Not sure if it fits your criteria but I once read a book where a teen foster child has surgery and then wakes up midway through and the doctors are stunned because he has mechanical parts.

After some running away from government agents and a love interest who gets killed he faces off with this particular agent. Gets the best of this agent and then cuts his own body open so the agent can see the part. He then says something like "you want to know what I am so badly, well take one last look because you will never know and it will drive you mad" Wound heals (he also healed quickly) and buggers off never to be seen again. The book then ends.

We didn't kill your girlfriend, Protagonist why did you have to do that to us.

It's a mystery chase novel. The chase was OK but chases aren't why I read a book and the mystery is never revealed.

I now realise that I can't remember the title and that's going to bug me for the rest of the day.

His short fiction is great. Apart from certain exceptions his short stories are NOT for children. I think the collection with Henry Sugar is less adult than the other ones. The Landlady and Pig are haunting.

Ah yes, made temporarily stupid by measles was a real hero, if I recall.

I agree with everything you've said. Although, I think sexism not being a thing was primarily because there were no lads there. That said Enid Blyton was a bit of a boss in her own right (if a relatively awful mother) so maybe it wouldn't have appeared anyway.

As for Claudine and Carlotta, I used to listen to the audiobooks and my the accents.

Other people have more aggressive feelings about this than I do but Enid Blyton.

I remember reading the boarding school stories (Mallory Towers, Twins at St Claires etc.) and thinking that the protagonists were good eggs and that the "bad" characters were at fault. Reading them as a teenager and upwards those girls are Bitchyyy.

Poor Alison. She's just insecure and trying to find her place in the world but she is mocked and exploited at every turn. Even by the teachers.

I still think they are decent (if a little simplistic) stories but it's a whole different perspective I can tell you.

Also, as much as I love making fun of Americans, my adult brain no longer feels that her jibes to individual children are Wunnerful.

I haven't read the Famous Five or Secret Seven in over a decade but I get the impression that they hold up worse.

I really enjoyed it but I enjoyed it from the start. So maybe it's just not for you. I accept it does drag in the middle.

You just go and talk about the book. Even if you didn't like it. Some of the most fun I've had at a book club is when we all rip a book apart. I can't tell you how much of us LOATHED the Left Hand of Darkness.

It's a good book, well written. It gives you a lot to think about. However, having read it and having learned some backstory on the author. I don't think the author is coming at it from the mindset that we all are.

It's just like," it's fine. It's true love. It's a good thing. Wavy's encouraging it. It's fine. That thing didn't actually happen that way. It's fine. He's a lovely man. It's fine. Everyone is just prejudiced. It's love".

No it isn't fine. Kellan should have shut that shit down the moment it started getting icky. Aunt was 100% in the right and she's framed as a villain.

I like the Costa one. I don't read all of them but they can be good guide if you're looking for something good.

I adored the Twisted Ones. I think it's T Kingfisher at her peak. I hope she manages it again one day.

I thoroughly enjoyed Horrorstor as well.

I'll have to look into Family Business and Tales from the gas station.