Another day, another list

I seemed to have missed (how could I?) the Guardian’s request that readers vote on  “which books best defined the successive eras of the 20th century”. Well, the votes are in and here are the results.   Happily I can say I’ve read them all except for the 1910s choice, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.  Huh?

Interesting that with one exception (the one with the protagonist’s weight provided at the start of each entry) the rest have become standards in many English syllabi.

So, would it be possible (or has it been done already?) to come up with similarly defining children’s books of the various 20th century decades?

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Owls, Stamps, and (who else) Harry

Would someone explain to me what the big deal is about the forthcoming Harry Potter stamps? (Other than the Royal Mail doing a splendid job promoting them, of course; that I get.) I mean, how many kid readers use stamps anyway? Are they writing letters by the gazillions these days? Is stamp collecting still a hot hobby? (And does the intended audience of the final Harry Potter book — kids, that is —- even talk about hobbies or is that a word for us ancients?)