Children's novels

As an adult I scarcely ever reread novels. But as a child I used to reread novels all the time. I used to read all the Enid Blyton books I had maybe once every 2 years or so. Same for the Narnia books (all 7 of them), and the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge, and the Oz books (well 3 of them -- The Wizard of Oz, The Marvellous Land of Oz, Glinda of Oz), didn't know about the existence of any others). And reread "Tom's Midnight Garden" countless times and each time I cried at the end.

I think because reading children books as a child was so much more enjoyable than reading adult novels as an adult. Children books had a kind of magic, they instilled in me a yearning to be there, to experience what the protagonists in the novels were experiencing. I identified and emphasised with the characters. That doesn't happen now.

Insouciant about being cold

Apparently people are baffled why people voluntarily go out in the cold without being well wrapped up.

This student went out in freezing weather wearing shorts and people can’t get enough of it

According to the above link a woman on twitter said:

[T]he same boy was on the 80 with me this morning again in a t-shirt and shorts. I'd love to know his reasoning!

I would imagine the reason is to demonstrate one's indifference to the harsh elements. Not to be craven and shiver and slink into a hole to get warm, but to walk erect, be proud, shake a fist at the Gods' who try to break our will with inclement weather. To be a man. To be special!  To be a hero.

Enjoyable work

What makes one's job enjoyable? What makes us work hard? I think essentially one needs to be intimately and emotionally involved in the product you're creating or the service you're providing.

Our society tends to assume how hard we work, how much effort we put into something, is closely related to how much we get paid for that work. I disagree. I reckon what motivates people to work hard is not so much how much you get paid, but rather the sense of achievement in producing something that other people really appreciate together with the knowledge that not many others have the requisite skills to do what you've done. It's working towards some goal, and for others to exclaim "wow" when they see what you've done. It's pride in producing something, or providing some service. And this in turn will make one very much enjoy the work they're doing.

But much work under capitalism tends to be repetitious just doing one task. You're not creating the object, only part of it. Hence you're a cog in the overall machine as I said in this blog entry. And the object is not ours. It belongs to someone else. Hence we are alienated from that we are creating, or the service we're providing.

Enid Blyton.

I used to absolutely love reading Enid Blyton books as a child.  When I was around 7 years old or so I was absolutely enthralled by her Faraway Tree books and Wishing chair books.  And as a slightly older child I think what I refer to as the Fatty (five find-outers and dog) books were my favourite series of books.

I've just read the following article.  It says:

"Apparently, the Famous Five and Secret Seven made the police look like buffoons, Noddy's sexuality was questionable, Golliwog was racist and making fun of Big Ears was insulting to people with big ears," she said. "After the meeting I told her that I had got a lot of pleasure from Enid Blyton's books, and she said 'Well, your literary tastes leave a lot to be desired'.

The literary tastes of a large percentage of people leave a lot to be desired then (including myself). Presumably it can't be because the stories are allegedly racist etc that it reflects badly on people if they enjoyed them? I knew nothing about that sort of stuff as a child. I'm guessing the stories are considered to be shallow? I wonder what children's books she considered to be superior? When I was 7 I wanted to read about magic trees with weird and wonderful lands at the top and magic flying chairs. I can't imagine at that age reading any other author who I would have enjoyed more. That might make my literary tastes dire, but I'm happy with them!  I might have been a very different person without Blyton stories to open up my imagination.