Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 17

Never Too Late (by Cathy Kelly)

(Amazon UK link) I have had quite mixed feelings about the books I have read by the Irish novelist Cathy Kelly. I loved the first three I read, around five years ago: The House on Willow Street, Homecoming and Best of Friends. I then read one I didn’t like quite as much. Since then I have read another five, and only liked one of them. The others, I felt, were too wordy and rather trite - a far cry from the excellent stories and characterisation of the first ones I read. 
I wasn’t going to try any ...

Gemma in Love [Goodbye, Gemma] (by Noel Streatfeild)

(Amazon UK link) As a teenager I read and reread the books by Noel Streatfeild that I borrowed or acquired. I liked them all, but my favourites were the ‘Gemma’ series. These four books feature the talented Robinson family who live in a small town in the UK. Their cousin Gemma comes to live with them and is the catalyst for the singing/dancing group that they set up for charity performances.
The last book in the series was originally published as ‘Goodbye, Gemma’. But my copy had been read so many...

Love and Devotion (by Erica James)

(Amazon UK link) I decided a few months ago to reread the novels by Erica James which I have acquired over the years. I started with some of her earliest published, and have - roughly - been reading in publication order, although I missed out a couple which I had reread just a few years ago. I have just finished reading ‘Love and Devotion’ which I had not read since 2006.
With this 18-year gap I had entirely forgotten both the plot and the characters. When I started, it felt oddly reminiscent of t...

Matilda (by Roald Dahl)

(Amazon UK link) Last night, we watched the DVD of the 1996 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book ‘Matilda’. Despite it being set in the US rather than the UK, I was pretty sure that it kept fairly closely to the story. Not that it mattered much; the film was excellent. Even for people like us who are several decades older than the intended audience. 
This morning I decided to check a few pages of the book, wondering whether (as in the film) it started with Matilda as a newborn…
The book actually st...

The Library of Lost and Found (by Phaedra Patrick)

(Amazon UK link) Two and a half years ago, I read ‘The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper’ by Phaedra Patrick. I liked it so much that I put another of her books on my wishlist. I was given ‘The Library of Lost and Found’ for my birthday in 2022… and finally picked it up to read a few days ago. 
Martha is the main protagonist of this novel. She’s in her forties, and volunteers at the local library. She’s a likeable person with almost no self esteem, and measures her value by the things she does for o...

The Naughtiest Girl Again (by Enid Blyton)

(Amazon UK link) Having re-read ‘The Naughtiest Girl in the School’ by Enid Blyton about six weeks ago, it was inevitable that I would want to re-read the first sequel, ‘The Naughtiest Girl Again’. I hadn’t read this book for probably thirty years or more. The notes in my very elderly paperback suggest that I read it many times as a child and young teenager; I may have dipped into it again as an adult, or read it aloud to my sons when they were little. But I have no record of that.
The story cover...

No Wind of Blame (by Georgette Heyer)

(Amazon UK link) In my gradual re-reading of Georgette Heyer’s mid-20th century crime novels, I reached ‘No Wind of Blame’, which I first read in 2018. I had almost no memory of the book or any of the characters, other than a faint memory of how the crime was committed. 
The book is mainly set in a stately home owned by a flamboyant and very wealthy woman called Ermyntrude. She was widowed some years earlier, and then remarried the impoverished Wally Carter, who appears to have very few redeeming ...

Stepping Up (by Sarah Turner)

(Amazon UK link) If I had seen Sarah Turner’s novel ‘Stepping Up’ in a charity shop or book sale, I might well have bought it. The cover is appealing, the blurb on the back intriguing. As it was, I bought a Kindle edition on special offer, because the book was allocated for the June meeting of our local reading group. 
When I started reading, I thought it was going to be a light-weight and somewhat fluffy novel. I was surprised, as the books chosen for the group are usually more literary, encompas...

Circle of Friends (by Maeve Binchy)

(Amazon UK link) I have liked most of the books I read by Maeve Binchy, which I gradually acquired over the past twenty-five years or so. But I’ve only read most of them once or twice. So a few months ago I embarked on a gradual re-read. I’m aiming to read the novels in publication order, missing out a few of the earlier ones that I recall I didn’t particularly enjoy.  
I’ve just finished ‘Circle of Friends’, which was published in 1990. I last read it in 2008 and did not remember anything about i...

Changes for the Chalet School (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

(Amazon UK link) In November 2019 I started re-reading the ‘Chalet School’ books by Elinor M Brent-Dyer.  I’ve read most of them at least half a dozen times over the past fifty years or so, sometimes in order, sometimes not. This time through I have managed to acquire most of them in either hardback or Girls Gone By reprints, and some of the ‘fill-ins’ too. And I’m reading them in between some new books, and some by other favourite writers.
So in all that time, I’ve only reached number 28 in the o...