Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 62

Continental Drift (by Libby Purves)

I’m enjoying re-reading my novels by Libby Purves, although on the whole I liked her earlier ones rather better than her later ones. I’ve just finished reading ‘Continental Drift’, which I first read at the end of 2004. I had entirely forgotten both the people and the story in the intervening decade and a half.

The story is mainly about a married couple, Philip and Diana. He is in his fifties, just finishing a career in politics, as the novel starts. He’s rather bad-tempered and...

The Year that Changed Everything (by Cathy Kelly)

I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read by Cathy Kelly, so I added some to my wishlist and was given ‘The Year that Changed Everything’ for Christmas… over a year ago. The book has been on my to-be-read shelf all that time but I finally picked it up to read a few days ago. It claims to be ‘warm, witty and wise’ according to the front cover, and the cover itself, dark blue with flowers, is quite appealing.

The novel features three different women in Ireland: they’re known as Callie, Sam and Ginger....

Thornyhold (by Mary Stewart)

I have very much enjoyed re-reading my novels by Mary Stewart over the past year or so. The last few days I have re-read ‘Thornyhold’. I first read it in 2006, then re-read it in 2011 as part of a three-book omnibus by the author. I had a vague memory of the characters and storyline but had forgotten most of the detail in the past nine years, and very much enjoyed reading it for the third time.

It’s a bit of a strange story, more mystical than many by Mary Stewart. Most of her books are light...

Eric (by Terry Pratchett)

In slowly reading my way through the late Terry Pratchett’s excellent ‘Discworld’ series, I reached the ninth in the series, ‘Eric’. It’s a thinner book than most of the others, and one I had not read in a very long time. I vaguely recalled that I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but was determined to give it another chance.

The story is about a thirteen-year-old boy called Eric who is an amateur demonology hacker in the Discworld. He’s also evidently full of teenage hormones. He has been using...

It had to be you (by Sarah Webb)

I had not heard of Sarah Webb, although she is apparently an award-winning children's writer. I spotted her novel (for adults) ‘It had to be you’ in a church book sale a few months ago. The blurb on the back sounded interesting, and I’m always keen to try out different authors inexpensively - so I paid my 50 cents and bought it. It has sat on my to-be-read shelf until a few days ago when I picked it up to read.

The book is about three women, presumably in their late twenties. The chapters...

My People, the Amish (by Joe Keim)

On a recent flight I finished reading a Kindle fiction book about an Amish-like community. Scrolling through my unread books, I spotted ‘My people, the Amish’, by Joe Keim. It was evidently a fairly short non-fiction book, and I thought it could be interesting to read more about the lifestyle and culture of the Amish.

The book opens rather dramatically with Joe and his wife evidently planning an escape. We don’t learn exactly what this involves, or why they are leaving the Amish until rather...

Somewhere to Belong (by Judith Miller)

I had never heard of Judith Miller, but apparently she is quite a prolific writer of American historical Christian fiction. I came across her name when I was browsing for free Kindle books some years ago, and spotted ‘Somewhere to Belong’. The blurb sounded interesting and the reviews were mostly positive, so I downloaded it. I read it recently while travelling.

The story is set in in 1877 in Iowa in the United States, amongst the Amana colonies. I had never heard of this community, which...

Something New (by PG Wodehouse)

I love having a Kindle when I’m travelling. I was flying to the UK, and in browsing through my Kindle library, I discovered ‘Something New’ by PG Wodehouse. I had downloaded it years ago from Project Gutenberg, even though we have a paperback edition. However the last time I read it was almost twenty years ago, when I read it aloud to my sons, who were young teenagers at the time.

Thus I had entirely forgotten the story. I had also forgotten that it’s the first book about Blandings Castle,...

Deira Joins the Chalet School (by Caroline German)

I only discovered a couple of years ago that Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s lengthy Chalet School series has some ‘fill in’ books, covering gaps in the story: terms or even years when Brent-Dyer didn’t write anything. I was very dubious about the idea of what appeared to be fan fiction, but a year or so ago I acquired Caroline German’s ‘Deira Joins the Chalet School’, which is set in the term before the third in the original series, ‘Princess of the Chalet School.’

So, as I’m slowly re-reading the...

Arabella (by Georgette Heyer)

Georgette Heyer has been one of my favourite writers for over four decades, and I reread her novels regularly, particularly the Regency and other light historical ones. So I was delighted to discover that I had not read ‘Arabella’ for over ten years. I have thoroughly enjoyed it, after reading for at least the eighth or ninth time.

Arabella is the eldest daughter of a well-bred, gentle but fairly impecunious vicar. Her mother, who has more worldly wisdom than her father, asked her old school...