Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 26

Death comes to Pemberley (by PD James)

For Christmas 2021, my son and daughter-in-law gave me both the DVD and the book of ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’, which they had enjoyed and thought I might like. We hadn’t heard of the title, but learned that the book was essentially Jane Austen fan fiction by the late PD James. She’s not an author I had read before; crime fiction isn’t one of my favourite genres. But I was intrigued. We decided to watch the DVD first; it was a BBC series adapted from the book, and we thought it extremely well...

Peggy of the Chalet School (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

In my gradual reread of Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s long Chalet School series, I’ve reached the one originally numbered 22, ‘Peggy of the Chalet School’.  I can remember reading a hardback edition of this as a young teenager, when I found my mother’s collection on my grandmother’s shelves.
I liked the book very much when I was younger, and was then a bit disappointed when I read it as an adult in Armada paperback edition. I understand that although there are some cuts, they’re minor and thus make no...

You're Made for a God-Sized Dream (by Holley Gerth)

Having very much appreciated Holley Gerth’s book ‘The powerful purpose of Introverts’, which I read earlier this year, I decided to try one of her other books. I was able to order ‘You’re made for a God-sized dream’ from World of Books online, and a friend brought it out to Cyprus for me. 
I started reading the book in the middle of June, with just a few pages each day since it needed quite a bit of internal processing. The premise of the book is that we all have dreams, planted in our minds a...

A Breath of Fresh Air (by Erica James)

It’s been quite a while since I re-read my collection of novels by Erica James; she’s quite a prolific author, and I have all twenty-four of her books. I first came across her writing twenty-three years ago and liked her style right from the start. Having finished rereading the books by Robin Pilcher, I decided to embark on a gradual re-read of Erica James’ books. 
‘A Breath of Fresh Air’ was her first published novel; I read it in 2000 and re-read it in 2008. Fifteen years on I’d entirely for...

Molly Fox's Birthday (by Deirdre Madden)

I’d never heard of Deirdre Madden, but when I spotted her novel ‘Molly Fox’s Birthday’ on a church bookstall, I was intrigued. The blurb on the back appealed, and there was a sticker on the front saying it had been short-listed for an award. So I paid my 50 cents and put it on my to-be-read shelf.
A year and eight months later, I picked it up to read. I wanted something fairly light-weight, and at first this seemed to fulfil my wishes nicely. The narrator is a woman of about forty, whose name ...

The Second Husband (by Louise Candlish)

I’m glad I decided to re-read my collection of Louise Candlish novels, over the past couple of years, at a rate of about one every couple of months. Her earlier novels weren’t as dark or tense as her more recent ones, and on the whole I like them better. I’ve just finished ‘The Second Husband’, which I first read in 2016; naturally, I had entirely forgotten the storyline. 
The front cover gives a hint of what the novel is about, but I suspect I might have guessed anyway although the denouement...

Spring comes to Nettleford (by Malcolm Saville)

Having recently re-read Malcolm Saville’s two children’s books ‘All Summer Through’ and ‘Christmas at Nettleford’, I decided to read the third in the series, ‘Spring Comes to Nettleford’, before I forget entirely who the children in the story were. I didn’t find the first two books all that exciting, and didn’t like them as much as the better-known ‘Lone Pine’ series, but the characterisation is good and I was interested to know what this book would involve. 
The first book seemed to focus pri...

Regency Buck (by Georgette Heyer)

I re-read most of my Georgette Heyer novels regularly, sometimes changing my preferences as I discover new ways of looking at a novel I hadn’t been too keen on - or, occasionally, being less than impressed by one which I used to count as a favourite. I hadn’t read ‘Regency Buck’ since 2018 and noted that I had given it three (or possibly three-and-a-half) stars rather than the usual four to five in my personal rating. But I couldn’t remember what it was about, so approached it with an open mi...

The Clicking of Cuthbert (by PG Wodehouse)

I’ve liked PG Wodehouse’s writing, off and on, for about fifty years. My father introduced me to the ‘Jeeves’ books one summer, and I read most of them, followed by the 'Blandings Castle' books. But my parents didn’t have the Wodehouse short story collections, so I didn’t know that most of them existed until, browsing Project Gutenberg one day, I came across several Wodehouse books, out of copyright, free to download.
I’ve had many of these on my Kindle, kept for times when I’m travelling. One...

Found in a Bookshop (by Stephanie Butland)

It’s over five years since I read Stephanie Butland’s novel ‘Lost for Words’. I had no idea what to expect, but liked it very much. So when a Facebook friend mentioned that she had just read a sequel, ‘Found in a Bookshop’, I went straight to Amazon, intending to add it to my wishlist. But the Kindle edition was available for just 99p, and we were just a few days away from flying to the UK. So I made the purchase, and then read over half the book on the flight, finishing it a few days later. ...