The Baby-sitters Club

So, a few weeks ago, I was having a bad week. I was self isolating for seven days and stuck in the house and slowly going mad. Work, which I normally hate, has been one of the few things letting me have a semblance of normality i.e. sanity.

I couldn’t face anything, even reading. I tore apart my bookcases (they are double depth) trying to find something, anything. Even my old friends: the Anne books and the Chalet School series, normally there for every minor crisis wouldn’t do. Finally, in the very back of the bottom shelf in my dining room I found something to read. The Baby-sitters Club is a series of over a hundred books, plus super specials plus mystery books and super mysteries. When I was a kid I devoured books and discovered the baby-sitters club. At one time I must have owned at least 50 of them, and read even more borrowed from the library.

Apparently, I kept some of the specials and mysteries. The series was originally written by Ann M. Martin and then at some point the series was taken over by ghost writers. The essential premise is that a group of 13 year old girls (and occasionally one boy) babysit for their local community and are also best friends. They are fairly formulaic but are enlivened by Claudia Kishi’s outrageous fashion sense and odd moments of humour and surprising insightfulness. Even if every single book has an identical chapter at the start describing each of the characters.

Each chapter is written in first person, and in the specials the character narrating changes from chapter to chapter. The first page of each chapter is “written” in that character’s handwriting. The baby-sitters actually even have distinct-ish characters.

In three days I read: one of the original series, two super specials, four super mysteries, and four of the newer series “baby-sitter forever” (the ease of Amazon and the Kindle app is both a blessing and a curse). They were easy, light and they kept me from going insane. After binging the mysteries I even graduated to some classic crime, and some Girl’s own novels.

They were surprisingly enjoyable. I dare say I’ve learnt the wrong lesson but I’m taking this to mean never get rid of books.

And, of course, that it’s okay to just concentrate on getting through this time however we can.

Some parting thoughts:

• I really can’t read Jessi’s hand-writing. How on earth did I decipher these when I was eight?
• Claudia, you are definitely my favourite member of the BSC. The artyness, hiding Nancy Drew books around your room, the completely out there fashion.
• Maybe I was an irresponsible thirteen, but I really can’t imagine anyone trusting me to babysit their small children at that age, and Jessi and Mal are only eleven!
• The more modern Baby-sitters forever series tries to modernise things a bit, but I actually think the original books don’t feel that dated.

Did anyone else read these when they were younger? Who was your favourite of the baby-sitters?

Book Review: I am I am I am by Maggie O’Farrell

I really wanted to love this book. I was describing it to my other half whilst reading it, and couldn’t understand from my own description why I was just enjoying it but not loving it. I’m still not sure, perhaps the madness of the outside world hampered my enjoyment, I don’t know. Nonetheless, I will gladly recommend this well written, engaging, emotional memoir. This is the story of O’Farrell’s life described through her brushes with death, told out of order, and with glimpses of her life peeking through each tale.

Her writing and descriptions are excellent, drawing me in and setting each scene well. Impressively, given the constant prescence of death throughout, this is not a depressing read. There are some scenes that are hard to read: the chapter about her first and subsequent miscarriages have really stuck with me. Despite this there is a love of life and a sense of humour throughout.

I had picked this up on a kindle offer some time ago, and when I went to read this I only skimmed the description prior to starting the book. Somehow, I missed the key word of memoir on the cover. I spent far more of the book than I should probably admit thinking this was a novel. If nothing else hopefully that proves the book is certainly readable and not at all dry! I’m embarrassed to admit that I started to lose interest after a while finding the number of near misses too high, the style a little gimmicky and some of the brushes with death a bit unbelievable-following one after another as they did.

Knowing it is a memoir, has instead left me impressed at the author’s resilience. Although this is a memoir about near death experiences, the message to keep getting up and carrying on seems like a positive and apt one for the time we have found ourselves in.



Some parting thoughts:

• That opening chapter is chilling when I think back on it.
• I hope that I am right in saying, from my own experience, that the version of the NHS and consultants that the author describes no longer exists, or are very much in a minority.
• I would be happy to hear any recommendations for this authors novels after reading her memoir.

Has anyone else read this? Did you enjoy it? Am I the only one who felt it read like a novel?

Book Review: Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

I have always had a weakness for fairytale re-tellings. I read Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest a few years ago which was loosely based on the six swans and the legend of the children of Lir- I was unfamiliar with both of these and just enjoyed the tale. It was rather beautifully written, but for some reason I didn’t fall in love with it.

I have had Wildwood Dancing on my shelf for a long time now but have never been quite in the mood to pick it up until recently. I’m glad I did. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting myself into- I will never understand books without blurbs on the back- but it soon became apparent that I was reading something at least loosely based on the Twelve Dancing Princesses. I then had an inkling (possible spoiler alert) that the Frog Prince would come into play as well. It was all set in the Romanian winter.

I will always hold fairytale re-tellings up against the standard set by Robin McKinley but this isn’t particularly similar in style to her. If anything it is written in a style more similar to Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver or Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale– although I am perhaps just seeing that because of the wintery Eastern European setting. Published in 2007 it pre-dates both of these.

The story is told from the first person perspective of fifteen year old Jena, who is the second oldest of five sisters. Tati (short for Tatiana) is the oldest-a year older than Jena and is considered the beautiful sister. Jena is the plain, practical sister. Thirteen year old Iulia is curvaceous and just starting to want to be treated like a women, and is portrayed as slightly shallower than the others. Eleven year old Paula is the clever, academic one, and five year old Stela is the baby. Whilst I really enjoyed this story, it did feel that with five sisters not all of them were developed much past these simple descriptions- I’m very glad that the author did not go with twelve sisters!

Their father leaves as the winter is starting to set in as he has been ill and sets off for warmer climes, leaving Jena in charge of the business and Tati to be mother to the younger girls. This is handled really well in the book, the uncertainty of his health and the isolation that the girls live in means that contact between them is very sporadic throughout this book, and despite not knowing him at all, his precarious health hangs over the whole book and how this could affect the characters’ futures.

Fortunately, their Father’s cousin Nicolai lives nearby and will look out for the girls as needed and his son, Cezar is eager to help the girls. Cezar’s help is far more controlling than Jena would like, and although this story has many fairytale elements it is also the story of a woman trying to thrive in a man’s world. My issue with this however, is that I didn’t ever feel like I saw Jena succeed on her own. She was very brave and principled but she never really solves any of her problems herself. Too much independence would probably have felt unrealistic in the setting, but I would really have liked it if Jena had solved at least one of her issues completely on her own.

The fairytale element was managed well, magical beings are a part of all the local people’s beliefs but at the same time most are very wary and avoid more magical areas where possible. Magical creatures are feared, if respected, and are not understood well. The exceptions to this are Jena and her sisters who have been travelling to a magical land on the night of the full moon for many, many years. Here, they have friends and dance the night away- or in Paula’s case take part in spirited and learned discussions. But even the sisters are wary to an extent and have strict rules about their conduct in this land such as no eating or drinking and no leaving the dancing circle without their sisters.

I would recommend this book, which weaves together magical and mundane problems very well, and has Jena finding Cezar’s controlling, dominating ways much more terrifying than the unknown of the magical beings. I will most likely go on to read the sequel which is set several years later in Istanbul with Paula as the protagonist.

However, this book wasn’t perfect in my eyes. Tati’s storyline really irritated me… She is lovelorn, and stops looking after her sisters and seems to have absolutely no back bone. I can’t be doing with lovesick heroines, and although she is only sixteen I couldn’t bring myself to have any sympathy for her!

Nonetheless, Marillier is really good at world building, and if you enjoy fairytale re-tellings I think this is worth a read. I have read this as my 2007 entry for my A Century of Books challenge.

Book Review: The Public Image by Muriel Spark

“He was one of the last remnants of a past life she had not known at the time had been as good as it already seemed in retrospect”

I have had this book on my shelf for about a year. I have been wanting to read Muriel Spark for a while now, after all I am always excited to try a new Scottish author. Spark is one of those writers that I’ve always been meaning to read so I was almost surprised it took me so long to actually read one of her books.

I have to admit though, my reason for reading this when I did was primarily that it was the slimmest book in my bookcase. I’ve been reading the rather chunky non-fiction The Victorians by A. N. Wilson, and I was craving some fiction.

I might have chosen it for a stupid reason, but I am very glad I did read it.

This very short novel, it is only 124 pages, is the story of young husband and wife Annabel and Frederick Christopher. Essentially, it is about two rather unpleasant people who really dislike each other and have a pretty hateful marriage. I normally can’t stand books where I don’t like any of the characters.

Somehow Spark really makes it work, it’s darkly comic, and I was compelled to keep reading. Annabel is an actress, to start with it would seem more by luck than anything else. Her husband, Frederick, is much less successful and resents her success- although he is more than happy to take her money. He feels that he is genuinely talented but that Annabel is more successful because she cares so much for and cultivates her public image.

It is clear to the reader however that Frederick is also creating a public image of a tortured, intellectual. Spark’s biting, acerbic tone is brilliant at depicting this couple’s life together.

“Frederick, however, held to a theory that a random collision of the natal genes had determined in him a bent for acting only substantial parts in plays by Strindberg, Ibsen, Marlowe and Chekhov (but not Shakespeare); and so far as that went he was right, everything being drably right in the sphere of hypotheses, nothing being measurably or redeemably wrong. In fact, his decision about what parts he was suited to perform on the stage of the theatre did not matter; he was never considered for any parts in the plays he wanted to act in.

By the time he was twenty-nine years of age his undoubted talent had been tested only a few times in small productions and then no more. His mind took the inward turns of a spiral staircase, viewing from every altitude and point of contortions the unblemished, untried, fact of his talent.”

When they have a baby, a decision made by Annabel in order to improve the couple’s public image, Annabel finds herself genuinely loving her child even if this does not lead her to stop her machinations.

However, it certainly does not bring the couple closer together and Frederick carries out a final, spiteful act that Annabel spends the second half of the novel trying to spin the way she wants it to be seen.

This was published in 1968, fifty years ago, but in an era of fake news and click bait headlines the subject matter seemed very relevant to today’s world.

I loved the way that Spark’s clear contempt for all of her characters comes through in a very readable and sometimes amusing way and I read this in a single morning. Her characters have no real depth or layers… But that’s rather the point here.

I have definitely been convinced that I need to look out for more of Spark’s work. I know that The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is probably her most famous work, but I would love to hear if anyone has any recommendations of what Spark to try next.

This is my read for 1968 in the A Century of Books challenge, and I have to admit it has been a bit of a relief to enjoy this read so much as I had a lukewarm response to my two reads previous to this, which were both by authors I am exceptionally fond of. Interestingly, I found this to be much less dated when I read it than Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier which was published three years later in 1971.

Overall, I am very glad to have been introduced to Muriel Spark and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

Book Review: Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier

This collection of short stories took me several weeks to read. Even now that I have finished it I am unsure how I feel about it. Five stories each about fifty pages long and all rather different from each other but clearly the work of the same author. I like du Maurier but I tend to dislike short stories. I had heard a lot of good things about this collection though, particularly the title story, so I was looking forward to reading it.

I’m still not sure if I enjoyed it. It felt extremely dated, and I couldn’t get away from that thought. I read a lot of books set during and between the two world wars but somehow I felt that this collection from 1971 showed its age much more. Perhaps it was the blatant lack of political correctness or the pinching of women’s bottoms but I really felt this collection showed its age, and not in a good way.

I don’t want my ambivalence to put anyone off of reading this, my lacklustre response seems to be unusual.

The first three stories all have surprising twists at the end, which I think ties together three rather different stories but the fourth, The Way of the Cross, is a tale of a rather unpleasant trip to Jerusalem in which many things go wrong but there is no element of surprise. The last story, The Breakthrough, is a mixture of scientists and psychic energies; mysterious research facilities and hypnotism. Yet to my mind despite this it tails off in the end and is a disappointing end to the collection.

I genuinely enjoyed the second and third stories however. Not After Midnight was I believe an alternate title to this collection and this is understandable as it is a strong story. Essentially, a middle aged school master goes on holiday to Crete to relax and paint. Du Maurier manages to create a slow but steady build in tension as the protagonist, Timothy Grey, begins to realise that all is not as it seems with his chalet or with the other guests at the resort. I found this slow build impressive considering that it is after all a short story.

The third story, A border-line Case, was probably my favourite. Perhaps it is just because I am more partial to a female narrator and this was the only story to have one, or it may have been that although I guessed the final twist at the beginning of the story the rest of this tale really kept me guessing. It was definitely a story of many twists and turns and I have to admit I am not sure I can describe the plot without giving half of it away. I suspect much of its appeal is that the reader is firmly in the narrators shoes- Completely out of the loop of what is going on.

Don’t Look Now is both the title story and the first story in the collection. It was made into a famous film. The introduction to my copy describes it as quintessentially du Maurier. It is the story of a grief ridden couple holidaying in Venice, when everything around them turns sinister and has quite the shocking ending. Doesn’t that sound like a little slice of perfection? Fifty pages of pure du Maurier goodness?

I didn’t get it. Maybe I need to read it again, or perhaps my dislike of short stories got in my way but I just couldn’t get into it. I did like the portrayal of the grieving couple and the different ways they had reacted to their loss but the rest of the story left me cold.

I would be very interested to hear if anyone else has read this collection. I think my opinion is very much in the minority as far as this book is concerned, so please don’t let my thoughts put anyone off trying this. This has been my second read in a row of a favourite author where I have found the book to not be as enjoyable as I was hoping. Maybe I need to stop hyping up authors.

This has been an interesting addition to my century of books challenge for 1971. I may not have loved it but I am glad I read it and perhaps I can be convinced to give short stories another go- after all I do have another ninety-seven books to go.

Book Review: Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

I adore Christies, and I was delighted when I started to read this to realise that I hadn’t actually encountered this one before (or if I had it was so long ago I had completely forgotten it). Added to that it was one of her novels set in the far East and is set at an archaeological dig. I loved Come Tell Me How You Live, her archaeological memoir about her time on the site of her second husband’s dig. So I was thrilled to see this setting utilised again. I thoroughly enjoyed They Came to Baghdad a nonsensical thriller that was nonetheless completely engaging due to it’s setting and one of Christie’s thoroughly likeable, strong, humorous heroines.

However, from the start Murder in Mesopotamia seemed determined to stop me from enjoying it. Oh don’t get me wrong, I breezed through it in a morning (where I should no doubt have been focusing on more productive things). Yet the narrator, young nurse Amy, didn’t appeal, her style of narration tiresome and dull. Then to further upset the applecart a couple of chapters in as she is just settling in at the dig, where she is to nurse Mrs Leidman’s mysterious nervous complaint, the narrator calmly states that there will be no sense of place, etc as she has no knowledge or interest in archaeology. Why set it in this fascinating area then?

Nonetheless, there are the usual cast of interesting characters all of whom may not be quite what they seem. As ever with Christie, I was kept on my toes as to who the murderer could be- I’m not entirely certain how plausible the solution was but it was fun.

Luckily, despite Nurse’s proclamations the place is described well, if not as well as in other of Christie’s works. Basically, nurse Amy Leatheran, enters the camp at Dr Leidner’s request. He is worried about his wife, who has recently seemed nervy and scared. He thinks a nurse to help her would be the best thing. He is clearly besotted and Amy is happy to go along with him-although she wonders at the vagueness of his descriptions. Once arrived at the archaeological dig she meets the assorted team who will all take turns to fall under suspicion after a mysterious death occurs. Christie manages to ensure a locked room scenario in what should be a fairly open area, bustling with people in broad daylight. She is definitely a genius at coming up with these scenarios.

The murder doesn’t occur until about a third of the way through, and as luck would have it, it turns out Poirot was in the area- it becomes clear at the end of the novel that he is heading on towards the Orient express.

Perhaps because I didn’t get on very well with the narrator, but from Poirot’s appearance my interest in this novel increased and it seemed to become a lot more readable.

Nurse was I think, supposed to be a comical character thinking herself of importance, but not being so. I just found her irritating-and the long pages of explanations as to why she was eavesdropping on various conversations were tedious and frustrating rather than amusing as I suspect they were intended to be.

I don’t think this is destined to become a favourite, it was pretty average for one of her novels of this period and in this fascinating setting. For all that, I am only judging Christie so hard against herself- it would still stand tall against many others by other authors.

Curiosity led me to Charles Osborne’s The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie where for the entry for this novel he mentions that Mrs Leidner was based on a real person, Katherine Woolley, and also that one of the other characters, David Emmott, was based on her husband Max Mallowan. That certainly adds to the interest of this novel for me at least- and may make it appeal more to Christie fans.

This novel was published in 1936 and is my second entry for the Century of Books challenge which I am hoping to complete by the end of 2019.

Book Review: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

I couldn’t stop gushing to friends and family about Uprooted, Novik’s previous offering, after I read it last year. From the opening sentence I was hooked. So I couldn’t wait when I heard this was out. I bought it in hardback which is something I rarely do, and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed.

Having decided to start the Century of Books challenge, to encourage myself to read more widely and to blog more frequently, I felt this was a perfect choice to start the challenge as my entry for 2018. I think reading novels like this reminds me why I love to read, why I encourage others to read and also just reminded me of the sheer enjoyment of anticipating and then loving a book.

Spinning Silver is another of Novik’s stand alone novels with a very fairy-tale feel to it.

We are first introduced to Miryem, the local money lender’s daughter. It quickly becomes clear that Miryem is embittered by her circumstances. The local people are contemptuous of Miryem and her family as they are Jewish. They have also been taking advantage of her Father’s kind nature. Her family are living in poverty while the people around them make no effort to pay back the money they have been leant.

It is interesting to see this role reversal, where we are clearly meant to sympathise with the bankers and moneylenders, and certainly the people borrowing money are clearly taking advantage of the situation and making no effort to take responsibility for their actions. On the other hand the setting is an impoverished countryside, plagued by cold weather, high taxes and as we quickly come to see, there are cruel magical beings ravaging the area as well.

Miryem takes on her Father’s role, proving to be much sterner and with more business acumen than her father. It is clear that her Mother and Father disprove of this change- their lives and circumstances change for the better but they are worried about how this is affecting Miryem’s character.

Miryem is a flawed character throughout, and thus makes an interesting character to watch develop. She is often fuelled by her bitterness and anger but also genuinely wants to provide and care for her family. She does not actively wish to cause harm, but is willing to in order to protect those she cares about.

At times I disagreed with her actions, but Novik always makes it clear why she has chosen to act in this way. Miryem spends much of the novel backed into a corner and looked down upon due to her faith and gender, and even her species.

Miryem’s success with money and gold soon becomes well known and she attracts the attention of the Staryk, a race of ice people about whom little is known but who bring winter, fear and destruction wherever they go. Miryem spends much of the novel trying to negotiate with the Staryk king- who always seems to have the upper hand over her.

This book, however is really the story of three women, and it soon becomes clear that not only is there a first person narrative but that the narrator will change between chapters. I found this jarring at first, but soon adapted to it and found it interesting to see where the three narratives intersected and how they built to come together. My only real criticism with this novel is that rather than sticking with these three main narrators, a further few characters also got chapters as narrators and I felt this was unnecessary. Once I accepted it, it didn’t stop me barrelling through this story but I don’t think it added anything to the tale, and it almost pulled me out of the story that was building at points.

The other two main characters are Wanda, who lives with an alcoholic and abusive father and two younger brothers in complete poverty. She has no education and realises that she has no value except what she can provide to her Father or a prospective husband. Her circumstances are in some ways the most dire of the three main characters and to start with she is an unsympathetic character. No one has ever shown her kindness and she is uninclined to show it to anyone else, including her young siblings. When her circumstances change-she is essentially used as payment of her Father’s debts to Miryem- she develops and changes.

Irina, is the daughter of the Duke, and is also aware that she has value only as a pawn to the men around her. Despite her rich circumstances compared to the other women she has grown up resented by her Father due to her plainess. He cannot use her to his advantage so she is therefore worthless to him. When she unexpectedly attracts the attention of the Tsar, the Duke is willing to do anything to increase his power. Irina, is essentially given to a man and despite this uses her power cunningly to do what she can to protect and improve the lives of the populace at great danger to herself.

I found this book particularly interesting because despite its fairytale style, marrying the Prince was not the happily ever after. In fact for two of the characters it was the start of their nightmares and they had to use all their cunning and resolve to protect themselves and those around them. It was the story of strong women, managing to survive and thrive despite living in a world where they were considered weak and useless.

I really enjoyed this book: strong female characters who were all decidedly flawed in a fascinating fairytale setting where nothing was black and white. This novel made me think yet was delightful and fun to read.

Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson

I’ll start by saying that in contrast to my last review, this book is actually currently available and available pretty cheaply for Kindle on Amazon, in the UK at least.

Until recently I was only vaguely aware of Eva Ibbotson as a children’s author. This novel, from 1988, was a revelation to me. Certainly not a book aimed at children, this book was charming. It also made me really think about myself and how I might judge people without knowing the whole story. For a novel to do this without being even slightly preachy or heavy handed, I found very impressive.

It is a book of small things, and the little realities of life. I just loved it. The book is set in Vienna in 1910 in a quiet square where the main protagonist, Susanna, has a dress store. I must admit I have a weakness for books set in Austria for which I blame my childhood fixation on the Chalet School books.

Susanna’s life story slowly filters through to the reader. Parts of her current life and her past are illuminated as we learn the stories of Susanna’s neighbours, friends and lodger.

I think the real beauty of this book is not only in the setting but in the non-judgemental tone of the author. Adultery plays a large part in the novel, and I don’t think I have ever seen it portrayed so sympathetically.

There is a fairly large cast of characters but they never blend together. The characters have a reality about them too. I think the female characters are drawn more strongly than the male ones, but there is an absolutely delightful male character who owns a string of Butchers shops and whom we meet as he is about to enter a very strange marriage.

Aging opera stars, neglected child prodigies, butchers, anarchists and blue stockings are all given interesting, intersecting story lines.

I have only one gripe with this novel, and it is very minor indeed. In fact I wouldn’t even have registered it if I hadn’t enjoyed this story so much. After finishing this I promptly scurried off to investigate more of Ibbotson’s back catalogue. I picked The Star of Kazan, which I would also highly recommend, even if it was probably originally intended for a younger age group.  This book was published in 2004, almost 20 years after Madensky Square, however it is set in 1908 and part of the novel takes place in a small square in Vienna. Separately the two are delightful, but I wouldn’t recommend reading the two back to back as I did.

If you are looking for something action packed this is probably not the story for you. But if a bittersweet, character driven novel where everyone is at least a little flawed (although never completely beyond redemption) appeals, then I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

The smell of old books makes me swoon

I can’t quite believe I am finally doing this. I might as well start with complete honesty: I adore books. Love them. Total obsession. The smell of old books makes me swoon. I’m not sure if anyone will read this but I expect the decidedly non literary Family will be delighted as I will have somewhere else to vent. There are only so many versions of the polite-smile-and-nod after all.

I expect this blog will be something of an oddity as I move from genre to genre and never so much as glance at the best sellers. Not a very admirable quality, but the fact that a book is easily obtainable and everyone and their Granny is currently reading it, is more likely to discourage me from reading it than encourage.

I recently discovered the lovely Abbey Books in Paisley. It was a belated birthday visit. The Family know me well, but then proceeded to throw caution to the wind by opening the door and telling me to pick whatever I like. No budget. No book limit. It should have been carnage. Fortunately for everyone involved there was a time limit in place as we arrived not long before the shop was due to close. I left delighted with a beautiful pile of five books. Admittedly, the bookseller was openly bemused by my choices but I chose to take that as a compliment (and there were no witnesses to prove otherwise). Having absolutely no restraint at all, I returned a mere fortnight after my first visit and proceeded to buy a second armful of books. Seven to be precise (plus another chuckle from the bookseller that none of the books had been published within my life time).

Twelve books for about £25, that old book smell, a chatty bookseller, and orderly but not so orderly that a good rummage isn’t possible. I think I have found my new favourite place to spend a Saturday morning.

Hopefully, you can see the lovely books I got on my first trip to Abbey books. So far I have only read the Christie. I don’t think I have ever had a Christie sitting on my shelves for more than a couple of days before I give in to the urge to read. Mrs McGinty’s Dead will probably not become one of my favourite Christie’s but I have so few of her books left to read. Starting it and realising that I definitely had not read this one before was enough to make me smile and I didn’t expect Ariadne Oliver to turn up so that was a pleasant bonus.

I have been reading a lot of Mary Stewart over the last year. Her books are just so delightful and I always end up reading them in one sitting. Perhaps knowing going into them that the heroine will get her hero and that the villain will be punished should make me like them less. I find that it just adds to the enjoyment and escapism. The Crystal Cave is the first of her Arthurian novels and I am quite unsure about whether or not I will like this change of setting. I was quite happy in the crumbling country estates that form the settings of many of her other novels.

Pamela Frankau and Rose Franken are both authors I have heard of but have read none of their works. Having never physically seen either of the authors’ works before I added them to the to-buy pile quickly before I could feel guilty about buying them solely because their names were slightly familiar to me.

D. E. Stevenson I felt slightly less guilty about, having read one whole book by her already, and therefore rather more certain that she might be to my taste. It helps that I already have another one of her books on my shelf to read, although Miss Buncle’s book is rather more beautiful than the tatty paperback I just bought. Miss Buncle’s book is a lovely grey Persephone paperback that has been languishing on my shelves for some time clamouring to be read. Perhaps now that I own an additional D. E. Stevenson novel I will finally be inspired to read it.

This has turned into a mammoth first post that I can only hope will be read and perhaps even enjoyed. I would love some comments on my initial post.  I will post my first review soon, Clover Coverdale by Verily Anderson.