So. Took about a year and two months, but here we are. Not bad, huh?

Sapta Siaga - Rahasia Jejak Bundar

Warning, warning, warning: spoiler, spoiler, spoiler.

This is their second adventure, in which an exciting search for missing pearls leads the Secret Seven to a circus...

This book was one of my favs in the Secret Seven series, though I can't recall why. Then again, you don't always need a reason to love something or someone, do you? Ah, getting a bit philosophical, aren't we?

"The Secret Seven Society" is having its usual weekly meeting. Which shows that these kids manage their meetings better than people in my company, where you can have four different meetings in one day -- with the same set of people. Sorry. Peter and Janet are already inside their old shed, waiting for the other five. On the door are the letters SS, painted in green.

Pasukan Mau Tahu - Misteri Rumah Setan

Warning: still a spoiler.

Why does the banshee wail in Banshee Towers, that spooky place high on the hill? Of course the Five Find-Outers are determined to solve the mystery and set off in search of clues. It is all very exciting, but as usual also very funny, and you will thoroughly enjoy this mystery story.

Well, I don't know about thoroughly, but I do enjoy the book, some 20 years after I first read it, when it left almost no impression on me. This is the last book in the Five Find-Outers series and which a lot seem to think not too highly of.

Lima Sekawan - Rahasia di Pulau Kirrin

Warning: this entry here is definitely a spoiler.

Not the most exciting book in the Famous Five series by any means. If anything, it makes me wanna smack George in the head a few times throughout. Which, of course, is every writer's dream -- to make your readers feel strongly about your characters, in a good or bad way. So, good job, Enid.

The story opens with George and Anne at their boarding school. George has just received a letter from her mom and is furious about her dad wanting to spend some time on her Kirrin Island for some secret experiments. We are reminded that George is a girl trying hard to act like a boy, that her dad is a very famous scientist and "such a hot-tempered, impatient man," and that George is very fond of her island, where she, her three cousins, and Timmy have "had one or two amazing adventures."

Let's take a break from those Blytons for a while. Earlier today, Ronato Alcano claimed the 2006 World Pool Championship title, defeating Ralf Souquet 17-11 in the final.

Skip this paragraph is you're not a pool fan. If you watched it, well, you know what happened. If you didn't, as the final score suggests, it was Alcano all the way. Now, keep in mind that this year's tournament adopts alternate-break format, all through to the final. Souquet's breaks were simply not working for him. And not because he didn't break well. He did, but somehow the pool gods decided to make it hard for the German -- he just couldn't see the 1-ball after the break and when he did, it was not makeable. And it happened on each -- yes, kid you not, each -- of his breaks. Well, except the last one, when he was trailing 10-16 and had a golden break. I guess the pool gods felt ashamed of themselves at last.

The third and final list. Which, to me personally, is quite possibly one with the most memorable books.

The Barney 'R' Mysteries / Komplotan
Roger and Diana are the mandatory brother-sister in this series. Then there's Snubby, their orphaned cousin whose real name is Peter. Barney is the leader of the gang and a kid with lotsa talents, much like Fatty, but much less hateful. In fact, he was my second fav character after Snubby. Barney has a monkey named Miranda and Snubby has a dog called Loony / Sinting.

This series is of Lima Sekawan type, though the kids are older by a year or so. It is distinguishable nonetheless thanks to the development of the characters, most notably Barney. Also, the later stories make references to the earlier ones, unlike those of Lima Sekawan, which, save a few exceptions, are independent of one another. You could read Lima Sekawan books in any order and would not miss anything. With Komplotan, you'd be better off reading the books -- or at least the first five -- in their intended chronological order. I did.

K, here we go again. I have a feeling the list will be too long for just one entry, most likely I'll need two more. Gotta give it to Enid, the lady's output is beyond belief. Wiki says she regularly produced 10,000 words a day! Bear in mind that in Enid's day, no word processors with copy-paste function existed.

Imagine if blog had been around then.

The Five Find-Outers and Dog / Pasukan Mau Tahu
As a kid I had mixed feelings about this series. On the one hand, I thought the mysteries and the way they got solved weren't too bad. In the first few books, anyway. On the other hand, I wasn't crazy about how Fatty was described almost like a superkid, with lots of unbelievable talents. For the same reason, I didn't particularly care about S.T.O.P., either.

Owing to 80-an latest entry -- another good job, Q -- I started Wiki-ing and stumbling upon interesting websites such as this. I had expected some fond memories to return and I was right, no surprises there.

Yet, nothing had prepared me for the amount of emotions that flooded back along.

Back in the day, I didn't think that highly of Enid Blyton's books. Sure, they were good and excited a pre-teen like me, but after a while the recycled themes and maddening coincidences tired even this pre-teen. That was when I switched to Trio Detektif, the Blytons left collecting dust.