Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 43

Holding On (by Marcia Willett)

I’ve been enjoying re-reading my books by Marcia Willett, particularly the ‘Chadwick’ series, which started with ‘Looking Forward’. I’ve just finished the second in the series, ‘Holding On’, and had forgotten how very engaging it is, with some extremely moving passages. I last read 'Holding On' in 2007, so it was more than time for a re-read.

It opens in the Summer of 1972. Fliss and Miles have been married for a couple of years, and she’s expecting her first baby. Miles, who works in the N...

Mystery Mine (by Malcolm Saville)

As a teenager I wondered if I would still want to read Malcolm Saville’s ‘Lone Pine’ series in my twenties or thirties.  In my forties I wondered if I would still want to read them in my fifties. Now I’m in my sixties, I’m just over half-way through yet another re-read, this time with most of the books in the full ‘Girls Gone By’ editions, rather than the abridged Armada editions from my teens. I no longer read them all over the course of a few weeks, but spread out, at a rate of about one ...

Such a Fun Age (by Kiley Reid)

I had never heard of Kiley Reid, and probably would never have come across her novel ‘Such a fun age’ if it had not been allocated as the book for this month’s local reading group. We’ve had a few rather heavy books recently, so it was good to have something a bit lighter, with characters I could relate to. 

Emira is the main character in the story. She’s twenty-five,  black - this is significant to the storyline - and works in a couple of different jobs in Philadelphia, in the United States...

Carpe Jugulum (by Terry Pratchett)

I’m slowly re-reading the entire Discworld series by the late Terry Pratchett, and - on the whole - enjoying them. Each one stands alone, although of course many character re-appear, and in many cases it’s at least twenty years since I last read the book. I’ve just finished ‘Carpe Jugulum’, which is twenty-third in the series. I know I’ve read it before, but since I hadn’t reviewed it previously it must have been early in 1998, shortly after it was published, when - most likely - I read it ...

Since I don't have you (by Louise Candlish)

I’m pleased that I decided to re-read my collection of Louise Candlish novels, interspersed with books by other favourite authors as well as a few new ones. I discovered Louise Candlish’s writing about twelve years ago, courtesy of ‘TheBookbag’. I started acquiring more of her books, but the more recent ones seem to be thrillers, and I prefer the gentler style of her older books. I read ‘Since I don’t have you’ in 2010, and remembered almost nothing about it.

Rachel is the main protagonist, ...

The Accidental Family (by Rowan Coleman)

I’m slightly shocked to realise that it’s over two-and-a-half years since I picked up a couple of books by Rowan Coleman on a church bookstall, for 50 cents each. I hadn’t heard of the author, but the covers looked interesting and the blurb on the back made them sound like the kind of book I’d like to read. I did in fact read ‘The Accidental Wife’ in October 2019, and liked it very much. But I realised that some of the characters had a back story… and in reading a bit more about it, I reali...

Shepherds Abiding (by Jan Karon)

I am very much enjoying re-reading Jan Karon’s delightful ‘Mitford’ series about Father Tim and his wife Cynthia. I’ve just finished the eighth book in the series, ‘Shepherds Abiding’, which I last read in 2006, although I recalled the basic outline of the story. I thought it a bit light-weight when I first read it, almost as if it were an excuse for a Christmas book.  But reading it this time, I thought it a great addition to the series, even if a tad shorter than most of the others.

The wh...

A Refuge for the Chalet School (by Amy Fletcher)

I have re-read Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s ‘Chalet School’ books several times over the past fifty years or so. I first came across my mother’s hardback volumes at my grandparents’ home when I was about ten, and quickly fell in love with the characters. I’ve managed to acquire the entire series and am re-reading them at a rate of about one per month, which should take around five years. 

When I learned that there were several ‘fill-ins’ to the series - essentially fan-fiction, but full-length book...

A Girl is a Body of Water (by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi)

I had never heard of Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and would probably not have come across her prize-winning novel ‘A Girl is a Body of Water’ in my usual reading. So I’m grateful to the local reading group I’m part of for introducing me to some very different books, many of them set in cultures which I’m not at all familiar with.

This book is set in Uganda, mostly in the early 1970s when Idi Amin was the country’s president. However Kirabo, the main protagonist of the story, lives in a rural a...

The Grand Sophy (by Georgette Heyer)

I do enjoy re-reading my Georgette Heyer novels every six or seven years, and while I recall the overall plots reasonably well, I have always forgotten the details. And Heyer’s writing is not just authentic - her research was impeccable - but quite amusing in places. Her characters are well-rounded, and many of her heroines strong-minded women, unusual for the Regency era in which she mostly set her stories. I last read 'The Grand Sophy' at the end of 2014, and decided it was a good idea to...