Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 23

Black Sheep (by Georgette Heyer)

I re-read my collection of historical novels by Georgette Heyer regularly; they’re my comfort reading, but I try to limit them to one a month. I last read ‘Black Sheep’ in 2019 but - as ever - had forgotten most of the details of the story, even though I recalled, vaguely, the main outline of the plot. 
Abby is the main character in this. She’s twenty-eight, and a strong-minded, practical young woman with a good sense of humour. She sometimes rails against the rules imposed on society in the R...

I Shall Wear Midnight (by Terry Pratchett)

I’m glad I decided to re-read all the ‘Discworld’ books by the late Terry Pratchett, in the order of publiciation as recommended by the official Discworld Emporium site. In this sequence, the fourth ‘Tiffany Aching’ book for older children and younger teens is 38th in the series. I last read ‘I Shall Wear Midnight’ back in 2011, not long after it came out in paperback. And I had totally forgotten the storyline. 
I do like Tiffany. In the first book about her, ‘The Wee Free Men’, she was nine: ...

The Lilac Bus (by Maeve Binchy)

I’m re-reading the novels and short story collections that I’ve collected, over many years, by the late Maeve Binchy. I have an omnibus volume of three of her books which I decided to read (and review) one at a time. I read the four novellas which comprise the first of these, ‘Dublin 4’, in the middle of September. A couple of days ago started the second, ‘The Lilac Bus’. 
I’m surprised to find that I have never previously read this book - or, at any rate, not in the past twenty-five years or ...

Songbirds (by Christy Lefteri)

I first came across the Cypriot-English writer Christy Lefteri when our local book group read ‘The Bee-Keeper of Aleppo’ three years ago. It was a disturbing story in some respects, but extremely well-written and we all thought it enlightening. This month the choice is another book by this author, ‘Songbirds’. I was able to borrow it from a friend who had liked it (although acknowledging that it was not a happy story) and finished reading it a day or two ago. 
‘Songbirds’ is a shorter novel, a...

The Bullet that Missed (by Richard Osman)

I very much liked the first book I read by Richard Osman, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, and immediately put the second, ‘The Man that Died Twice’ on my wishlist. I wasn’t sure if I was going to want the third one, but a visitor earlier in the year had bought the book at the airport and read it while staying here, then asked if I would like it for my collection. Naturally, I accepted. 
I’ve just spent the last few days reading ‘The Bullet that Missed’. It involves the familiar quartet from the pr...

Further Along the Road Less Travelled (by Scott Peck)

Back in 2010 I read a book called ‘The Road Less Travelled’ by the psychiatrist Scott Peck. I thought it excellent, even if it left open a lot of questions. I had almost forgotten about it when I happened to see its sequel, ‘Further along the road less travelled’ at a church book sale… five years ago! I don’t know why it took me so long to pick it up to read, but I finally started it a few weeks ago and have read 10-12 pages every day. 
It’s quite an old book now, first published in 1993, four...

The Wrong Chalet School (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

I do like re-reading my way regularly through Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s lengthy ‘Chalet School’ series. Originally written for teenagers in the middle decades of the 20th century, they have been published in more than one format. Most of the readers nowadays are adults like myself who recall them fondly from our mothers’ or grandmothers’ shelves, and I’m very pleased to have the entire series myself. 
‘The Wrong Chalet School’ is one I have only in Armada paperback form. I gather that this edition...

A Slipping-Down Life (by Anne Tyler)

On the whole I’ve been enjoying re-reading my collection of novels by the American novelist Anne Tyler. She has a quirky style, with many wry observations that sometimes make me smile. Her characters tend to be larger than life, many of them caricatured, but then some of the situations are so strange that I don’t take them too seriously.
I just finished ‘A Slipping-Down Life’, which I read in 2006. I had entirely forgotten what it was about, but saw that on GoodReads and LibraryThing I had giv...

The Teashop on the Corner (by Milly Johnson)

I don’t think I had ever read anything by Milly Johnson. But I’m always happy to try a new author, when the front cover looks appealing, the blurb on the back sounds interesting, and the price is right. However, although I bought ‘The Teashop on the Corner’ at a church book sale four years ago, I only just picked it up to read a few days ago. 
I was hoping for something light, easy to read and with some likeable characters. The book certainly met the first two of those criteria, but I found th...

Good Dog Dandy (by Malcolm Saville)

About six weeks ago I re-read ‘The Secret of Galleybird Pit’, one of the lesser-known children’s books by Malcolm Saville (best known for his ‘Lone Pine’ series). So I decided to re-read the sequel, ‘Good Dog Dandy’, another book which I probably hadn’t read for close to fifty years. There’s a note in the front saying that I bought it in January 1974 so I’m sure I read it soon afterwards, and possibly a couple of years later, but as far as I know I haven’t read it since.
In any case, I had tot...