞♥️ 🎩🐇I read The Great Gatsby for the first time when I was very young and didn't remember the detailed descriptions of the lives of the rich, or even the references to white supremacy. As I started to get annoyed (because I have to reread the book), I decided to read another book alternately, one that I read when I was a child, which I also don't remember very well, but which left me with an impression of healthy kindness and camaraderie - #SwallowsandAmazons by #ArthurRansome.
I downloaded the book for free from Anna's Archive and was amazed at the quantity and variety of books Ransome wrote.
Note: Apparently, the book has only entered the public domain in the US, but in the UK (and other European countries) it is still under copyright.
Stuart Wilkinson@ratatosk A lovely review. I was a huge #ArthurRansome fan in my childhood and recently re-read the 12 S&A series 35 years later and ashamed to say I haven't read this. That review has convinced me to hunt it out! #iamreading #goodreads
Andi ChorleyStumbled on this review of Arthur Ransome's Old Peter's Russian Folk Tales on Goodreads and it cheered me. Might cheer some of you out there too!
"I'd forgotten about this one. Really enjoyed it. At one stage (around 30 years ago or more) I was travelling from Exeter to Derby on the train with my 4 year old son. I was reading stories from this book to him and, after stopping to pick up a lot of passengers at Birmingham New Street the noisy carriage gradually went very quiet. I was reading (I believe) fairly quietly, but when I looked up, just about the entire carriage was listening. I apologised to the two ladies at my table seat; a young white nurse and a middle aged black nurse. They smiled and both said. "No carry on. We're enjoying it." A real highlight of my reading life. They listened right through to the end of the story and then made a wonderful fuss of my lovely boy. Life is sometimes wonderful!"
@simon_brooke Winnie the pooh and Box of Delights loved here too. Also a big #ArthurRansome fan and having recently re-read them all after 30 years of first doing so, astonished I remember enjoying Peter Duck as Black Jake was such a frightening enemy. I generally went for pretty tame stuff as a child. Always thought Peter Duck would make a great film.
Welcome home, Timothy! I've just finished re-reading #ArthurRansome 's Pigeon Post (again!). Still can't decide if it's my favourite Swallows and Amazons book or not. Reading as a child, I was always expecting Squashy Hat to be some super villain! #kidlit #iamreading #bookstodon
@osbert.realise.earth and thanks to Ransome's brilliance when I read it as a child I viewed all the children equally, as any child would. He also had pretty feisty female leads across the S&A series too, and beautifully emotionally literate adults who were kept out of the main action as "natives", so 10 year old me was just focussed on the sheer adventure of the children. Re-reading them all nearly 40 years later has been such a joy! #ArthurRansome #kidlit
Dope Old PersonOn the island there are Mastodons
Exciting - I ordered ( second hand) the two Arthur Ransome books connected to Pin Mill, and one was delivered already. So jumped straight into "Secret Water" this afternoon.
#ArthurRansome #PinMill #Suffolk
Discover Arthur Ransome’s East Coast | The Nancy Blackett Trust https://nancyblackett.org/eastcoast/
