Does anybody else know Graham Oakley's Church Mouse series?
They're hilarious and wise, but I suspect they're examples of books where the ironic understated narration goes down rather better with the parent reading than the children. Though I read all those I came across as a child. (Samson, the church cat who has heard too many sermons on the beatitudes and as a consequence has given up catching mice, is a personal hero.)
Yes the Church Mice are brilliant and Sampson is marvellous. The illustrations are particularly good and have to be viewed in conjunction with the narration in order to get the full ironical effect.
I remember the Church mice being very popular with the kids and the Children's Librarian loved them! I would love to read them.
I could never get either of my kids into Asterix (sadly), but Cheery daughter loved Tintin. I loved E Nesbit myself as a child but never read any to our son, However, he loved the BBC adaptations of the Psammead and I still look online to see if I can get DVDs of our old videos. which my Dad had bought at garage sales. I might suggest Cheery son looks for some E Nesbits as audiobooks as he likes to listen at night time, and is not a big reader. I am pretty sure we have the Jacqueline Wilson continuation on CD as daughter really loved her books and I knew the Psammead connection would go over well with the kids in the car.
So many familiar writers being shared here, I am loving it!!
Yes - the Church Mice books are a treat. Likewise the Stanley Bagshawe books - very much in the same vein as to wit and illustration, and written in verse. Apparently they were adapted for Yorkshire TV but not having one (TV) our children never got to watch those. The intro to each book ran: 'In Huddersgate, famed for its tramlines, up north where it's boring and slow, Stanley Bagshawe lived with his Grandma, at Number 4, Prince Albert Row'.
Not children's books this time, and from the more recent past, but about thirty years ago there was a lot of interest in church circles in a series of novels by Susan Howatch set in a sort of C20 version of Trollope's Barset and featuring clergy , some with a touch of the sinister about them, who pushed the boundaries a bit in the field of spiritual direction. They were a good read and quite interesting but I have not heard anyone mention them for at least twenty years.
Has anyone else read any of them, and is anyone going to tell me they still do or have done recently?
The rhyme at the beginning of Stanley Bagshawe is exactly the same rhythm as The Lion and Albert, the famous monologue by Stanley Holloway.
And I'm another fan of the Church Mice series.
Not children's books this time, and from the more recent past, but about thirty years ago there was a lot of interest in church circles in a series of novels by Susan Howatch set in a sort of C20 version of Trollope's Barset and featuring clergy , some with a touch of the sinister about them, who pushed the boundaries a bit in the field of spiritual direction. They were a good read and quite interesting but I have not heard anyone mention them for at least twenty years.
Has anyone else read any of them, and is anyone going to tell me they still do or have done recently?
Wasn't it Susan Howatch and the town was Starminster or something like that? I read a couple of them but lost interest.
The thing about children's literature is that it's often very firmly rooted in a specific time and culture. That makes it appealing to the target audience, of course, but it also means it is less likely to appeal to someone from a different context. I read 'Five Children and It' and other books by E. Nesbit when I was a child, but never even tried to get my daughter interested in them. Too dated to be relatable, not old enough to be historically interesting.
The Chronicles of Narnia held Little Miss Feet's interest well enough to go through all 7, and enough for her to be annoyed at the hash Disney made of them vs the BBC versions.
They were a good read and quite interesting but I have not heard anyone mention them for at least twenty years.
Has anyone else read any of them, and is anyone going to tell me they still do or have done recently?
I read most of them a while back, they are over 30 years old at this point, and relied on the reader having knowledge or at least interest in the theological developments in the Anglican church the 20th Century. I imagine that was an endangered sport even when the books were written, and slightly more so now.
Howatch appears to have retired from writing, though she did use some of the proceeds from her books to endow a "Starbridge" lectureship in divinity at Cambridge. I can see that the post was last advertised about a year ago, but there are no details online as to who currently holds it.
Is it permitted to include poets in our compendium of long lost authors? Do folk these days still read, for example, Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins or Emily Dickinson?
The thing about children's literature is that it's often very firmly rooted in a specific time and culture. That makes it appealing to the target audience, of course, but it also means it is less likely to appeal to someone from a different context. I read 'Five Children and It' and other books by E. Nesbit when I was a child, but never even tried to get my daughter interested in them. Too dated to be relatable, not old enough to be historically interesting.
I read a fair bit of E. Nesbit as a kid in the 80s. The stories in an identifiable time period I just thought of as being in the world my Gran or her older siblings had grown up in (on the rare occasions it crossed my mind!).
I read E Nesbit as a child in the 70s. I remember being puzzled by how little the children saw of their parents, and also by the food (mutton stew?!) I can guarantee my grandparents would not have lived like that, their families wouldn't have been rich enough.
My daughter got the Narnia books from her godparents but as far as I know has only ever read The Horse and His Boy. Perhaps she found the sexism and corporal punishment off-putting, I haven't asked.
I read a couple of Susan Howatch's books (last century), but they're not the kind of thing I would read more than once. Maybe that's the key to why some books endure and others fade into obscurity.
Do folk these days still read, for example, Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins or Emily Dickinson?
I do, but I may be unusual. I can't speak to Tennyson, Browning, and Hopkins, since they're only available in student friendly editions; but Dickinson is available at the town's large bookshop in a decidedly non-student friendly edition (ie the poems are the versions made more conventional by her first editors).
Is it permitted to include poets in our compendium of long lost authors? Do folk these days still read, for example, Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins or Emily Dickinson?
I quote them, if that counts. Hopkins in particular is burned into me.
Is it permitted to include poets in our compendium of long lost authors? Do folk these days still read, for example, Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins or Emily Dickinson?
Did most people ever read them? I studied literature, I read them, but I didn't generally find they were part of conversation outside of literature courses. They will still be on literature courses. I think Anne of Green Gables did a lot to boost Tennyson's popularity.
Not children's books this time, and from the more recent past, but about thirty years ago there was a lot of interest in church circles in a series of novels by Susan Howatch set in a sort of C20 version of Trollope's Barset and featuring clergy , some with a touch of the sinister about them, who pushed the boundaries a bit in the field of spiritual direction. They were a good read and quite interesting but I have not heard anyone mention them for at least twenty years.
Has anyone else read any of them, and is anyone going to tell me they still do or have done recently?
I remember reading one - I think it was Glittering Images, which may be the first of them - it was a set text for one of my seminary classes, I think one on reframing situations. The course was mainly way above my head, but I enjoyed that text enough to read one or maybe two more. Hadn’t thought about them for decades!
Goodness me! Was it really 30 years ago that those Susan Howatch novels came out?!
I never read any but I intended to.
@Leaf - far from thinking there are gaps in your reading history, I'm surprised that some of the British authors you've read made it across the Pond.
Many of the others that have been mentioned here are very much of their place and time, so I wouldn't expect them to 'travel' beyond the UK - other than to Australia and other Commonwealth countries.
@RockyRoger - I run a poetry group and visit others and tend to find that people are familiar with Dickinson and Hopkins, less so with Tennyson and Browning, other than his monologues.
Dylan Thomas is a poet who seems to go in and out of fashion and was very popular in the US at one time.
I could start a whole new thread on poetic fashions but it would be very niche.
I've run some George Herbert by my poetry group and, unsurprisingly, only those with a Christian faith could relate to his work. I was struck by how even people in their 60s and 70s were completely nonplussed by some of the scriptural allusions.
And did you ever try Angela Thirkell. Especially in her first books the comedy and characters are amazing.
I love Angela Thirkell and have most of her books - Before Lunch is a particular favourite.
Anyone else like Stella Gibbons? She wrote far more than just Cold Comfort Farm - in fact her family found a previously unknown manuscript, Pure Juliet, which was published in 2014.
And what about Anthony Powell? To my mind A Dance to the Music of Time is far superior to the Waugh novels.
For children's books, my two loved Ann Scott-Moncrieff's Auntie Robbo and Edith Unnerstad's The Saucepan Journey, as well as Astrid Lindgren's three original 1940s Pippi Longstocking books.
I run a poetry group and visit others and tend to find that people are familiar with Dickinson and Hopkins, less so with Tennyson and Browning, other than his monologues.
Even volumes of Browning's Selected Poems contain almost entirely dramatic monologues.
And did you ever try Angela Thirkell. Especially in her first books the comedy and characters are amazing.
I love Angela Thirkell and have most of her books - Before Lunch is a particular favourite.
Anyone else like Stella Gibbons? She wrote far more than just Cold Comfort Farm - in fact her family found a previously unknown manuscript, Pure Juliet, which was published in 2014.
And what about Anthony Powell? To my mind A Dance to the Music of Time is far superior to the Waugh novels.
For children's books, my two loved Ann Scott-Moncrieff's Auntie Robbo and Edith Unnerstad's The Saucepan Journey, as well as Astrid Lindgren's three original 1940s Pippi Longstocking books.
Before Lunch is one of my favourites too. Almost nothing happens and yet for some characters everything changes. And the ending is perfect. And I have also read Anthony Powell, and appreciated his work.
Years ago, I was a holiday rep in Greece. The Swedish holiday rep for the Swedish company that shared our tours was delighted I'd heard of Pippi Langstrom/Longstocking - none of the younger girls had.
I only knew the stories because they'd featured on Jackanory.
A friend of mine is a member of a John Masefield appreciation society. They have a 'Scrobblefest' every year. I have read The Box of Delights myself but can't see the appeal: I prefer Joan Aiken and Diana Wynne Jones for fantastical literature. Although people are still reading them, so maybe I shouldn't mention them on this thread.
I have copies of the Box of Delights and the Midnight Folk on my bookshelves. They're quite enjoyable. Cargoes is still one of my standard go-tos for poetry for children, because the rhythms are wonderful.
The thing about children's literature is that it's often very firmly rooted in a specific time and culture. That makes it appealing to the target audience, of course, but it also means it is less likely to appeal to someone from a different context. I read 'Five Children and It' and other books by E. Nesbit when I was a child, but never even tried to get my daughter interested in them. Too dated to be relatable, not old enough to be historically interesting.
My eldest (currently in college) read several E. Nesbit books as a child, and enjoyed them. I don't agree about the "too dated to be relatable" comment, but neither she nor I have ever been interested in contemporary realism.
I'm a big fan of E.Nesbit and I think her stories stand the test of time. Certainly some of her jokes still work. In The Story of the Amulet Robert tells the Babylonian Queen that he comes from the land where the sun never sets. As an aside Nesbit adds that he’d been reading his father’s Daily Telegraph lately. And of course Lewis uses the Queen or her close cousin in The Magician’s Nephew.
There are quite a few quotes from E Nesbit in Narnia. The beginning of “The Magician’s Nephew” directly refers to her; also the famous description of Eustace at the start of “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is remarkably like that of a very minor character (also called Eustace) in EN’s “The New Treasure Seekers”.
I loved the Jennings books when I was in primary school - far more than the Enid Blyton school stories.
Me too. Me and my primary-school 'gang' even made each of them nicknames of the 'Williams' gang in the series. One notable feature was that the author continued making the series for at least 20 years. It was notable that although the ages of the boys, and indeed the other main characters stayed at the same age, but the background changed to be more update as the series went on, which was most obvious by the illustrations.
It's amazing what societies there are out there. A professional contact of mine, with his wife, manages the Rupert Bear society (it may have another name. Something to do with Nutwood, possibly?) Now that has to be a very select band, surely.
I read E Nesbit to my daughter, who was born in the late 1990s. The books were obviously dated when I read them to myself in the 1970s, but I don’t think they would be impossible to understand now?
Jacqueline Wilson has recently published her own version of “Five Children and It” but I haven’t read it, so don’t know how she’s approached the story.
I read the original five children and it back in college and I liked it… I’m a little troubled by the idea of someone publishing a new version of it…
Does anybody else know Graham Oakley's Church Mouse series?
They're hilarious and wise, but I suspect they're examples of books where the ironic understated narration goes down rather better with the parent reading than the children. Though I read all those I came across as a child. (Samson, the church cat who has heard too many sermons on the beatitudes and as a consequence has given up catching mice, is a personal hero.)
I think I have managed to get every one of them, but I’m not sure. I love that stuff and Graham Oakley’s other stuff. I believe he passed a few years ago – RIP. I discovered them on a trip to England in 1994.
Yes - the Church Mice books are a treat. Likewise the Stanley Bagshawe books - very much in the same vein as to wit and illustration, and written in verse. Apparently they were adapted for Yorkshire TV but not having one (TV) our children never got to watch those. The intro to each book ran: 'In Huddersgate, famed for its tramlines, up north where it's boring and slow, Stanley Bagshawe lived with his Grandma, at Number 4, Prince Albert Row'.
I must check these out!
I do hope people are still reading the awesome Adrian Plass!
We had a large set of Jalna novels in large print too.
...
.
Back in around the 1970s there was a whole genre of what I think could be described as "plantation porn" books set in the pre Civil War South, on a slave plantation, which usually ended up with the spoilt rich heiress being given a "good seeing to" by a hunky slave.
Horrible to think that they even got into print.
This thread is not unlike discovering a large book club of likeminded readers.
I read Howatch's Starbridge series after reading her Penmarric family saga. I read right through Glittering Images, Glamorous Powers, Ultimate Prizes, Scandalous Risks, Mystical Paths, Absolute Truths) and the titles might give some idea of the semi-mystical, semi-gothic oddness of the Anglican cathedral dramas taking place between the 1930s and 1960s. It's strange to be writing this down on the day the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury is to be installed and I keep thinking that it would have made for a great plot in Howatch style. Scandalous Glittering Risks perhaps?
People in those Howatch books were always 'shuddering' and 'falling to their knees' and generally having a whale of a time over-acting.
For a modern, and much more recognisable, take on cathedral and church life, I'd recommend anyone to try Catherine Fox's books. But that's really off-piste so far as this thread is concerned, since they are very much read.
I read E Nesbit to my daughter, who was born in the late 1990s. The books were obviously dated when I read them to myself in the 1970s, but I don’t think they would be impossible to understand now?
Jacqueline Wilson has recently published her own version of “Five Children and It” but I haven’t read it, so don’t know how she’s approached the story.
I read the original five children and it back in college and I liked it… I’m a little troubled by the idea of someone publishing a new version of it…
Jacqueline Wilson also wrote her own version of What Katy Did, a novel that I had really enjoyed as a kid. I liked Jacqueline Wilson's version, which is simply called Katy. It deals with disability in a more realistic way - some kids' books of that era deal with disability in quite a problematic way. In Wilson's version, Katy doesn't regain her ability to walk and learns to adapt to this new reality.
I don't think new versions of novels cancel the old, but they do provide different perspectives, and might inspire new generations of kids to read the originals too, with this broader perspective. Thinking about it, I remember as a teenager reading somewhere that the What Katy Did books were dated and no longer interesting/relevant to kids - which surprised me, as I liked them, but then I didn't know anyone else who read them. I imagine Wilson's book might make kids curious to read them.
@Aravis and all other E. Nesbit fans who I have offended, I apologise. I was a bit harsh. I still don't think my daughter would have sat still if I'd tried to force the Nesbit books on her: she was born this century. However, her favourite book at the age of 12 was The Three Musketeers, so I could be wrong. She is the only person I know who has also read Twenty Years After and (all of) The Man in the Iron Mask.
Back in around the 1970s there was a whole genre of what I think could be described as "plantation porn" books set in the pre Civil War South, on a slave plantation, which usually ended up with the spoilt rich heiress being given a "good seeing to" by a hunky slave.
Horrible to think that they even got into print.
That sounds pretty insensitive/tasteless. Which country were they published in?
Back in around the 1970s there was a whole genre of what I think could be described as "plantation porn" books set in the pre Civil War South, on a slave plantation, which usually ended up with the spoilt rich heiress being given a "good seeing to" by a hunky slave.
Horrible to think that they even got into print.
That sounds pretty insensitive/tasteless. Which country were they published in?
All I can say is Wow!
UK. And they weren't in the "erotica" section or on the top shelf. I remember them being on the shelves with all the other romantic fiction.
I am sure we had some of those in paperback in my old public library days, erk. Every month we used to get a bulk order of romance/bodice rippers for the paperback spinners. I think we bought about 30 titles a month. If they weren't returned, no one was too sad!
I am thrilled to read there a few fans of Jennings aboard the ship, I don't think anyone I knew as a younger person had heard of him or Derbyshire! Am I right in thinking his Dad was a clergyman??
If books are under copyright, and none are available to buy new, does that mean they are only accessible if you can buy them 2nd hand, or if they are available from a library?
You can borrow them from friends (maybe). Project Gutenberg is for stuff that is out of copyright, though different national rules mean that some versions of it hold books that are still in copyright in other parts of the world.
Do people read JRR Tolkien, rather than just seeing the films?
Downsizing had caused me to give them away, apart from Tree and Leaf, and Smith of Wooton Major.
I'm currently rereading Lord of the Rings (for perhaps the fifth time--I can't recall exactly). I've decided I should really buckle down and read the Silmarillion and all the other books, now that I'm retired and supposedly have loads of free time...
The colonialist attitudes in the Swallows and Amazons books haven't aged well, but they're nothing that wouldn't have been expected from English children in the 1930s, so I think any fair-minded person can read them with only the occasional wince.
Kingsley Amis? Malcolm Bradbury? John Braine? Colin Wilson? All those angry young men became (mainly miserable) old men and have faded away.
Do teenagers still 'discover' D H Lawrence? I can't quite believe it.
Amis went from being an angry young man to a reactionary old curmudgeon, and so fell out of fashion. His son probably has more of a reputation now than Kingsley did.
Comments
They're hilarious and wise, but I suspect they're examples of books where the ironic understated narration goes down rather better with the parent reading than the children. Though I read all those I came across as a child. (Samson, the church cat who has heard too many sermons on the beatitudes and as a consequence has given up catching mice, is a personal hero.)
I could never get either of my kids into Asterix (sadly), but Cheery daughter loved Tintin. I loved E Nesbit myself as a child but never read any to our son, However, he loved the BBC adaptations of the Psammead and I still look online to see if I can get DVDs of our old videos. which my Dad had bought at garage sales. I might suggest Cheery son looks for some E Nesbits as audiobooks as he likes to listen at night time, and is not a big reader. I am pretty sure we have the Jacqueline Wilson continuation on CD as daughter really loved her books and I knew the Psammead connection would go over well with the kids in the car.
So many familiar writers being shared here, I am loving it!!
Has anyone else read any of them, and is anyone going to tell me they still do or have done recently?
And I'm another fan of the Church Mice series.
Wasn't it Susan Howatch and the town was Starminster or something like that? I read a couple of them but lost interest.
The Chronicles of Narnia held Little Miss Feet's interest well enough to go through all 7, and enough for her to be annoyed at the hash Disney made of them vs the BBC versions.
I read most of them a while back, they are over 30 years old at this point, and relied on the reader having knowledge or at least interest in the theological developments in the Anglican church the 20th Century. I imagine that was an endangered sport even when the books were written, and slightly more so now.
Howatch appears to have retired from writing, though she did use some of the proceeds from her books to endow a "Starbridge" lectureship in divinity at Cambridge. I can see that the post was last advertised about a year ago, but there are no details online as to who currently holds it.
I read a fair bit of E. Nesbit as a kid in the 80s. The stories in an identifiable time period I just thought of as being in the world my Gran or her older siblings had grown up in (on the rare occasions it crossed my mind!).
My daughter got the Narnia books from her godparents but as far as I know has only ever read The Horse and His Boy. Perhaps she found the sexism and corporal punishment off-putting, I haven't asked.
I read a couple of Susan Howatch's books (last century), but they're not the kind of thing I would read more than once. Maybe that's the key to why some books endure and others fade into obscurity.
I quote them, if that counts. Hopkins in particular is burned into me.
Did most people ever read them? I studied literature, I read them, but I didn't generally find they were part of conversation outside of literature courses. They will still be on literature courses. I think Anne of Green Gables did a lot to boost Tennyson's popularity.
I never read any but I intended to.
@Leaf - far from thinking there are gaps in your reading history, I'm surprised that some of the British authors you've read made it across the Pond.
Many of the others that have been mentioned here are very much of their place and time, so I wouldn't expect them to 'travel' beyond the UK - other than to Australia and other Commonwealth countries.
@RockyRoger - I run a poetry group and visit others and tend to find that people are familiar with Dickinson and Hopkins, less so with Tennyson and Browning, other than his monologues.
Dylan Thomas is a poet who seems to go in and out of fashion and was very popular in the US at one time.
I could start a whole new thread on poetic fashions but it would be very niche.
I've run some George Herbert by my poetry group and, unsurprisingly, only those with a Christian faith could relate to his work. I was struck by how even people in their 60s and 70s were completely nonplussed by some of the scriptural allusions.
I love Angela Thirkell and have most of her books - Before Lunch is a particular favourite.
Anyone else like Stella Gibbons? She wrote far more than just Cold Comfort Farm - in fact her family found a previously unknown manuscript, Pure Juliet, which was published in 2014.
And what about Anthony Powell? To my mind A Dance to the Music of Time is far superior to the Waugh novels.
For children's books, my two loved Ann Scott-Moncrieff's Auntie Robbo and Edith Unnerstad's The Saucepan Journey, as well as Astrid Lindgren's three original 1940s Pippi Longstocking books.
Before Lunch is one of my favourites too. Almost nothing happens and yet for some characters everything changes. And the ending is perfect. And I have also read Anthony Powell, and appreciated his work.
I only knew the stories because they'd featured on Jackanory.
I have copies of the Box of Delights and the Midnight Folk on my bookshelves. They're quite enjoyable. Cargoes is still one of my standard go-tos for poetry for children, because the rhythms are wonderful.
My eldest (currently in college) read several E. Nesbit books as a child, and enjoyed them. I don't agree about the "too dated to be relatable" comment, but neither she nor I have ever been interested in contemporary realism.
Me too. Me and my primary-school 'gang' even made each of them nicknames of the 'Williams' gang in the series. One notable feature was that the author continued making the series for at least 20 years. It was notable that although the ages of the boys, and indeed the other main characters stayed at the same age, but the background changed to be more update as the series went on, which was most obvious by the illustrations.
Wait, isn’t Rupert still popular over there?
That name is familiar…
I read the original five children and it back in college and I liked it… I’m a little troubled by the idea of someone publishing a new version of it…
I think I have managed to get every one of them, but I’m not sure. I love that stuff and Graham Oakley’s other stuff. I believe he passed a few years ago – RIP. I discovered them on a trip to England in 1994.
I must check these out!
I do hope people are still reading the awesome Adrian Plass!
Back in around the 1970s there was a whole genre of what I think could be described as "plantation porn" books set in the pre Civil War South, on a slave plantation, which usually ended up with the spoilt rich heiress being given a "good seeing to" by a hunky slave.
Horrible to think that they even got into print.
I read Howatch's Starbridge series after reading her Penmarric family saga. I read right through Glittering Images, Glamorous Powers, Ultimate Prizes, Scandalous Risks, Mystical Paths, Absolute Truths) and the titles might give some idea of the semi-mystical, semi-gothic oddness of the Anglican cathedral dramas taking place between the 1930s and 1960s. It's strange to be writing this down on the day the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury is to be installed and I keep thinking that it would have made for a great plot in Howatch style. Scandalous Glittering Risks perhaps?
For a modern, and much more recognisable, take on cathedral and church life, I'd recommend anyone to try Catherine Fox's books. But that's really off-piste so far as this thread is concerned, since they are very much read.
Jacqueline Wilson also wrote her own version of What Katy Did, a novel that I had really enjoyed as a kid. I liked Jacqueline Wilson's version, which is simply called Katy. It deals with disability in a more realistic way - some kids' books of that era deal with disability in quite a problematic way. In Wilson's version, Katy doesn't regain her ability to walk and learns to adapt to this new reality.
I don't think new versions of novels cancel the old, but they do provide different perspectives, and might inspire new generations of kids to read the originals too, with this broader perspective. Thinking about it, I remember as a teenager reading somewhere that the What Katy Did books were dated and no longer interesting/relevant to kids - which surprised me, as I liked them, but then I didn't know anyone else who read them. I imagine Wilson's book might make kids curious to read them.
In the UK, Waterstones and other online booksellers list them as available. Worth reading in sequence - the first being, IMHO, much the best.
All I can say is Wow!
UK. And they weren't in the "erotica" section or on the top shelf. I remember them being on the shelves with all the other romantic fiction.
I am thrilled to read there a few fans of Jennings aboard the ship, I don't think anyone I knew as a younger person had heard of him or Derbyshire! Am I right in thinking his Dad was a clergyman??
I'm currently rereading Lord of the Rings (for perhaps the fifth time--I can't recall exactly). I've decided I should really buckle down and read the Silmarillion and all the other books, now that I'm retired and supposedly have loads of free time...
The colonialist attitudes in the Swallows and Amazons books haven't aged well, but they're nothing that wouldn't have been expected from English children in the 1930s, so I think any fair-minded person can read them with only the occasional wince.
Amis went from being an angry young man to a reactionary old curmudgeon, and so fell out of fashion. His son probably has more of a reputation now than Kingsley did.