Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 42

The Fifth Elephant (by Terry Pratchett)

Slowly re-reading my way through Terry Pratchett’s lengthy Discworld series, I reached #24, ‘The Fifth Elephant’. I read this aloud to my sons nearly twenty-two years ago, not long after it was published, but I had not read it since. So, unsurprisingly, I had no recollection at all of the plot. 

And it’s one of the more confusing plots, in my opinion - not that any of them are straightforward. Sam Vimes, the Duke of Ankh and commander of the City Watch is the star of the book, although there...

The Mystery of Holly Lane (by Enid Blyton)

Having thoroughly enjoyed re-reading ‘The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat’ by Enid Blyton, after at least twenty-five years, I decided to end the year by re-reading another book in the ‘Find-outers and dog’ series which I enjoyed so much as a young teenager. I couldn’t remember the plot of ‘The Mystery of Holly Lane’  at all (11th in the series) so decided to try that one.

Alas, I found it a bit rambly, and not nearly as interesting or well-written as  ‘The Disappearing Cat’. The first chapt...

The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat (by Enid Blyton)

It’s been a busy month and I haven’t read as many books as I expected to. My ‘Goodreads’ challenge, I had decided, was a modest 100 books for 2021. I had read 98 books by Christmas Eve, so should easily have reached my target. But although I’m in the middle of four different books currently, I realised it was going to be difficult to finish any of them in two days - and I wouldn’t enjoy them.

So I decided instead to re-read a couple of my children’s books. A young friend has been borrowing, ...

I'll be there for you (by Louise Candlish)

I’m enjoying re-reading my collection of Louise Candlish novels, and have just finished another one: ‘I’ll be there for you’.  I last read this in June 2011, ten and a half years ago, so it was no surprise to find that I had no recollection of the characters or storyline at all. I didn’t recognise any of it as I read, so it was as if I were reading it for the first time - always a good experience, since I did recall that I liked the book the first time round. 

The novel revolves around the s...

The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus (by Brennan Manning)

I have very much liked and appreciated the books by Brennan Manning, after my son introduced me to one of his books sixteen years ago. I have acquired several more of them and re-read some, but I had not read ‘The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus’ since 2007. 

I read a chapter at a time - sometimes less, and on many days I didn’t read any at all, too caught up with other things. In fact I'm shocked to find that it took me over three months to read this book! When I did read, I found the writin...

Wildfire at Midnight (by Mary Stewart)

I have enjoyed re-reading my Mary Stewart novels in recent years, and also acquiring some I had not previously read; most of her books have been re-published and are more easily available than before. I first discovered Mary Stewart’s writing in my school library as a teenager, and while some of her books were a bit too ‘thrilling’, I liked the genre of romantic suspense, and was pleased to discover several of my old favourites. 

I had ‘Wildfire at Midnight’ on my wishlist for a while, and w...

Light from Heaven (by Jan Karon)

It’s just over a year ago when I decided to re-read Jan Karon’s ‘Mitford’ series, gradually, with other favourite authors in between, as well as some new books. I’ve just finished the ninth book in the series, ‘Light from Heaven’, which was officially the last of the series. I've only previously read it once, nearly sixteen years ago, and had entirely forgotten the storyline.

In fact Jan Karon wrote five more books, the first couple of them about Father Tim's travels and delving into his pa...

The Chalet School in Guernsey (by Katherine Bruce)

I was pleased to acquire just a few of the many Chalet School fill-ins over the past year. These books are a form of ‘fan fiction’ written by authors other than Elinor M Brent-Dyer, but they’re approved by ‘Girls Gone By’, and widely accepted in the Chalet School readership. I hadn’t previously read any by Katherine Bruce, but  have just finished reading ‘The Chalet School in Guernsey’

This book nicely fills in the missing term between 'The Chalet School in Exile', and 'The Chalet School goe...

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper (by Phaedra Patrick)

I had not heard of Phaedra Patrick, but this book - ‘The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper’ - was recommended to me by Amazon, based on some other books I had read and liked. The blurb sounded intriguing so I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for my birthday… eighteen months ago! It has been sitting on my to-be-read shelf all that time, and I finally picked it up to read about a week ago.

It’s an engaging story. Arthur Pepper is in his late sixties and is a creature of habit. He was wido...

A Civil Contract (by Georgette Heyer)

I regularly re-read my historical novels by Georgette Heyer. As I’ve got older I find that some which I counted as favourites no longer seem quite so special, while some that I didn’t like so much as a teenager are more enjoyable now. One of the latter category is ‘A Civil Contract’, which I last read in 2013.

I recalled the basic plot, of course. Adam, a young man who had been in the army, has just acquired a title as Lord  - or Viscount - Lynton after the death of his father. He’s returned...