Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 65

To the Moon and Back (by Jill Mansell)

I had read three of Jill Mansell’s novels, initially recommended by a friend, and was surprised to like them all better than I had expected to, despite unappealing covers. But not enough that I added more of her books to my wishlist, or went out of my way to look for them. However when I saw ‘To the Moon and Back’ at a church book sale, with a very appealing cover, it was not a difficult decision to spend fifty cents to buy it.

I’ve just finished it, rather more quickly than I intended to,...

The Divine Conspiracy (by Dallas Willard)

I had never read anything by Dallas Willard, but I had come across his name more than once, highly recommended by other Christian authors whose writing I like. So a couple of years ago I put Willard’s best-known book, ‘The Divine Conspiracy’ on my wishlist, and was given it for my birthday last year. It sat on my to-read shelf, looking rather daunting (it’s not a short book!) for nearly twelve months, but I started reading it in April this year.

The main theme of the book - I think - is that...

This Rough Magic (by Mary Stewart)

I do enjoy the late Mary Stewart’s writing, although it’s in rather a different genre from my usual reading. She wrote romantic thrillers in the middle and end of last century, with the romance being quite low-key, and the thrilling part usually not too stressful. I have several of her books, and have been re-reading them over the past year, so I was delighted when I found a few that I didn’t have in a charity shop in September.

I have just finished reading one of them, ‘This Rough Magic’. It...

Mother Country (by Libby Purves)

I am so pleased that I decided earlier this year to re-read my novels by Libby Purves. I acquired and read most of them about fifteen or sixteen years ago, and on the whole liked them very much. After all this time, I find that I have almost entirely forgotten the plots and the characters, and am enjoying them all over again.

‘Mother Country’, which I first read in 2004, is about a young American businessman called Alex. We first meet him in the prologue, set in 1974, although his name isn’t...

Bath Tangle (by Georgette Heyer)

I have liked Georgette Heyer’s light historical novels since my mid teens, and over the years have acquired them all, mostly second hand. I re-read them regularly, and sometimes the characters feel like old friends. I’ve just finished re-reading ‘Bath Tangle’, for at least the fourth or fifth time though I hadn’t read it since 2008.

The book opens with a funeral off-stage. It  is set in the early 1800s, when women didn’t attend either funerals or the meal afterwards. We meet the two...

Second Hand Heart (by Catherine Ryan Hyde)

I’ve read quite a few of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novels over the past twelve years or so, and liked them all. So when I saw a paperback edition of ‘Second Hand Heart’ on a church bookstall a few months ago, it seemed like an excellent use of fifty cents to buy it. I’ve just finished reading it, after picking it up a few days ago.

The story is mainly about a young woman called Vida, who is nineteen when we first meet her. All her life she has been ill, with a damaged heart; at any point she...

Pyramids (by Terry Pratchett)

I’m slowly reading my way through Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, hoping to get further than I did last time I attempted to do so. I’ve just finished ‘Pyramids’, seventh in the series, and one I still mostly remembered from last time, when I re-read it just three years ago.

Teppic is the main character. He’s the crown prince of a country called Djelibeybi (it has to be said aloud, or at least read phonetically….) but we meet him when he’s just finishing his training as an assassin in Ankh Morpork. He’s...

The School at the Chalet (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

Having read - and very much enjoyed - the La Rochelle series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer over the past seven months or so, I decided it was time to reread, yet again, her better known (and much longer) Chalet School series.

I have just finished the first book, ‘The School at the Chalet’, which I last read ten years ago. It was first published in 1925, so is almost a hundred years old now, yet the characters seem timeless. The story is primarily about Madge Bettany, a teacher in her mid-twenties.

Madge and her twin b...

Past Secrets (by Cathy Kelly)

I very much liked the books I read by Cathy Kelly in the past year. So when I saw a couple of her books inexpensively at a church sale, it was an easy decision to buy them. I’ve just finished reading ‘Past Secrets’, quite a tome at over 600 pages. And whereas I can sometimes finish a book of that length in just two or three days, it’s taken me over a week to finish this one.

It starts well. Cathy Kelly’s novels sometimes remind me, in their settings (and sometimes their storylines) of Maeve Binch...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (by JK Rowling)

I re-read the first six of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books earlier this year, about one per month, alongside many other books; both new (to me) novels, and some I have previously liked by other authors. However when I finished ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’, I didn’t want to wait before embarking on the final episode in the saga.

I had only previously read ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ once, back in 2007 when it was first published. I recalled it as having an entirely satisfactory ending, albe...