Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 29

Seriously Funny 2 (by Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas)

I have thoroughly enjoyed almost everything I have read by both Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas, two of the best modern Christian writers, in my opinion.  So it was a no-brainer to acquire the books they wrote as a collaborative project, in particular the two entitled ‘Seriously Funny’. I re-read the first book in May last year, but hadn’t read ‘Seriously Funny 2’ since 2013. 

I’ve had a busy few weeks with visiting family, so I’ve just read a few pages of this each morning, when I could grab a fe...

The Last Thing He Told Me (by Laura Dave)

I hadn’t heard of Laura Dave. I don’t think I’d even have picked up a book with such a dark blue cover, and blurb on the back talking about a twisty-turny thriller, no matter how cleverly crafted. But ‘The last thing he told me’ was allocated for this month’s local reading group so I acquired it second-hand, and started reading it on Friday. 

It’s quite a long novel (360 pages in paperback) and at first I wondered whether I’d get to the end in time, as we have visitors staying, so I’m not read...

All Summer Through (by Malcolm Saville)

After finishing my latest re-read of Malcolm Saville’s ‘Lone Pine’ series, I decided to revisit some of his other books in my collection. I have a fairly eclectic mixture and no other complete series, but I recalled liking the ‘Nettleford’ series when I was a child. I have three out of four of those, So I’ve just read the first in the series, ‘All Summer Through’.

I’d entirely forgotten what the book was about, and had no memory of the people in it. But they’re introduced i the first chapter, ...

The Disappearance of Emily Marr (by Louise Candlish)

I’m glad I decided to re-read the novels I’ve acquired by Louise Candlish. She’s an excellent writer, with good characterisation and plots that can be quite tense in places. I’ve found some of her more recent books a tad too stressful, but her earlier ones were less so. The one I’ve just finished rereading is ‘The Disappearance of Emily Marr’, which I last read in 2015. 

I’d have thought, since it was only eight years ago, I might have remembered something about the story, but I didn’t. I had co...

The Corinthian (by Georgette Heyer)

I love re-reading Georgette Heyer’s novels. Even though I’ve read them - the historical romance ones, anyway - at least four or five times each, I’ve always forgotten most of the details by the time I re-read six or seven years later. That was the case with ‘The Cornithian’, which I’ve just finished reading for what is, I think, the sixth time. The last time I read it was in July 2016.

I was a bit surprised, at first, how little I recalled in the first few chapters. We meet Sir Richard Wyndham, ...

Can't Wait to Get to Heaven (by Fannie Flagg)

Every so often I browse a church bookstall, or shelves in a charity shop, and pick up books that look interesting based on the cover and blurb on the back. I know one isn’t supposed to judge a book by the cover, but it’s a good starting point when trying something new. I had read one book by the author, Fannie Flagg, when I spotted this two and a half years ago, and knew that another of her books was scheduled for the local reading group, a month or two later.

‘Can’t wait to get to heaven’ has s...

Traveling Mercies (by Anne Lamott)

I don’t recall where I first heard of Anne Lamott, but I had a few of her books on my wishlist. I was given ‘Traveling [sic] Mercies’ nearly a year ago, but have only just got to reading it over the past couple of weeks. 

The subtitle of this book is ‘Some thoughts on faith’, and essentially that’s what this book is.  Much of it is told in autobiographical style, which I found very interesting. It shows the author’s background, with a wide variety of religious (and non-religious) input from fami...

Starburst (by Robin Pilcher)

In re-reading my novels by Robin Pilcher, I reached ‘Starburst’. I last read it in 2008 and, as generally happens if I don’t read a book for a decade or more, I had forgotten both the people and the story. 

There are a lot of different people in this book. For the first few chapters I found myself feeling rather confused New characters are introduced with each new chapter, unrelated other than some connection with the upcoming Edinburgh Festival.

So we meet, for instance: a comedienne from Hartle...

The Chalet School and Rosalie (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

In the lengthy Chalet School series for teenagers by Elinor M Brent-Dyer, there are two books which were published out of sequence. Last time I did a full read-through, I managed to miss them out, but this time I’ve ensured I read them as part of the chronological order. So I re-read ‘Tom Tackles the Chalet School’ just over a month ago. That was originally published in two parts in Chalet School annuals. I’ve just finished the very short sequel, ‘The Chalet School and Rosalie’, which wasn’t wi...

Everything I never told you (by Celeste Ng)

I hadn’t heard of Celeste Ng, but her debut novel ‘Everything I never told you’ was assigned as this month’s read for our local book group. So I put it on my wishlist at the end of last year, and was given it for Christmas. I didn’t start reading it until a couple of days ago, and finished it today; I found it quite hard to put down at times. It’s set in the United States, with the main part of the story being in 1977. 

The novel opens by telling us that Lydia is dead, but her family doesn’t yet...