Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 22

Gemma and Sisters (by Noel Streatfeild)

(Amazon UK link) Rereading my Noel Streatfeild books is always a joy, and my favourites of all are those in the ‘Gemma’ series. They feature the Robinson family and their cousin Gemma, who was a child film star but is now ‘resting’ while her mother works in the United States. I re-read the first book in the series, ‘Gemma’, at the end of January and have just finished the second book, ‘Gemma and Sisters’, which I last read in 2015.
The title refers to the talented group who have performed at a con...

The Holiday (by Erica James)

(Amazon UK link) In re-reading my books by Erica James, I reached the one which I knew was my least favourite of all. When I first read ‘The Holiday’, in 2001, I thought it shallow and predictable. When I re-read it in 2017 I liked it better, but I had entirely forgotten the storyline. So I decided to read it again.
It’s quite a long book - over 500 pages - but I found it very readable. The opening chapters introduce quite a cast of characters, but Erica James is good at characterisation, and they...

They found him dead (by Georgette Heyer)

(Amazon UK link) I’ve decided to finish re-reading Georgette Heyer’s crime fiction novels in chronological order. I picked up ‘The Found him Dead’ a couple of days ago, and found it quite compulsive. I last read it in 2011 and had entirely forgotten the story. Heyer’s characterisation is always excellent, with just a hint of caricature to make people all the more memorable. These books were written as contemporary novels in the 1930s, somewhat in the style of Agatha Christie’s ‘cosy crime’ fictio...

The Citadel (by AJ Cronin)

(Amazon UK link) I’m pretty sure I had heard of AJ Cronin, and his novel ‘The Citadel’, but it’s not one I had ever read. Nor would I have been likely to, until it was chosen for our local book group. We like to read books from a variety of cultures and historical periods, including some classics. I was able to order it inexpensively from a second-hand bookshop, and embarked on it with some trepidation, expecting that it might be rather dull.
I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised to find a very r...

Church on the Other Side (by Brian McLaren)

(Amazon UK link) Browsing our shelves, looking for an interesting Christian book to read during February, I spotted Brian McLaren’s ‘Church on the Other Side’. I didn’t remember anything about it, although apparently I read it during December 2014, just over nine years ago. 
The book was first published in 1998, most recently revised in 2006. The general thesis is that the church, in its multi-format multi-denominational and often petty-minded insularism of the late 20th century, had to make radic...

Firefly Summer (by Maeve Binchy)

(Amazon UK link) I’ve decided to re-read all the books I’ve collected by Maeve Binchy, roughly in chronological order. So I pulled ‘Firefly Summer’ from its bookcase… and looked at it in some dismay. It’s a very long novel, over 750 pages, and I didn’t remember particularly liking it when I first read it, or when I re-read it in 2005. But I thought I would at least start it, and aim to read at least fifty pages a day. 
In the event, I found it so absorbing that I finished it in just a week. Like a...

The Chalet School in the Oberland (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

In re-reading the Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer gradually - no more than one per month - I reached ‘The Chalet School in the Oberland’, which is 26th in the original series, published in 1952. Chronologically it takes place in the same term as the previous book, ‘Shocks for the Chalet School’, where we learn that several older girls have moved to the new finishing branch of the school, in Switzerland.
I last read this book (which I have in hardback) in 2012 and had entirely forgotte...

The Husband's Secret (by Liane Moriarty)

(Amazon UK link) I liked the first two books I read by Liane Moriarty so much that I put a couple more on my wishlist. I was given ‘The Husband’s Secret’ for Christmas 2022, but have so many books on my to-be-read shelves that I have only just read it. As with the author’s other books, it’s set in Australia. 
It opens in a dramatic and well-written way. Cecilia is the somewhat perfectionistic mother of three daughters: Isabel, Esther and Polly. Esther (aged 8) is very bright; possibly on the autis...

The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (aged 37 3/4) by Adrian Plass

(Amazon UK link) I love re-reading my collection of books by Adrian Plass. I don’t really do ‘favourites’, but he’s certainly in my top five living Christian writers. I first came across ‘The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (aged 37 ¾)' in the late 1980s when it was published, after starting life (I understand) as a magazine column. I loved it then, and I still love it now when I read it, as I aim to do at least once per decade. 
The last time I read this book was in 2016, which doesn’t feel all that...

The Girl with the Louding Voice (by Abi Daré)

(Amazon UK link) One of the great thing about joining a local reading group is the variety of books that are allocated - mostly by authors I have never heard of, and most likely would not have come across. Our group aims to read books written in a range of different cultures, and I’m finding it an interesting challenge to tackle genres and styles which I would not naturally choose. 
This month’s read is ‘The Girl with the Louding Voice’ by Abi Daré. I had not heard of the author or the book, de...