Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 72

Coming Home to Island House (by Erica James)

I’ve been reading books by Erica James for nearly twenty years. Each time she publishes a new one, I add it to my wishlist as soon as it’s out in paperback. I did that with ‘Coming Home to Island House’ last year, and was delighted to be given it for Christmas. I have a lot of books on my to-read shelf, in addition to those I’m re-reading, but finally I started this novel a few days ago - and finished it this morning.

Erica James has a great gift of characterisation, and that’s immediately e...

The Maids of La Rochelle (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

Having finally finished my gradual read-through of Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s ‘Chalet School’ series last year, I’m now reading her ‘La Rochelle’ books. There are only seven books in this series, and it’s only in the past year that I’ve acquired the last few.

I’ve just finished the third in the series, ‘The Maids of La Rochelle’. This is a book I recall with great fondness from my teenage years. There was an old hardback edition on my grandmother’s shelves, and at fourteen or fifteen I thought it...

The Light Fantastic (by Terry Pratchett)

I started my current re-read of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series with ‘The Colour of Magic’, at the end of March. So I was looking forward to reading ‘The Light Fantastic’, which I last read back in 2007. It’s a direct sequel - ‘The Colour of Magic’ ends with the somewhat incompetent wizard Rincewind falling off the edge of the world, and this book sees what happens, and why this is not in fact the end of Rincewind.

The Discworld is a flat world which balances on the backs of four enormous...

The LIght Fantastic (by Terry Pratchett)

I started my current re-read of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series with ‘The Colour of Magic’, at the end of March. So I was looking forward to reading ‘The Light Fantastic’, which I last read back in 2007. It’s a direct sequel - ‘The Colour of Magic’ ends with the somewhat incompetent wizard Rincewind falling off the edge of the world, and this book sees what happens, and why this is not in fact the end of Rincewind.

The Discworld is a flat world which balances on the backs of four enormous...

A Bond of Blessing (by Jaime Farkas)

Every so often I browse Amazon for free books for my Kindle. I particularly do this before travelling, and always end up with way too many books to read. It’s apparently seven years since I downloaded ‘A Bond of Blessing’, by the American writer Jaime Farkas (whom I had not heard of). I came across it recently and decided to reach a few pages each day.

It’s not a long book. It’s basically a devotional or low-key study guide based on the Biblical book of Ruth. In particular it focuses on the re...

The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy (by Fiona Neill)

I had not heard of Fiona Neill, although apparently she’s journalist with reputable newspapers, and has written five popular novels. I spotted ‘The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy’ on a church bookstall not long ago, and thought it looked light and fluffy, just the thing for a relaxing read. The blurb on the back told me that Lucy Sweeney was feeling the strain of motherhood, feeling rather inferior to the ‘yummy mummies’ she encountered in the school yard.

I picked it up to read a few days ago...

The Rosamunde Pilcher Collection (by Rosamunde Pilcher)

In my slow progression through the late Rosamunde Pilcher’s wonderful books, I reached the volume called ‘The Rosamunde Pilcher Collection’. I bought this at a second-hand shop back in 1996 when I was trying to acquire as many of her books as possible; it contains three of her shorter works. If I were buying them now, I would prefer to have the three as separate books, but they weren’t in print at the time and I was delighted with my find.

The three books included in this omnibus are, ‘The Da...

Airs Above the Ground (by Mary Stewart)

It’s fifteen years since I first read the late Mary Stewart’s novel ‘Airs Above the Ground’. My only memory of the story was that it was related to horses, and involved some European travel. I also remembered that it was a light thriller, set in the 1960s. It was more than time for a re-read.

Vanessa is the viewpoint character of this book, which is written in the first person. She’s in her early twenties, happily married to Lewis March; but we meet her when she’s rather upset, as they have...

Never Mind the Reversing Ducks (by Adrian Plass)

In slowly re-reading my favourite authors, I reached the book with the unlikely title ‘Never Mind the Reversing Ducks’ by Adrian Plass. He is, in my view, one of the best current Christian writers. He uses gentle satire and humour, sometimes self-deprecating, underlying some thought-provoking and helpful ideas. His books of fiction can still make me laugh aloud; his non-fiction works, such as this one, give me much to ponder. I last read this in 2011.

The title is explained in the introducti...

The Endless Beach (by Jenny Colgan)

I’ve read a few books by Jenny Colgan since first coming across her contemporary novels about six years ago. Many of them involve chocolate or cakes, and they’re quite light-hearted on the whole. I’ve picked up a few at charity shops, and have also put one or two on my wishlist after recommendations. One of the latter group is ‘The Endless Beach’. I was given this for my birthday a year ago but have only just read it.

The main character is Flora, a young woman who lives and works on a small...