Hi Jerry!
42 years ago, like many, I stumbled into those
green hardback books on the school library shelves, aged 7.
Always a keen reader, I read the lot. Eventually I bought my own copies in paperback, and re-read them often. I started dinghy sailing at ten, and have a deep passion for sailing small boats. My wife bought me the hardback set a couple of years ago as a present, and I've read them all again, several times since. (Much to her bemusement!)
I'd urge anyone who loved the books to try the Autobiography for an account of (the first two-thirds of) an amazing life. Brogan's
Life of Arthur Ransome is better. Find
Coots in the North for several chapters of the last, unfinished, S&A book, alongside other writing.
The Last Englishman is an amazing glimpse at Ransome's time in Russia. And - of course! -
Racundra's First Cruise and
Second Cruise are full of bookmarks and rarely on my shelves.
I suspect this would be a Mastermind Specialist Subject for me.
TARS is an active society for all things Ransome - highly recommended - and TARBOARD is a genial online forum for Ransomeites.
Last year I stopped at Rusland Church in Cumbria. It was my second visit. A sunny, breezy, beautiful summer's day: perfect weather for sailing a small lugsail dinghy on nearby Coniston. Arthur and Evgenia's grave was clean and tidy. There was no-one else about. The church was unlocked, just as it ought be.
Inside, there's a book for visitors: I spent a good fifteen minutes reading comments from people who'd visited the church from all over the world during the past few months, and at least half of them had done what I'd done - turned up to say "thanks" - and added some of the funniest, most delightful comments I'd ever seen. I believe we all share a mindset: the books have, in part, made us the adults we've become.
As to Coniston next year? I need to camp.
And bring Racundra.
Andy