Great website

Criss · August 30, 2010, 12:19:33 AM

I'm new and so grateful for this place.
In my country the Hardy Boys are absolutely unknown. There had been a few translations in the late 70s but they didn't hit home.
The Hardy Boys universe fascinates me but it's overwhelming when you are new and have no clue what to read first.
As there are no HB books in the libraries I have to buy them online and it's great when you can stick to the most popular first.
So far I have read about 20 blue spines, 5 casefiles and one UB - and lots of fanfiction.

I appreciate your discussions a lot

and I hope that I can participate once

btw - I stumbled across the HB because of some very good audio tapes!

tomswift2002 · August 30, 2010, 05:47:27 PM

Which country are you from Criss?

SDLagent · August 30, 2010, 07:17:37 PM

Glad your enjoying The Hardy Boys. Try to track-down some original texts of The Hardy Boys (1927-1959) and The Hardy Boys Casefiles. Those are my favourite series.

MacGyver · August 30, 2010, 09:01:20 PM

Nice to have you here, Criss.

I definitely agree with SDLagent- the original texts of The Hardy Boys are great to read. I also grew up with the revised versions (1959-onward) and the Digests, so I think those are cool too. And definitely The Hardy Boys Casefiles. Give them all a try if you can. Have fun on the site and happy reading!

Criss · August 31, 2010, 08:48:24 AM

Thanks a lot

Well, the originals are VERY expensive but I'll give them a try.
Yesterday I bought the first 23 Digests as a complete set. The seller wanted more for a single copy, but as I bought the whole set plus the second volume of ND and HB super sleuths he gave them to me cheaper.
I read what you wrote about your favorite Casefiles and Digests (in other threads) and I'm looking forward to them a lot

(creating an Excel sheet with annotations was my weekend pleasure)

@TomSwift, I'm from Germany

Criss · August 31, 2010, 09:03:24 AM

German children grew up with Enid Blyton's Famous Five, Stefan Wolf's TKKG and The Three Investigators (all of them much younger sleuths than the Hardys). What I like about the Hardys is that they are older and that the plots are more complicated.
As far as I know, only 6 Blue Spines had been translated in the 70s. I have no idea why they didn't begin with volume one. The Crisscross Shadow and The Wailing Siren Mystery are two of them

I've been to a flea market a couple of months ago where I found 3 Blue Spines. But it was a flea market of a German-American women's club.

I volunteer at a church library and sometimes a reader asks me what I am reading right now. I'm getting queer looks

.
But I'm enjoying myself immensely

Q · August 31, 2010, 09:16:04 AM

The 3 Investigators have a series where they are older.

Mattie · August 31, 2010, 06:30:31 PM

Quote from: Criss on August 30, 2010, 12:19:33 AM
I'm new and so grateful for this place.
In my country the Hardy Boys are absolutely unknown. There had been a few translations in the late 70s but they didn't hit home.
The Hardy Boys universe fascinates me but it's overwhelming when you are new and have no clue what to read first.
As there are no HB books in the libraries I have to buy them online and it's great when you can stick to the most popular first.
So far I have read about 20 blue spines, 5 casefiles and one UB - and lots of fanfiction.

I appreciate your discussions a lot and I hope that I can participate once

btw - I stumbled across the HB because of some very good audio tapes!

Cool, hi.

MacGyver · August 31, 2010, 09:54:47 PM

QuoteGerman children grew up with Enid Blyton's Famous Five, Stefan Wolf's TKKG and The Three Investigators (all of them much younger sleuths than the Hardys). What I like about the Hardys is that they are older and that the plots are more complicated.
As far as I know, only 6 Blue Spines had been translated in the 70s. I have no idea why they didn't begin with volume one. The Crisscross Shadow and The Wailing Siren Mystery are two of them

I've been to a flea market a couple of months ago where I found 3 Blue Spines. But it was a flea market of a German-American women's club.

I volunteer at a church library and sometimes a reader asks me what I am reading right now. I'm getting queer looks .
But I'm enjoying myself immensely

Dude- The Three Investigators are humongous in Germany!!! That series only went to 43 books originally in America (and later an 11 book Crimebusters series where they are aged 17)- but I think the numbering is way past 100 at this point in Germany if I understand correctly. That's cool- I love those books! (The Hardy Boys is still my all time favorite but I also grew up with T3I and I love them too. By the way, have you seen the T3I movies? I'm really wanting to see them sometime just to check them out.)
And I also grew up with Enid Blyton and absolutely LOVE The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. Those are just classic! The Wailing Siren Mystery was a favorite Hardy Boys book of mine as a child so that's cool that you've got that one translated. The Crisscross Shadow is a cool one too.
That's cool that you work with your church library- I hang out in my church library sometimes and I've read most all the good ones I'm wanting to from there- and they've got a really nice selection when it comes to children's mystery series actually. And that's cool- I love them and I don't worry about what others think about it. Lol

Criss · August 31, 2010, 11:26:00 PM

Hey - I'm here to discuss the Hardys !!

Just a few words to the 3I - book 156 is annouced.
But here the 3I are more famous because of the audio tapes. They are legend. Sometimes there are live performances of a tape with more than 20.000 !!!! people in the audience. The speakers have remained the same since the late 70s and are legend as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHHzkRgEIsU
Yes, I've seen the movies.
As far as I know the Crimebusters have never been translated.

tomswift2002 · September 01, 2010, 04:03:01 PM

Quote from: Criss on August 31, 2010, 08:48:24 AM
@TomSwift, I'm from Germany

How interesting, since I was born at CFB Lahr in West Germany back in the 80's, but I'm now in Canada.

I'm not too sure if it was printed in German, but The Hardy Boys #68 The Submarine Caper (later retitled Deadly Chase) was originally written by Conrad Fuchs in German in 1980/1981, and then it was translated into English for the English publication, but the story takes place in West and East Germany (the book was printed in 1981, so that was a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall and before I was around).

But I would suggest that you avoid the regular Undercover Brothers books, since the plots are rather weak and are extremely repetitive and, even though the oldest books are only 5 years old, they haven't aged well.

SDLagent · September 01, 2010, 08:32:02 PM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on September 01, 2010, 04:03:01 PMBut I would suggest that you avoid the regular Undercover Brothers books, since the plots are rather weak and are extremely repetitive and, even though the oldest books are only 5 years old, they haven't aged well.

I don't think their age is a problem. Most were lame from the start.

Jokerette · September 05, 2010, 11:18:52 AM

well, criss, i would recommmend you do not judge the UBs by what you hear from people here. especially tomswift and SDL. neggy (NZone) as well. you should read them and develop your own preferences.

Criss · September 05, 2010, 02:10:51 PM

I've read the first volume of the LOST trilogy and I liked it pretty much.
I liked it that much that I plan to get the other two as well as soon as they will be published.

Is there a significant development in the series? I mean, are the last ones different from the first ones?

Q · September 05, 2010, 02:17:40 PM

No, there isn't. You can read them all separately. That is one reason that Tom, SDL, and all those don't like them. To me, that isn't a problem. If I want to read book 20, without reading the books before it I wouldn't run into any confusion or references to the other books.