First casefile

SDLagent · December 19, 2009, 01:49:40 AM

You haven't read the Casefiles? Well, enjoy reading your first one, then!

4567TME · December 19, 2009, 07:30:41 AM

Sure hope I can get it!

hardygirl847 · December 19, 2009, 04:06:20 PM

I sure hope so too because the Casefiles will forever be my favorite!! Let us know if you need suggestions on what other ones you HAVE to read!

4567TME · December 22, 2009, 07:41:36 PM

OK, I read it and it's great! What other ones should I hunt the libraries and bookstores for?

SDLagent · December 23, 2009, 03:58:27 PM

Dead on Target, of course. Browse some old topics for more suggestions.

tomswift2002 · December 23, 2009, 06:29:15 PM

Cold Sweat. First Casefile that I read all the way through. Then you should try to read the Operation Phoenix Trilogy and the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thriller: Time Bomb.

4567TME · December 24, 2009, 08:46:28 AM

Ok, thanks!

Jokerette · December 31, 2009, 11:40:00 AM

Quote from: 4567TME on December 18, 2009, 06:54:35 PM
It will probably be "Inferno of Fear" if no one takes it out of the school library before I get a chance

taking that to mean that you haven't read any casefiles before, i'll ask: have you read any UBs? it would prob be wise (that is, if you haven't already) to read them together in a mix. ya know: casefiles, UBs, casefiles, UBs, etc. just so you don't get biased.

4567TME · January 17, 2010, 10:34:36 AM

That's a good idea.

SDLagent · January 20, 2010, 07:52:47 PM

Quote from: RevWolfX on December 31, 2009, 11:40:00 AM
taking that to mean that you haven't read any casefiles before, i'll ask: have you read any UBs? it would prob be wise (that is, if you haven't already) to read them together in a mix. ya know: casefiles, UBs, casefiles, UBs, etc. just so you don't get biased.

Good idea. I read my first UB before I read my first Casefile, and I'm not biased. I just know the truth. Most UB are lame. Most Casefiles are good.

MacGyver · January 21, 2010, 02:52:03 PM

Hmm- that's interesting that you read a UB book before reading the Casefiles. But then, I guess from my point of view, I've progressed in The Hardy Boys as the series have come out. I grew up reading the original 58 titles ("The Tower Treasure" through "The Sting of the Scorpion") and I started reading The Hardy Boys Casefiles alongside those when they started being released in 1987. And of course I was still reading the Digests alongside those. (#59 "Night of the Werewolf" through #190 "Motocross Madness"). And then I've been collecting the Undercover Brothers series and I will probably try to plow through them sometime. I think I like the graphic novels better than the books they're based on though. lol
And I have acquired a few of the original text Hardy Boys mysteries (this would cover #1 "The Tower Treasure" through #38 "The Mystery at Devil's Paw") and I would like to read those sometime too to compare to the revised versions.

SDLagent · January 22, 2010, 10:47:26 PM

That's cool that you've been able to read so many of the books as they've come out. Casefiles are so hard to find these days.

You should definitely read the original texts. In my opinion, the originals are almost always better then the revised versions, and two of my favorite Hardy Boys books are originals.

tomswift2002 · January 24, 2010, 05:58:27 PM

Yeah one of my all-time favorite Hardy Boys book is #23 The Melted Coins (1944) that Leslie McFarlane wrote. It was the second book (after The Tower Treasure (1959)) that I read since some friends had a PC edition of it that their father had read when he was younger, and my mom didn't want me to get anymore at the time because my birthday was only about a week away. And I find that the 1970 revision of The Melted Coins is the worst of the revisions, and how it got past the approval stage...I don't know. I remember even wondering what the artist had been thinking of when he drew the cover, since the background green reminded me of...ah...let's not go there.

As for the hardest to find, while the Dustjacketed Hardcovers (for both the Grosset & Dunlap books that were issued between 1927 and 1961, even though a number of the books issued during that time without their dustjackets; and the second Dustjacketed set are the Wanderer Dustjacket Hardcovers released between 1979 and 1985) are definitely the hardest to find since they command such high prices, as you said SDL the Casefiles are so hard to find along with the paperback Digests.

MacGyver · January 24, 2010, 09:31:25 PM

QuoteThat's cool that you've been able to read so many of the books as they've come out. Casefiles are so hard to find these days.

You should definitely read the original texts. In my opinion, the originals are almost always better then the revised versions, and two of my favorite Hardy Boys books are originals.

Yeah- lol- I think I probably have a few year's advantage in that. But all of The Hardy Boys books are good. [I've never been good at picking favorites.

]
I will certainly have to try giving the originals a read when I can. I will probably get the original text for "The Tower Treasure" sometime soon- I know a place that has a few of the Applewood reprints. And I really want to read the original version of "The Disappearing Floor" and see if it's really as bad as I've heard so many people online say it is.

tomswift2002 · January 25, 2010, 02:52:19 PM

Quote from: MacGyver on January 24, 2010, 09:31:25 PM
I will probably get the original text for "The Tower Treasure" sometime soon- I know a place that has a few of the Applewood reprints.

You might want to wait for the fall when Applewood is going to release a box set of the first 6 books of the original series. ( http://www.amazon.ca/Hardy-Boys-Collectors-Boxed-Set/dp/1557091536/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264451751&sr=1-1)

QuoteAnd I really want to read the original version of "The Disappearing Floor" and see if it's really as bad as I've heard so many people online say it is.

Trust me, I just read it last year and there is no "meat" on the story and it just seems to be one long "bony" outline. The only book that is worst than the 1940 The Disappearing Floor is the 1938 The Secret Warning which appears to have had two manuscripts with completely different stories, based on the same outline, combined into one manuscript. This leads to the book having portions that read like The Disappearing Floor (1940) by Dr. John Button, while other portions read like The Mystery of Cabin Island (1929) by Leslie McFarlane. And while this is a rather long argument that shouldn't be discussed in this thread, suffice it to say, even though others have uncovered evidence indicating that Dr. John Button most likely worked and signed off on the book, which apparently contradicts Leslie McFarlane's claim to authorship of The Secret Warning which he made in his autobiography (Ghost Of The Hardy Boys), I am convinced that based on a survey of the text of the book, The Secret Warning is a compilation of stories by both Leslie McFarlane and Dr. John Button and that an unknown editor edited the two stories together.