Again, Truepenny asks for book recommendations

[truepenny]

A conversation on someone else's LJ reminded me of a long-standing curiosity. And now that, hey, I have people around who are extraordinarily well-read, I thought I'd pose the question.

Books about boarding schools that get it right.

There's a long post I made back in December about a number of reasons why Diana Wynne Jones's Witch Week is a better res (Latin for "thing"--I can't think of a word for what I want) than the Harry Potter books. One of those reasons is that Rowling's vision of what boarding school is like doesn't ring true, even to an American reader such as myself. But, when I grumble, Someone ought to write a book that does this properly, I can't put my money where my mouth is, because I don't actually know what I'm talking about. I can just tell a dreamy delusion when I see one. So I'm interested in finding books that achieve a more accurate representation.

Obviously, if the book is sf/f/h, that's a big bonus, but for the purposes of this book-quest, it's the boarding-school-ness I'm looking for. All suggestions welcome and appreciated!

Comments

[cija.livejournal.com]

I'm almost certain you're right, but my Roald Dahl Collected Stories is (are?) 2500 miles away in a big box so I can't check. Was any sort of gruesome psychological revenge exacted? If so, it's definitely Dahl.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I can't remember how the story went. I just remember the situation and the narrator's horribly vivid memories of being caned (?) by the bully. I thought for sure my attribution to Dahl was purest nonsense, but maybe my memory is better than I think it is.

O the agonies of being separated from any part of one's book collection! Ten boxes worth of my books are in storage, and I miss them. *sobs* But at least they're only a few floors away, not thousands of miles. I sympathize very much.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

It is Dahl. I'm pretty sure it's in the "Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More" collection, or at least some version of it is. Doesn't it involve a really thick camelhair bathrobe and burnt toast?

.m, possibly mad

[cija.livejournal.com]

I had a sudden flash of memory. Dahl was the one who said you had a choice between 10 strokes with your gown on or 5 with it off (or whatever the numbers were) and there's a moment when he realizes he's made the wrong choice and it's to late to stop it. I think that was in Boy. It was very vivid.

CS Lewis talks about caning too - who doesn't? - but was a lot more resentful about the enforced enthusiasm for games and lack of privacy and leisure. He hated not so much that it was cruel, but that it was stupid.


The worst thing about not having my books is that I was sure I had taken the ones I'd need to refer to and left the ones I wouldn't, and I think I had my categories backwards. I always need to look up something that's not here.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. Boy, that's it. Perhaps some of it was excerpted in "Henry Sugar." But it's definitely in boy, because I remember the caning. It was 10 strokes with his thick robe on, 5 with it off. Can't remember which he chose, though. *g*

.m