Book journal
Jan. 19th, 2004 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarielI have fallen chronically behind in listing what I have been reading. Here's a quick overview of what I have read since September. My reviews are a bit slap-dash or even non-existent, I just didn't want to lose track of what I've been reading.
BTW, I did achieve my pointless self-set challenge of reading my own height in books this year, but only just. Which, given how short I am, is a bit depressing.
Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Attic Term; Cricket Term; Falconer’s Lure; Run Away Home by Antonia Forest
Thanks to the combined efforts of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katlinel and Girls Gone By Publishers, I was able to reread and read for the first time many of Antonia Forest’s books this year. Her school stories – about the Marlow twins, Nicola and Laurie – are without a doubt the best out there, but the other stories about the whole Marlow family (six girls and two boys) have turned out to be treasures as well. Run Away Home was my least favourite out of this batch, I think – competent older brother Giles takes over the plot too much at the end – but Falconer’s Lure has been my favourite so far, not just because of the hawks, but because of the beautiful handling of the friendship between Nicola and the son of their new neighbours, Patrick Merrick. I was sad to read that Antonia Forest died at the end of last year.
The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley
Very enjoyable children’s book, and thanks tokatlinel for the rec. It concerns the lives led by the characters in a children’s book when they are not being read. They spring to life and onto set when the book is opened – and woe betide them when the book is unread and damaged as the years pass by... Their humility before the Reader is as nothing compared to their self-abasement on the appearance of the Writer. As it should be.
My Friends the Miss Boyds by Jane Duncan
katlinel's recommendation again - excellent and absorbing account of a young girl's observations of life in a small Scottish village, interspersed with her re-appraisal of events as an adult. There are many more from this series, and I'm looking forward to getting back to them. Treasures, katlinel - thank you.
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Not her best (and, let’s face it, the last four have been bloody brilliant), but enjoyable enough. But I Need More Gregor!
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Nobody told me this was so bloody funny.
The Gate to Women’s Country by Sherri S. Tepper
An extremely powerful read, and I challenge anyone not to have their breath yanked from them at the end. The more I reflect on it, the more I find it problematic on several levels (e.g. the plausibility of the structures of the society that she depicts, and the treatment of homosexuality), but I have no doubt I’ll go back and reread this, particularly when I have more knowledge of the various bits of Greek literature that she deploys throughout, and also because I want to see how she did it technically.
The Murder Room by P.D. James
I read this just after watching the TV dramatization of Death in Holy Orders with Martin Shaw, and it helped enormously to be able to plug in the actors’ faces to the book characters. Skipped through it quickly and it was enjoyable enough. Glad it was someone else’s hardback I’d borrowed though, and not one I’d paid for. And I can’t remember whodunit.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
This is memoir by an Iranian professor of English Literature about teaching in Iranian universities before, during, and after the Revolution. After resigning her post over a refusal to wear the veil, she invites a group of female students to attend special classes in her home. The memoir follows their experiences, up to the point where Nafisi leaves Iran for the US. As the title suggests, Nafisi is an expert on Nabokov, but the chapters which I found the most satisfying concerned a classroom trial of The Great Gatsby (tried for being an imperialist American novel), and also on Daisy Miller (which acquired a wholly new significance in the context of these women’s lives). This was my last choice for my offline reading group, and we were largely in agreement that, despite occasional lapses into sentimentality, it was an absorbing and moving book.
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Started off vaguely enjoying it, ended up nearly throwing it across the room.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Up amongst my favourite reads of this year. A semi-autobiographical account of a summer spent on an island in the Gulf of Finland, and following the friendship between a motherless little girl and her elderly grandmother. Wise, beautifully written, and life-affirming. Highly recommended.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Big but a quick read. Slick and obvious. I think he’s angling for a film script. Clickety clock tickety tock prize winning book by numbers.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
Thanks tocommunicatorfor the rec. Powers along a fair old pace, good page-turner, great evocation of the sights, sounds and stink of Victorian London. Perhaps some sag in the middle, but I think it raised its game again at the end.
Raising the Stones by Sherri S. Tepper
Slow moving, but involving and absorbing.
From a Buick 8 by Stephen King
Mildly promising start, and then unengaging and disappointing.
Liberation by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
By far the best book treatment of Blake’s 7. Loads of helpful production detail and excellent research, and with many very interesting analyses of individual analyses. I’m not persuaded about one or two (e.g. Gan-was-a-sex-murderer) and also I don’t agree with the analysis of Power, but these are very minor points in an otherwise indispensable book.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Read chiefly so that I could catch up with Mr A’s tally on the Big Read list (yeah, I’m that sad).
Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Claire Morrall
One of those small press books that suddenly finds itself in the spotlight, this by getting shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It is the story of a woman whose mother died when she was a very small child, and who is unable to have children herself. She is the youngest sister of five older brothers (Lost Boys – the title of the book is a line from Peter Pan). It reminded me a great deal, thematically, of Gregory Maguire’s Lost, but was much better executed. I thought it was a very good portrait of bereavement, and the displacement that comes from depression and early loss. It was very touching about the fragile bonds that people who have been damaged try to make between themselves – but then that’s my favourite romantic story: you’ve been hurt, I’ve been hurt – let’s fix each other together. I think the plot falls apart a little at the end, but otherwise it was very affecting.
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
She never disappoints. This was great.
Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd
A splendid reprint from Persephone Books. It concerns a woman who is shipwrecked just before WW2 breaks out – when she is rescued, she comes back to London in the Blitz. Obviously it’s a bit of a contrived situation, but this is a book written with a great deal of candour, intelligence and compassion, and with universal themes: endurance, dignity, the continuance of life and meaning after death through investment in the generation that follows. (Interestingly, it was rediscovered and brought it to the attention of Persephone Books by someone who is in my local reading group. And yes – Barbara Euphan Todd is the creator of Worzel Gummidge. But don’t hold that against her.)
The Runaway by Elizabeth Anna Hart
Charming Victorian children’s novel in which the child’s flights of fancy are treated with respect. Another Persephone reprint.
The Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham
And yet another Persephone reprint, this time the story of a family of four children whose parents are suddenly called away to look after a sick relative, and then are lost in a plane crash. The money runs out, and the children move into a barn. It follows their attempts to stay together, while well-meaning and not so well-meaning village folk attempt to intervene in various ways. Solid rather than enchanting, and while the burdens fall mainly on the older girl (particularly household burdens), that’s a function of the period in which it’s set, and as her POV is the one primarily followed, her extra worries are drawn to the fore, I think. (FI-COAT [1]: Eleanor Graham was the founding editor of Puffin Books, and Worzel Gummidge was the first book that Puffin published.)
The Eyre Affair; Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
I found the first of these a little too clever and self-conscious for its own good, but the second was much better plotted, and the characterization improved markedly too. I notice the third one, The Well of Lost Plots, is now out in trade paperback.
Honest Doubt; The Edge of Doom by Amanda Cross
The last two of her books about literary detective Kate Fansler. Honest Doubt has a particularly good new character, who tells the story (and provides commentary on Kate Fansler throughout). In The Edge of Doom, a elderly man arrives claiming to be Kate’s father. The plots are not the strong points of these books, but they’re very readable and enjoyable nonetheless. (But why did they decide to change the B&W spine uniform to one with colours?)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
One of my very favourite stories. I reread it every Christmas.
The Silent Speaker by Noel Streatfeild
One of her books for adults, and a very clever take on the whodunit – the death in this book is a suicide (we know this from the start), but family and friends of the dead woman still have to determine the nature and extent of their guilt. A little dated, but a strong and interesting narrative.
The Marlows and the Traitor by Antonia Forest
A solid and exciting adventure story, and the girls get to do stuff in this one. Particularly Laurie (kind of).
Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright
This is a follow-up to Gone-Away Lake, which I haven’t found yet. It won’t displace the Melendy books in my heart, but it has the dry wit and generosity that I love from those books.
A Coronet for Cathie by Gwendoline Courtney
Another from Girls Gone By, and a version of The Princess Diaries, really – young girl discovers that she is in fact a Duchess. Lovely and lots of fun.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Entertaining, funny, touching, and easily as good as The Crow Road, which is what it made me think of (and which is one of my favourite Iain Banks books). Thanks,katlinel, for making me fill what was a gaping hole in my reading!
Slow River by Nicola Griffith
And yet another excellent recommendation from the excellentkatlinel! A great book to finish the year on – near-future scenario, strongly and well-plotted, with smashing writing and imagery and a terrific set of (mainly female) characters. Thank you once again, katlinel! This is one I’ll be coming back to.
[1] FI-COAT: Fundamental Inter-Connectedness Of All Things
OK, lunchtime now.
BTW, I did achieve my pointless self-set challenge of reading my own height in books this year, but only just. Which, given how short I am, is a bit depressing.
Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Attic Term; Cricket Term; Falconer’s Lure; Run Away Home by Antonia Forest
Thanks to the combined efforts of
katlinel and Girls Gone By Publishers, I was able to reread and read for the first time many of Antonia Forest’s books this year. Her school stories – about the Marlow twins, Nicola and Laurie – are without a doubt the best out there, but the other stories about the whole Marlow family (six girls and two boys) have turned out to be treasures as well. Run Away Home was my least favourite out of this batch, I think – competent older brother Giles takes over the plot too much at the end – but Falconer’s Lure has been my favourite so far, not just because of the hawks, but because of the beautiful handling of the friendship between Nicola and the son of their new neighbours, Patrick Merrick. I was sad to read that Antonia Forest died at the end of last year. The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley
Very enjoyable children’s book, and thanks to
katlinel for the rec. It concerns the lives led by the characters in a children’s book when they are not being read. They spring to life and onto set when the book is opened – and woe betide them when the book is unread and damaged as the years pass by... Their humility before the Reader is as nothing compared to their self-abasement on the appearance of the Writer. As it should be. My Friends the Miss Boyds by Jane Duncan
katlinel's recommendation again - excellent and absorbing account of a young girl's observations of life in a small Scottish village, interspersed with her re-appraisal of events as an adult. There are many more from this series, and I'm looking forward to getting back to them. Treasures, katlinel - thank you.Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Not her best (and, let’s face it, the last four have been bloody brilliant), but enjoyable enough. But I Need More Gregor!
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Nobody told me this was so bloody funny.
The Gate to Women’s Country by Sherri S. Tepper
An extremely powerful read, and I challenge anyone not to have their breath yanked from them at the end. The more I reflect on it, the more I find it problematic on several levels (e.g. the plausibility of the structures of the society that she depicts, and the treatment of homosexuality), but I have no doubt I’ll go back and reread this, particularly when I have more knowledge of the various bits of Greek literature that she deploys throughout, and also because I want to see how she did it technically.
The Murder Room by P.D. James
I read this just after watching the TV dramatization of Death in Holy Orders with Martin Shaw, and it helped enormously to be able to plug in the actors’ faces to the book characters. Skipped through it quickly and it was enjoyable enough. Glad it was someone else’s hardback I’d borrowed though, and not one I’d paid for. And I can’t remember whodunit.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
This is memoir by an Iranian professor of English Literature about teaching in Iranian universities before, during, and after the Revolution. After resigning her post over a refusal to wear the veil, she invites a group of female students to attend special classes in her home. The memoir follows their experiences, up to the point where Nafisi leaves Iran for the US. As the title suggests, Nafisi is an expert on Nabokov, but the chapters which I found the most satisfying concerned a classroom trial of The Great Gatsby (tried for being an imperialist American novel), and also on Daisy Miller (which acquired a wholly new significance in the context of these women’s lives). This was my last choice for my offline reading group, and we were largely in agreement that, despite occasional lapses into sentimentality, it was an absorbing and moving book.
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Started off vaguely enjoying it, ended up nearly throwing it across the room.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Up amongst my favourite reads of this year. A semi-autobiographical account of a summer spent on an island in the Gulf of Finland, and following the friendship between a motherless little girl and her elderly grandmother. Wise, beautifully written, and life-affirming. Highly recommended.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Big but a quick read. Slick and obvious. I think he’s angling for a film script. Clickety clock tickety tock prize winning book by numbers.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
Thanks to
communicatorfor the rec. Powers along a fair old pace, good page-turner, great evocation of the sights, sounds and stink of Victorian London. Perhaps some sag in the middle, but I think it raised its game again at the end. Raising the Stones by Sherri S. Tepper
Slow moving, but involving and absorbing.
From a Buick 8 by Stephen King
Mildly promising start, and then unengaging and disappointing.
Liberation by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore
By far the best book treatment of Blake’s 7. Loads of helpful production detail and excellent research, and with many very interesting analyses of individual analyses. I’m not persuaded about one or two (e.g. Gan-was-a-sex-murderer) and also I don’t agree with the analysis of Power, but these are very minor points in an otherwise indispensable book.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Read chiefly so that I could catch up with Mr A’s tally on the Big Read list (yeah, I’m that sad).
Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Claire Morrall
One of those small press books that suddenly finds itself in the spotlight, this by getting shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It is the story of a woman whose mother died when she was a very small child, and who is unable to have children herself. She is the youngest sister of five older brothers (Lost Boys – the title of the book is a line from Peter Pan). It reminded me a great deal, thematically, of Gregory Maguire’s Lost, but was much better executed. I thought it was a very good portrait of bereavement, and the displacement that comes from depression and early loss. It was very touching about the fragile bonds that people who have been damaged try to make between themselves – but then that’s my favourite romantic story: you’ve been hurt, I’ve been hurt – let’s fix each other together. I think the plot falls apart a little at the end, but otherwise it was very affecting.
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
She never disappoints. This was great.
Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd
A splendid reprint from Persephone Books. It concerns a woman who is shipwrecked just before WW2 breaks out – when she is rescued, she comes back to London in the Blitz. Obviously it’s a bit of a contrived situation, but this is a book written with a great deal of candour, intelligence and compassion, and with universal themes: endurance, dignity, the continuance of life and meaning after death through investment in the generation that follows. (Interestingly, it was rediscovered and brought it to the attention of Persephone Books by someone who is in my local reading group. And yes – Barbara Euphan Todd is the creator of Worzel Gummidge. But don’t hold that against her.)
The Runaway by Elizabeth Anna Hart
Charming Victorian children’s novel in which the child’s flights of fancy are treated with respect. Another Persephone reprint.
The Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham
And yet another Persephone reprint, this time the story of a family of four children whose parents are suddenly called away to look after a sick relative, and then are lost in a plane crash. The money runs out, and the children move into a barn. It follows their attempts to stay together, while well-meaning and not so well-meaning village folk attempt to intervene in various ways. Solid rather than enchanting, and while the burdens fall mainly on the older girl (particularly household burdens), that’s a function of the period in which it’s set, and as her POV is the one primarily followed, her extra worries are drawn to the fore, I think. (FI-COAT [1]: Eleanor Graham was the founding editor of Puffin Books, and Worzel Gummidge was the first book that Puffin published.)
The Eyre Affair; Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
I found the first of these a little too clever and self-conscious for its own good, but the second was much better plotted, and the characterization improved markedly too. I notice the third one, The Well of Lost Plots, is now out in trade paperback.
Honest Doubt; The Edge of Doom by Amanda Cross
The last two of her books about literary detective Kate Fansler. Honest Doubt has a particularly good new character, who tells the story (and provides commentary on Kate Fansler throughout). In The Edge of Doom, a elderly man arrives claiming to be Kate’s father. The plots are not the strong points of these books, but they’re very readable and enjoyable nonetheless. (But why did they decide to change the B&W spine uniform to one with colours?)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
One of my very favourite stories. I reread it every Christmas.
The Silent Speaker by Noel Streatfeild
One of her books for adults, and a very clever take on the whodunit – the death in this book is a suicide (we know this from the start), but family and friends of the dead woman still have to determine the nature and extent of their guilt. A little dated, but a strong and interesting narrative.
The Marlows and the Traitor by Antonia Forest
A solid and exciting adventure story, and the girls get to do stuff in this one. Particularly Laurie (kind of).
Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright
This is a follow-up to Gone-Away Lake, which I haven’t found yet. It won’t displace the Melendy books in my heart, but it has the dry wit and generosity that I love from those books.
A Coronet for Cathie by Gwendoline Courtney
Another from Girls Gone By, and a version of The Princess Diaries, really – young girl discovers that she is in fact a Duchess. Lovely and lots of fun.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Entertaining, funny, touching, and easily as good as The Crow Road, which is what it made me think of (and which is one of my favourite Iain Banks books). Thanks,
katlinel, for making me fill what was a gaping hole in my reading!Slow River by Nicola Griffith
And yet another excellent recommendation from the excellent
katlinel! A great book to finish the year on – near-future scenario, strongly and well-plotted, with smashing writing and imagery and a terrific set of (mainly female) characters. Thank you once again, katlinel! This is one I’ll be coming back to. [1] FI-COAT: Fundamental Inter-Connectedness Of All Things
OK, lunchtime now.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 03:23 pm (UTC)Daisy Miller did little for me although, as I said, it gained new interest after I read the sections in Nafisi's book about it.
I think the prose in The Great Gatsby is amazing. And it's one of those books I turn over in my mind a lot.
Lolita is knockout. Can't believe I never read it before.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 10:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 10:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 03:10 pm (UTC)And yet another excellent recommendation from the excellent
Isn't it, though! I loved it.
I like the idea of reading one's own height in books. Sadly, I don't think I stand a chance, even of reading *your* height in books. I mean, I haven't even got round to writing up my New Year's resolution about reading, never mind anything else...
And you're now the second person in a few days to say how much they like I Capture the Castle. I guess I'd better read it, then.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 03:25 pm (UTC)The pile of books by my bed wasn't quite my height, but I hadn't taken into account any of the fanfiction, the rereads of LotR, and I think I had returned a few borrowed books (which I do, occasionally).
You'll get through I Capture the Castle very quickly, it's immensely readable. And the DVD is coming out soon.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 03:42 pm (UTC)I've raved about it to the friend who bought it me for Christmas, so I think she wants to borrow it now! I shall probably order NG's Ammonite very soon, too, having had no luck finding it in the shops here.
I had returned a few borrowed books (which I do, occasionally).
It's over-rated, I find. Actually, in a fit of enthusiasm, I catalogued your Mary Doria Russell books over Christmas. But I removed them again when I decided that you might tell me off if you fell across them in my catalogue.
I've just added I Capture the Castle to my amazon basket; the same search also pulled up the DVD. The other person who mentioned the book was our film buff friend, who said that she hadn't wanted to see the film in case it wasn't how she'd imagined the book. What did you think?
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 04:28 pm (UTC)Oooh, excellent - thank you! Amazon UK claims that it's hard to find, but, thanks to the wonders of abebooks, there should be one on its way to me very soon now.
And thanks for thirding ICtC, too. I really must do some reading this year...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:02 pm (UTC)ROFL!
The other person who mentioned the book was our film buff friend, who said that she hadn't wanted to see the film in case it wasn't how she'd imagined the book. What did you think?
I didn't go to see the film when it came out because I hadn't read the book, and I prefer to read books first. I'll probably pick it up on DVD (although I do want to get the first season of Alias...).
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:04 pm (UTC)Jolly good it is, too. You can borrow mine, if you want to?
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:16 pm (UTC)It's entirely possible that I've offered it before. And for all I know, you may even have said yes before... Sorry, I try to remember such things, but I'm afraid I'm not very systematic about it! If it looks like I've forgotten this, just prod me.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:20 pm (UTC)Between us I bet we make up a whole functioning human being, LOL!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:52 pm (UTC)Ego te absolvo. ;-) Not that mine seems to be any better at the moment.
I had a sudden hazy recollection of us sitting in the pub just before RotK talking about 'Alias'.
hmmm, could well be. But it's probably best for our morale if we pretend that we didn't, and that we're not going daft. Tell you what, why don't I lend you the first season of 'Alias' when I see you?
Between us I bet we make up a whole functioning human being, LOL!
Dr LiveJournal's Monster!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 06:33 pm (UTC)Cool! Thanks!
Dr LiveJournal's Monster!
Better than Dr Dobbs's, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 08:40 pm (UTC)Speak of the devil: you'll never guess what I received a piece of junk mail about today....
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 09:46 pm (UTC)You did. But you aren't.
I'm not helping, am I?
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 11:48 pm (UTC)gb, we need minutes taken for all of our meetings.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 12:04 am (UTC)I actually don't recall (hey, I've slept since then, too!), but it seems like something he would do :)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 08:50 pm (UTC)Hey, I can't help it: I'm an ISFJ. :-)
I'm glad you can remember what we talked about, though. I'm just back from the weekly shopping trip, and find that I didn't even remember to buy fruit juice...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 10:32 pm (UTC)I wish I had more control over what I remember, though - I'm just as likely to forget some daily essential. Maybe we should sit in the pub discussing our shopping lists :/
no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-20 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 05:56 pm (UTC)I found the first of these a little too clever and self-conscious for its own good, but the second was much better plotted, and the characterization improved markedly too.
Interesting. That was *exactly* my opinion of The Eyre Affair so I haven't felt any great urge to read the others. If the characterization has improved I might give them a try though.
I've loved I Capture the Castle since I was a teenager. The film follows the book quite closely but it just *isn't* the book, though I liked the actress who played Cassandra.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 10:20 pm (UTC)I keep my must-read heap in little piles. I think it would turn out to be taller than my house if I put them all into one.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 06:03 pm (UTC)I notice the third one, The Well of Lost Plots, is now out in trade paperback.
Certainly is. Do you want me to add it to the pile? Then we can forget that, too.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 07:06 pm (UTC)I loved Antonia Forest, and not just because one of the twins has my name. :-) The stories and characters were interesting, the girls especially being strong. Not that I've read them since, and I doubt I can find them here any more (the libraries don't keep books that long).
I do have a large collection of Boys' and Girls' annuals from the 30 - 60s, each bought for less than a dollar from church fairs. They're hysterically funny ("But he's my frightfully fast chum!" he ejaculated.) but Antonia Forest's books were just excellent. Wasn't the Marlow father in the navy?
I loved the Jane Duncan ones too, though about all I can remember now is the ex-fighter pilot called Sashay because of the camp walk he affected to hide his limp.
I must check the library catalogues now...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 07:46 pm (UTC)I've only read one of the Jane Duncans so far, but Katlinel is slowing feeding them to me, like an addictive drug ;-D
I'm *incredibly* jealous of the Girl annuals! I saw a pile of them for sale ten years ago for a ridiculously cheap amount each - except I was so hard up at the time that I couldn't afford them. Argh!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-21 08:25 pm (UTC)Sashie is called Sashie because his name is Sasha de Marnay. He's described as having a dancing walk. I've always thought of a 'sashay' as being a slow, swaying one. I re-read 'My Friends from Cairnton' over the weekend.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 07:07 pm (UTC)I loved Antonia Forest, and not just because one of the twins has my name. :-) The stories and characters were interesting, the girls especially being strong. Not that I've read them since, and I doubt I can find them here any more (the libraries don't keep books that long).
I do have a large collection of Boys' and Girls' annuals from the 30 - 60s, each bought for less than a dollar from church fairs. They're hysterically funny ("But he's my frightfully fast chum!" he ejaculated.) but Antonia Forest's books were just excellent. Wasn't the Marlow father in the navy?
I loved the Jane Duncan ones too, though about all I can remember now is the ex-fighter pilot called Sashay because of the camp walk he affected to hide his limp.
I must check the library catalogues now...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 07:47 pm (UTC)I've only read one of the Jane Duncans so far, but Katlinel is slowing feeding them to me, like an addictive drug ;-D
I'm *incredibly* jealous of the Girl annuals! I saw a pile of them for sale ten years ago for a ridiculously cheap amount each - except I was so hard up at the time that I couldn't afford them. Argh!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-21 08:29 pm (UTC)I've still got the Marghanita Laski book to read too. Persephone Books are wonderful - thank you for putting me on to them.
Hurrah for FI-COAT.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-21 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-06 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-21 09:33 pm (UTC)Currently i'm on "The Singing Line" by Alice Thomson, which is a travel autobiography. If i ever read my own height in books, they'd be large print hardbacks.
I'll probably finish it around June...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-22 08:54 am (UTC)