I read the first book and thought it was... okay? A Swedish friend of mine thinks they changed the traslator for the second two and they're much easier to read. I think I'll pick them up before I go on holidays next week, as there seems to be consensus that they're a bit better?

Hee. "Mikael Sue".

I half-heartedly suspect that Mikael is really a Mikael Sue for the author.

Totally.

So I had a weird book experience yesterday.

When I was 9 or so, I read a book that kinda stuck with me. It was set on the moon, and the story was about two boys escaping from the stifling moon colony and discovering a cave dominated by a sentient plant. It took them prisoner by giving them everything they wanted.

I've never been able to remember the title or author, and whenever I've told someone about it, they've looked at me blankly.

Yesterday, skimming io9, I saw a headline that "[so-and-so] might direct The Lotus Caves for SyFy" and I sat up. Could it be? A quick google said yes, and I ended up ordering The Lotus Caves from Amazon.

While there, I also ordered a couple of the author's other books, as they got excellent reviews as well. So wow, one lifelong mystery solved!

Last night while IMing with a friend, I mentioned this. He said "I did that same thing once, except in my case I described the book to the librarian from the local elementary school, and she brought it to me the next day. It was The Tripod Trilogy."

...

Anyone see anything weird about this?

Not a daggum thing, Raq. I've tracked many a childhood favorite with nothing but a vague recollection of plot, a secondary character's name, or a garbled impression of a recalled title. Finding the book is always such a rush. Maybe not so much the re-reading, though. Nancy Drew and the Broken Locket was not as awesome decades later.

Anyone see anything weird about this?

You and your friend can't get John Christopher's plots out of your heads but his titles aren't memorable?

I never read the Lotus Caves, but my childhood copy of the Tripod Trilogy is still on my bookshelf.

Maybe not so much the re-reading, though. Nancy Drew and the Broken Locket was not as awesome decades later.

A few years ago, I picked up The Black Stallion for a reread after many decades since the last time I read it. It didn't hold up nearly as well as I'd hoped. The movie has replaced the book as my preferred way of experiencing that story, unlike A Little Princess, which I still love rereading.

The Tripold Trilogy was one of the key series of my childhood. Along with Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books and uh...Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators.

You and your friend can't get John Christopher's plots out of your heads

That's the weird thing to me - we'd both done the same thing, with the same author!

A few years ago, I picked up The Black Stallion for a reread after many decades since the last time I read it. It didn't hold up nearly as well as I'd hoped. The movie has replaced the book as my preferred way of experiencing that story, unlike A Little Princess, which I still love rereading.

I read all the Black Stallion books too. In fact, I recently picked up a Breyer horse with racing carriage and flashed it at JZ yelling, "It's the Black Stallion's sulky colt! The Hambeltonian!"

I also read all the Kjellgaard dog books. And the Terhune collie books too.

I reread most of the Black Stallion books recently. I was actually pretty pleased to find that they weren't horribly racist.

It's also kind of entertaining to watch the progression of the plots go from mildly implausible to amnesia to aliens to vampire bats.