Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 28

The Island Hideaway (by Louise Candlish)

I’m enjoying re-reading the novels I’ve acquired, over the years, by Louise Candlish. Some of her more recent publications have been tense psychological thrillers, so I’m rather liking the gentler style of her earlier work. I’ve just finished re-reading ‘The Island Hideaway’ which was apparently her first published novel, though she revised it a decade later; the original title was different. I first read it in 2015. 
Even this book has a hint of intrigue and tension, though it’s quite low-key...

False Colours (by Georgette Heyer)

I do like re-reading my Georgette Heyer books. Her light regency romance novels are cleverly plotted with excellent characterisation; just the thing for a rainy weekend, or a holiday. Or, as in my case, for re-reading every so often to remind myself of the stories. I last read ‘False Colours’ in 2016, and it’s a book I’ve read many times over the past fifty years or so, so there were no surprises for me. I recalled the basic plot and some of the people. But I still thoroughly enjoyed re-visit...

A Matter of Trust (by Robin Pilcher)

I’m so glad I decided to re-read my books by Robin Pilcher. His late mother Rosamunde Pilcher was one of my favourite authors; he has has written some excellent novels, if a tad more up-to-date and hard-hitting. I’ve just finished his fifth novel, ‘The Long Way Home’, which was also published (confusingly) under the title ‘A Matter of Trust’.  I read it in 2011, not long after it was published, so it was more than time for a re-read. 
Claire is the main protagonist of this book, which mostly t...

Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel (by Ruth Hogan)

I read a novel by Ruth Hogan nearly four years ago, and liked it so much that I put another of her books on my wishlist. I was given ‘Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel’ for Christmas 2019… and it has sat on my to-be-read shelf for all this time. I finally picked it up to read a few days ago - and what a delight it was!
Tilda is the main character. She’s forty-six, as we learn early in the book, and narrates the story in the first person, starting when she’s beginning to sort out her late mother’...

Thud (by Terry Pratchett)

Re-reading my way slowly through Terry Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ series, I reached ‘Thud’, the 34th series. We bought the hardback edition shortly after it was first published, towards the end of 2005, and I read it aloud to my teenage sons - finishing just before my elder son left home. I hadn’t read it since then, and had entirely forgotten what it was about.
‘Thud’ is one of the ‘Watch’ books, a direct sequel to ‘Monstrous Regiment’, at least as far as Sam Vimes goes. He has a young son now, ...

Futureville (by Skye Jethani)

I’ve no idea how this book arrived on our Christian bookshelves. Perhaps it was one that my husband asked for in recent years… I’d never heard of the author, Skye Jethani. Apparently he's an American pastor and writer.  But the cover looked appealing and the blurb on the back intriguing, so I started reading it a few weeks ago. 
I nearly gave up after the first few pages, as the focus seemed to be on some long-ago exhibition in the United States (in 1939) which the author assumed readers wou...

Three go to the Chalet School (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

It’s nearly twelve years since I last re-read ‘Three go to the Chalet School’, which has always been one of my favourites of Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s lengthy series. I loved it even when I only had the abridged Armada paperback; I like it even more now I have a ‘Girls Gone By’ published version with the full text of the original. 

I very much appreciate the extra, somewhat random information in these books. This one explains about the school which the author herself ran for some years, as well as...

The Midnight Library (by Matt Haig)

I had not heard of Matt Haig, and don’t know that I would ever have come across his novel ‘The Midnight Library’ if it hadn’t been next month’s reading group choice. I might perhaps have picked it up in a charity shop or church bookstall, as the cover is quite appealing and the blurb on the back intriguing, but that’s the case of many books and I’m trying not to have more than two shelves of ‘to-be-read’ books. 

However, since the book was on the list, I bought it from the Awesome Books site w...

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (by Anne Tyler)

Re-reading my collection of Anne Tyler novels nearly twenty years after first reading them, I’ve entirely forgotten the storylines as well as the characters. That’s good in that it means they feel almost like new books - but since I generally don’t check in advance what I thought of them previously, I might sometimes re-read a book which I didn’t much like first time round.

I last read ‘Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant’ back in 2004. So I had no recollection of it at all - and was slightly su...

The Island (by Victoria Hislop)

I had never read anything by Victoria Hislop, although two or three friends had recommended her books to me. Even when I saw a couple of the books on a church stall,  I hesitated, as they looked long and perhaps a bit heavy. But I decided to try them, although it’s taken me nearly three years to pick one of them up to read.

The one I chose was ‘The Island’, although I had no idea what it was about. Apparently it was the author's debut novel. It starts with a brief prologue set in 1953 as a you...