What do you think?
Rate this book
Anita
1990 Owlswick Press Hardcover 0-913896-27-6 Very Good/Very Good Dust jacket is in very good condition wrapped in a mylar protective cover. Shelf wear creasing (minor) at bottom of spine and back left top fold going into book. There is a UPC sticker on the back, bottom right corner of book this is an addition and not the normal imprinted into jacket. Book is in very good condition, boards are straight. Small amount of shelf wear on top and bottom of spine; page edges top when book is closed has some fading/speckling from sun damage. This copy was an original purchase and read once. Very good used copy with flaws noted.
195 pages, Hardcover
First published September 28, 1990
7 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Keith Roberts
194 books56 followersUsed These Alternate Names: Alistair Bevan , John Kingston , David Stringer
Keith John Kingston Roberts was a British science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" (the first of a series of stories featuring a teenage modern witch and her eccentric granny) and "Escapism.
Several of his early stories were written using the pseudonym Alistair Bevan. His second novel, Pavane, which is really a collection of linked stories, may be his most famous work: an alternate history novel in which the Roman Catholic Church takes control of England following the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I.
Roberts wrote numerous novels and short stories, and also worked as an illustrator. His artistic contributions include covers and interior artwork for New Worlds and Science Fantasy, later renamed Impulse. He also edited the last few issues of Impulse although the nominal editor was Harry Harrison.
In later life, Roberts lived in Salisbury. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990, and died of its complications in October 2000. Obituaries recalled him as a talented but personally 'difficult' author, with a history of disputes with publishers, editors and colleagues.
Keith John Kingston Roberts was a British science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" (the first of a series of stories featuring a teenage modern witch and her eccentric granny) and "Escapism.
Several of his early stories were written using the pseudonym Alistair Bevan. His second novel, Pavane, which is really a collection of linked stories, may be his most famous work: an alternate history novel in which the Roman Catholic Church takes control of England following the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I.
Roberts wrote numerous novels and short stories, and also worked as an illustrator. His artistic contributions include covers and interior artwork for New Worlds and Science Fantasy, later renamed Impulse. He also edited the last few issues of Impulse although the nominal editor was Harry Harrison.
In later life, Roberts lived in Salisbury. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990, and died of its complications in October 2000. Obituaries recalled him as a talented but personally 'difficult' author, with a history of disputes with publishers, editors and colleagues.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
Read
March 4, 2025Keith Roberts (1935-2000) was an English author best known for his amazing alternate history novel Pavane (1968) and some compelling short fiction. He won several awards (for novel and short stories) yet did not achieve the same critical success of some other authors of SF. According to his obituary, his difficult personality and propensity to refuse to deal with major publishers impacted his popularity. In my opinion, he was a very influential pioneer.
"Anita" is a collection of sixteen linked short stories set in the late '60s England. They're all about Anita Thompson, a young girl who lives with her grandmother in a countryside cottage, practicing being a witch and causing trouble or fencing trouble that comes to her.
This collection was written at the same time the "Bewitched" TV series in the U.S. was produced and broadcasted. Keith Roberts's Anita is a sort of counterpart of the family-friendly American cliché Samantha.
While the Yankee witch is the artificial "ideal" of a typical housewife: gentle, submissive and perfect in all social aspects, Anita has a down-to-earth personality; she is an almost promiscuous tart who gets in all kinds of messes and chases anything in trousers and swears by some Lovecraftian god from the depths.
Anita's Granny is a character to match any witch you care to remember, real or fictitious, one of Keith Roberts' best characters. Her dialog, written out with all its phonetic idiosyncrasy, loaded with, what I believe since I wasn't born an English speaker, British 60s pop culture and slang, is thick enough to poke with a wand. Let me put here a small extract:
Yis," shrieked the old lady, dancing with temper. "An' so kin I... Arter wot you said an' orl... gooin' slummockin' orf wi' them things, leavin' — this — leavin' yer pore old Gran ... Om seed you git up ter some bits, my gel, but I ent seen nothink ter match this. Ter see the way om brought yer up an' orl ... jist look at yer. Deceitful, deceitful ent in it... sly young cat... pokin' fun at yer old Gran wot yer dun't think knows no better!
Good luck deciphering it....
Anita is a precursor that set the template for all the teenage witch stories that come after, and she did it better and more magically. From Sabrina, Bonnie, Ravenna, Charmed, Buffy, and all the contemporary urban fantasy witches.
"Anita" might be an almost forgotten novel by one of the finest SF writers I ever read. The linked stories form a novel that is a product of the 1960s anxieties and dreams. At the same time, it is about a teenager, a witch or "normal", it doesn't matter, being brought up by her Granny with the most tipical clash of generations.
It is about falling in love, getting the heart broken and mending it as best as one can, about change and growing up and compromise, about how magic life is and how we can forget it sometimes and how we can remember it again if we are lucky and still have time, because to quoting Mr K Roberts, The years had a way of piling themselves one atop the next, unnoticed and uncounted; that was how young men turned into old ones.
"Anita", in its simplicity as an unpretentious novel, reminded me of the immortal words of Joni Mitchel:
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
"Anita" is a collection of sixteen linked short stories set in the late '60s England. They're all about Anita Thompson, a young girl who lives with her grandmother in a countryside cottage, practicing being a witch and causing trouble or fencing trouble that comes to her.
This collection was written at the same time the "Bewitched" TV series in the U.S. was produced and broadcasted. Keith Roberts's Anita is a sort of counterpart of the family-friendly American cliché Samantha.
While the Yankee witch is the artificial "ideal" of a typical housewife: gentle, submissive and perfect in all social aspects, Anita has a down-to-earth personality; she is an almost promiscuous tart who gets in all kinds of messes and chases anything in trousers and swears by some Lovecraftian god from the depths.
Anita's Granny is a character to match any witch you care to remember, real or fictitious, one of Keith Roberts' best characters. Her dialog, written out with all its phonetic idiosyncrasy, loaded with, what I believe since I wasn't born an English speaker, British 60s pop culture and slang, is thick enough to poke with a wand. Let me put here a small extract:
Yis," shrieked the old lady, dancing with temper. "An' so kin I... Arter wot you said an' orl... gooin' slummockin' orf wi' them things, leavin' — this — leavin' yer pore old Gran ... Om seed you git up ter some bits, my gel, but I ent seen nothink ter match this. Ter see the way om brought yer up an' orl ... jist look at yer. Deceitful, deceitful ent in it... sly young cat... pokin' fun at yer old Gran wot yer dun't think knows no better!
Good luck deciphering it....
Anita is a precursor that set the template for all the teenage witch stories that come after, and she did it better and more magically. From Sabrina, Bonnie, Ravenna, Charmed, Buffy, and all the contemporary urban fantasy witches.
"Anita" might be an almost forgotten novel by one of the finest SF writers I ever read. The linked stories form a novel that is a product of the 1960s anxieties and dreams. At the same time, it is about a teenager, a witch or "normal", it doesn't matter, being brought up by her Granny with the most tipical clash of generations.
It is about falling in love, getting the heart broken and mending it as best as one can, about change and growing up and compromise, about how magic life is and how we can forget it sometimes and how we can remember it again if we are lucky and still have time, because to quoting Mr K Roberts, The years had a way of piling themselves one atop the next, unnoticed and uncounted; that was how young men turned into old ones.
"Anita", in its simplicity as an unpretentious novel, reminded me of the immortal words of Joni Mitchel:
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
March 19, 2016
This collection of short stories first published in Science Fantasy magazine is so very, very British and so very, very 60s/70s. It was a trip to read. Keith Roberts is apparently well-regarded in some circles, and his Anita stories have attracted praise from such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, though they're now obscure and I'd never heard of Roberts over on this side of the pond.
Anita Thompson is a witch, living in a little cottage in bucolic England with her grandmother, a cantankerous old gorgon who speaks in dialog so thick you could cut it with a meat-pie and swears by 'Him Wot's Down Under.'
Anita was an early example of "contemporary" fantasy, presenting magic and supernatural creatures coexisting with the modern world. Anita and her Granny cast old-style magic spells and are supposedly dedicated to evil and damnation. They're actually no more evil than any teenager and her crotchety granny, so Anita's adventures often involve her suffering the consequences of violating Lovecraft's Law ("Do not call up that which you can't put down"). But it's also a "modern" comedic fantasy - Anita is fascinated with boys, fast cars, fast boys, etc.
Anita is quite a swingin' gal, and has no compunctions about jumping anything in trousers. This probably made these stories a bit more salacious in the 70s. But there is also an air of mystery and even darkness in some of her stories, as when she animates a scarecrow on a whim, and then finds it's obsessed with her (and a bit of a perv), or when she has to rescue a captured mermaid, or when she has to deal with the return of a sand golem double she created in an earlier story.
Most of the stories are light-hearted if a little sinister, though, such as when Anita brings a television into her cottage, over Granny's strenuous objections. Soon the old lady becomes addicted to quiz shows, leading to a catastrophic appearance at a TV studio.
I wouldn't say these are must-reads, but if you like teenage witch stories and want to read something a little different, but which probably did influence, one way or another, subsequent incarnations of the trope from Sabrina to Willow (and Anita's grandmother is like a tougher, meaner Granny Weatherwax), and permeated in 70s British pop culture and slang, then give this collection a try. I debated over whether to give it 3 or 4 stars - I liked the book, but it's definitely dated. I ended up nudging it up, because the hardcover from Owlswick Press (there is an audiobook on Audible now, incidentally) has illustrations by Stephen Fabian, one of my favorite fantasy artists.
Anita Thompson is a witch, living in a little cottage in bucolic England with her grandmother, a cantankerous old gorgon who speaks in dialog so thick you could cut it with a meat-pie and swears by 'Him Wot's Down Under.'
Anita was an early example of "contemporary" fantasy, presenting magic and supernatural creatures coexisting with the modern world. Anita and her Granny cast old-style magic spells and are supposedly dedicated to evil and damnation. They're actually no more evil than any teenager and her crotchety granny, so Anita's adventures often involve her suffering the consequences of violating Lovecraft's Law ("Do not call up that which you can't put down"). But it's also a "modern" comedic fantasy - Anita is fascinated with boys, fast cars, fast boys, etc.
Anita is quite a swingin' gal, and has no compunctions about jumping anything in trousers. This probably made these stories a bit more salacious in the 70s. But there is also an air of mystery and even darkness in some of her stories, as when she animates a scarecrow on a whim, and then finds it's obsessed with her (and a bit of a perv), or when she has to rescue a captured mermaid, or when she has to deal with the return of a sand golem double she created in an earlier story.
Most of the stories are light-hearted if a little sinister, though, such as when Anita brings a television into her cottage, over Granny's strenuous objections. Soon the old lady becomes addicted to quiz shows, leading to a catastrophic appearance at a TV studio.
I wouldn't say these are must-reads, but if you like teenage witch stories and want to read something a little different, but which probably did influence, one way or another, subsequent incarnations of the trope from Sabrina to Willow (and Anita's grandmother is like a tougher, meaner Granny Weatherwax), and permeated in 70s British pop culture and slang, then give this collection a try. I debated over whether to give it 3 or 4 stars - I liked the book, but it's definitely dated. I ended up nudging it up, because the hardcover from Owlswick Press (there is an audiobook on Audible now, incidentally) has illustrations by Stephen Fabian, one of my favorite fantasy artists.
March 22, 2024
Before there was Sabrina, the teenage witch, there was Anita and her Granny Thompson. These are 16 stories written by the British SF author Keith Roberts, starting in the late 60s. While there are elements of swinging London, for the most part the stories take place in rural Dorset county. Granny's dialect was frequently nearly unintelligible to this American's ear, but I always was able to capture the gist of what was being said.
The edition that I read is a beautiful collection with illustrations by Olswick Press. There are often very cool descriptions of the activity of nature all around Anita, which she has access to given her enhanced senses.
A series of lighthearted adventures by the mischievous Anita.
The edition that I read is a beautiful collection with illustrations by Olswick Press. There are often very cool descriptions of the activity of nature all around Anita, which she has access to given her enhanced senses.
A series of lighthearted adventures by the mischievous Anita.
September 10, 2017
This is a charming book. It isn't a novel, more a collection of interlinked short stories about the witch Anita. Anita lives with her Granny (who is a forerunner of Granny Weatherwax). The stories cover a wide range of themes, including pollution and urban development. But at the heart there is always sense of humor and beauty. It is impossible not to like Anita and her surrondings.
July 27, 2012
Written in the mid-to-late 60's (I believe), the Anita stories were among the earliest in the now common genre of teenage/young-adult witches in the modern world. I'm finding the collection mostly charming, though it does occasionally seem a bit sexist, a bit too leering - an artifact of the times in which the stories were written, I suppose. I'm listening to the audiobook version produced by Neil Gaiman for Audible. Gaiman's introduction and the talented narrator, Nicola Barber, have made this delightful to listen to. Some of the stories are a bit weak, and I really hated the way "Sandpiper" ended, but most have been enjoyable.
March 2, 2010
I read several of the Anita stories when they first appeared in the magazine Science Fantasy/SF Impulse many years ago, and moderately enjoyed them. When I noticed at Philcon a few weeks ago that Darrell Schweitzer was selling copies of his Owlswick Press's volume of the collected series I naturally snapped one up.
Anita is a young bombshell of a witch trying to do her best to fit into the world of the 1960s and '70s despite the limitations imposed by the elderly relative with whom she lives, Granny Thompson, the literary ancestor of Terry Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax and I would say an even more wonderful creation. ("I can turn meself inter more than wot you can an' I'm got me sciatica.") Anita's 16 adventures are (with arguably one exception; see below) never less than entertaining, although a number of them have an inconsequential quality that made me wish Roberts had wrestled with them a bit longer. One in particular, "#7: The Jennifer", has a stupendous buildup -- Anita meets a mermaid who summons the great sea serpent to take Anita to the submarine kingdom of the merfolk -- but then just sort of screeches to a halt: the story ends before Anita gets there.
That story is sequeled later by the one entry here that I really didn't like: "#13: Sandpiper." In "#7", in order to hide her truancy from Granny, Anita constructs a simulacrum of herself from sand. The premise of "#13" is that Anita forgot to deconstruct the simulacrum afterwards, and now it has turned up on the doorstep of the Thompson cottage in Northamptonshire. And its attitude toward the witch who abandoned it is not admiring. So far so good for the story; but the resolution is hardly above the level of a smutty joke, and a pretty sexist one at that. This clashes harshly with one of the reasons the rest of the stories are so charming: Anita's cheerful enthusiasm for the opposite sex has an innocence that's the opposite of smutty. (A much better but more remotely linked follow-on to "#7" is "#15: The Mayday".)
Several of the pieces here are, though, full-blown stories rather than mere series entries. I especially liked "#3: Outpatient" (Anita expels the asthma from a small boy through helping him escape the attitudes of his overcautious mother and introducing him to a world of wonder), "#12: Cousin Ella Mae" (Anita's US cousin arrives, proves to be as much of a babe as Anita herself, and helps clear the ghosts out of a to-be-demolished medieval pub), and the final tale, "#16: The Checkout" (Anita becomes infatuated with and assists a supermarket checkout clerk who is lost in love for a married man far older than she is), which I believe is unique to the Owlswick edition.
All in all, a worthy purchase: recommended.
Anita is a young bombshell of a witch trying to do her best to fit into the world of the 1960s and '70s despite the limitations imposed by the elderly relative with whom she lives, Granny Thompson, the literary ancestor of Terry Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax and I would say an even more wonderful creation. ("I can turn meself inter more than wot you can an' I'm got me sciatica.") Anita's 16 adventures are (with arguably one exception; see below) never less than entertaining, although a number of them have an inconsequential quality that made me wish Roberts had wrestled with them a bit longer. One in particular, "#7: The Jennifer", has a stupendous buildup -- Anita meets a mermaid who summons the great sea serpent to take Anita to the submarine kingdom of the merfolk -- but then just sort of screeches to a halt: the story ends before Anita gets there.
That story is sequeled later by the one entry here that I really didn't like: "#13: Sandpiper." In "#7", in order to hide her truancy from Granny, Anita constructs a simulacrum of herself from sand. The premise of "#13" is that Anita forgot to deconstruct the simulacrum afterwards, and now it has turned up on the doorstep of the Thompson cottage in Northamptonshire. And its attitude toward the witch who abandoned it is not admiring. So far so good for the story; but the resolution is hardly above the level of a smutty joke, and a pretty sexist one at that. This clashes harshly with one of the reasons the rest of the stories are so charming: Anita's cheerful enthusiasm for the opposite sex has an innocence that's the opposite of smutty. (A much better but more remotely linked follow-on to "#7" is "#15: The Mayday".)
Several of the pieces here are, though, full-blown stories rather than mere series entries. I especially liked "#3: Outpatient" (Anita expels the asthma from a small boy through helping him escape the attitudes of his overcautious mother and introducing him to a world of wonder), "#12: Cousin Ella Mae" (Anita's US cousin arrives, proves to be as much of a babe as Anita herself, and helps clear the ghosts out of a to-be-demolished medieval pub), and the final tale, "#16: The Checkout" (Anita becomes infatuated with and assists a supermarket checkout clerk who is lost in love for a married man far older than she is), which I believe is unique to the Owlswick edition.
All in all, a worthy purchase: recommended.
December 13, 2014
Maybe I expected too much, but I was very disappointed.
This is a collection of short stories about Anita, who is a cute, naive and wanton teenage witch. It was written and set in the 70's. It may suffer from the same problem that The Lord of the Rings has. It probably had a hand in inspiring everything that I unfavorably compare it to.
The satanists in this book have much in common with the ones in Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, but the tone of that book fits them better. In Anita they are a sort of humorous bureaucracy, but they required a deeper level of suspension of disbelief than everything else in the book.
Anita(the titular character) seemed more like a repurposing of one of Keith Roberts private fantasies than an actual teenage girl. Fictional characters can be sexy, but Anita is as sexy as a man describing his ideal woman's body. There are also some moments which seem a bit problematic or disturbing. I realize there are multiple angles to think from, but this was my first reaction and I think I will stick with it.
Ignoring the satanists and the squicky aspects of Anita, the stories are kinda amusing if generic. In some ways the style is similar to Operation Otherworld but without the interesting worldbuilding.
So yeah, read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch and the Discworld witch books, if still you want something similar but not as good or if you want to read something which may have inspired them then you should read Anita.
This is a collection of short stories about Anita, who is a cute, naive and wanton teenage witch. It was written and set in the 70's. It may suffer from the same problem that The Lord of the Rings has. It probably had a hand in inspiring everything that I unfavorably compare it to.
The satanists in this book have much in common with the ones in Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, but the tone of that book fits them better. In Anita they are a sort of humorous bureaucracy, but they required a deeper level of suspension of disbelief than everything else in the book.
Anita(the titular character) seemed more like a repurposing of one of Keith Roberts private fantasies than an actual teenage girl. Fictional characters can be sexy, but Anita is as sexy as a man describing his ideal woman's body. There are also some moments which seem a bit problematic or disturbing. I realize there are multiple angles to think from, but this was my first reaction and I think I will stick with it.
Ignoring the satanists and the squicky aspects of Anita, the stories are kinda amusing if generic. In some ways the style is similar to Operation Otherworld but without the interesting worldbuilding.
So yeah, read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch and the Discworld witch books, if still you want something similar but not as good or if you want to read something which may have inspired them then you should read Anita.
September 14, 2022
3.5 stars. Mildly entertaining short stories of Anita, a teenage witch and her grandmother, also a witch. Some interesting ideas brought up in the stories which I would have like to seen explored further, and I felt this worthy of editing into a flowing story (they were initially published as short stories in a magazine). In particular 'The Jennifer' felt like it built up to a point and then ended just as things were going to get more interesting. The main thing that stops this being 4 stars is that the male gaze is a bit uncomfortable, especially as Anita is a teenager. Sure, this is older fantasy so I'm not entirely surprised but it felt a little bit weird and creepy at times. Other than that, it is a reasonably enjoyable, light read.
August 7, 2012
This is an enjoyable set of short stories about a young witch named Anita. These short stories have to be one of the first books/stories that started the UF genre and should be read just because of that, if for no other reason.
I really enjoyed Anita. Anita is a bit of a "sex kitten" but it isn't too bad. No actual sex is in the book, just references. What charmed me about Anita was her innocence. Roberts had a light touch with this character. She's a teen and the stories are the mishaps of someone overly curious and completely unabashed. She loves sex and has no idea that others might think sex was bad, for example. The stories are set in the '60s and '70s so I think the idea of her being sexually curious probably arises there.
The Grandma is so funny! I really, really loved her Grandma! "Those no good 'umans!" Another interesting world building bit is the idea that witches come from Hell and their god is Satan. He did this very succinctly. He doesn't portray them as evil but it's fascinating to hear all the curses and whatnot.
I really enjoyed this collection.
I really enjoyed Anita. Anita is a bit of a "sex kitten" but it isn't too bad. No actual sex is in the book, just references. What charmed me about Anita was her innocence. Roberts had a light touch with this character. She's a teen and the stories are the mishaps of someone overly curious and completely unabashed. She loves sex and has no idea that others might think sex was bad, for example. The stories are set in the '60s and '70s so I think the idea of her being sexually curious probably arises there.
The Grandma is so funny! I really, really loved her Grandma! "Those no good 'umans!" Another interesting world building bit is the idea that witches come from Hell and their god is Satan. He did this very succinctly. He doesn't portray them as evil but it's fascinating to hear all the curses and whatnot.
I really enjoyed this collection.
January 8, 2014
Anita gets a solid for stars for what it is and what it has done. If it had been written TODAY I'd poetically give it a three... maybe three and a half.
This is easily the earliest installment in the urban fantasy genre I've tangled with and was cited by Neil Gaiman as one he grew up with.
While it shows, the author does a good job telling a longer story through the medium of short stories - a format I don't usually care for. Because they're all about the same character and maintain continuity, though, it works.
Especially as a lens to view how we got to where we are now with urban fantasy, this book is a very useful, tool. Luckily, it is also quite entertaining in its bite size format.
This is easily the earliest installment in the urban fantasy genre I've tangled with and was cited by Neil Gaiman as one he grew up with.
While it shows, the author does a good job telling a longer story through the medium of short stories - a format I don't usually care for. Because they're all about the same character and maintain continuity, though, it works.
Especially as a lens to view how we got to where we are now with urban fantasy, this book is a very useful, tool. Luckily, it is also quite entertaining in its bite size format.
December 26, 2013
Ok. First... Chapter 7= "The Jennifer". People who know me, GUESS WHAT THE JENNIFER IS. Ok, ok, I know the suspense is killing you, so I'll tell you. She...or rather they.. are MERMAIDS people! MERMAIDS. It's ridiculous how much this fact pleased me.
As for the book, I really liked it. I expected it to be more risque based on the description, but most was left to your imagination. I liked the characters, and I liked the short story format. I am a sucker for anything to do with ghosts, witches, vampires or mermaids, and I got all of the above.
Surly not a high-brow novel, but good fluff to pass the time.
As for the book, I really liked it. I expected it to be more risque based on the description, but most was left to your imagination. I liked the characters, and I liked the short story format. I am a sucker for anything to do with ghosts, witches, vampires or mermaids, and I got all of the above.
Surly not a high-brow novel, but good fluff to pass the time.
June 24, 2012
I listened to this book read by Nicola Barber.
I found this on Audible...it was introduced by Neil Gaiman and is one of his personal favorites.
I liked this book. Anita is a very independent witch who is young and starting to explore the real and the supernatural world. Each chapter is a new adventure. I like all the different people and places she ends up...it is a really imaginative, fun and heartfelt book. Sometimes she is saving the world, or just helping out a friend...the variety of ideas is really great.
I found this on Audible...it was introduced by Neil Gaiman and is one of his personal favorites.
I liked this book. Anita is a very independent witch who is young and starting to explore the real and the supernatural world. Each chapter is a new adventure. I like all the different people and places she ends up...it is a really imaginative, fun and heartfelt book. Sometimes she is saving the world, or just helping out a friend...the variety of ideas is really great.
November 4, 2012
This is a collection of stories, set in rural England of the 1960s about a young witch and her Grannie who gain their powers from Him Wot's Down Under. They're not evil, although they're supposed to be and Anita takes full advantage of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. What many of these stories are about is the conflict between the modern world and the older traditions (usually in the person of Grannie, whose speech is rendered in an almost incomprehensible dialect.) I started this on Halloween, and they're very appropriate for the holiday.
April 17, 2013
This audiobook is part of the "Neil Gamain Presents" collection at audible.com. It's a rather obscure (at least in the US) collection of short stories published in the 1960's. The stories feature Anita, a young witch enjoying the swinging 60's and her crotchety grandmother. The stories vary, particularly in their tone, so it feels a bit uneven. The funniest story "The Television" was followed by the most poignant, "Timothy". Anita is a charming character though, and her granny was a hoot. The narrator, Nicola Barber was excellent.
May 18, 2015
Quite fun! I had high expectations, since the recommendation came from Neil Gaiman, and this book did not disappoint! Fun short stories, fantastic characters, imaginative situations, and a well-fleshed-out world (not to mention that the audiobook version was brilliantly narrated!).
Note: Many descriptions depict Anita as very much a product of the swingin' 60s, and while yes, I suppose she was, such trysts happened so far offscreen that they'd make a Hitchcock film look explicit in comparison!
Note: Many descriptions depict Anita as very much a product of the swingin' 60s, and while yes, I suppose she was, such trysts happened so far offscreen that they'd make a Hitchcock film look explicit in comparison!
September 21, 2022
Cute and light for the most part (with some notable exceptions) and with the exception of an already developed writing style has little in common with either Roberts' previous novel (The Furies) or his later work--which has achieved an intensity and level of imagination not seen here. Still, fun as an example of early urban (rural?) fantasy, despite an occasional twinge of strange sexism (considering that Anita is a teenage witch, being written about by an adult man, and often comes off more like an ideal sexpot than a real person).
March 1, 2017
I listened to the Neil Gaiman Presents version on Audible. I found the character Anita to be slightly annoying and a little ... stupid? Jaded? Naive? Irritating. However, it was interesting to see how she grew through the stories (and how she learned or didn't learn certain lessons). I really enjoyed the last story, and it was a great way to end the book. The narrator did a good job conveying different characters.
June 19, 2017
I love Anita and Granny and their houseful of familiars beyond all reason, and I don't wish to spoil the enchantment by casting a critical eye over the book. I own Anita in hardcover and in the "Neil Gaiman Presents" Audible version. The Audible reading is especially brilliant as it is beautifully performed and aids the listener's understanding of Granny's thick dialect. A thousand magical sparkling stars.
April 1, 2012
Not what I was expecting. I thought I was in for a novel, but what I got instead was a chronological series of stories about the young witch Anita and her cranky old granny. Some of the stories were better than others, so it was a bit uneven. It was an enjoyable read, but not one I plan to revisit. If you like modern teen stories about witches etc., this will show you how it was done old-school.
February 5, 2016
Some interesting ideas that don't amount to much. Feels more like a mystical sexual exploration than anything else. Everything it does has been done better. You can make excuses for timing, but that's not enough to save this book from itself.
December 4, 2013
Cute book and after reading it I totally get where Agnes Nutter from Good Omens came from. Definitely same DNA
March 24, 2014
Like all early sifi/fantasy this book is pretty sexist. But it is sure fun for what it is. Sabrina the Teen Age Witch meets a very naughty Gidget.
April 27, 2024
A friend loaned me this book in hardcover, over twenty, maybe thirty years ago.
I returned it, and then he lost it, and we both forgot the title. I could not search it on the internet, because I did not know the title, until AI became available.
I described the stories, and the AIs suggested titles- ALL WRONG.
I finally merely searched "list of fantasy books with good witches."
Anita came up first.
The book I read had no pictures, but as soon as I saw the cover picture, I knew I had a winner. I had the ebook in ten minutes.
The stories are even better than I remembered. How could I have forgotten this guy?
I returned it, and then he lost it, and we both forgot the title. I could not search it on the internet, because I did not know the title, until AI became available.
I described the stories, and the AIs suggested titles- ALL WRONG.
I finally merely searched "list of fantasy books with good witches."
Anita came up first.
The book I read had no pictures, but as soon as I saw the cover picture, I knew I had a winner. I had the ebook in ten minutes.
The stories are even better than I remembered. How could I have forgotten this guy?
March 30, 2020
so, I very much enjoyed this collection + absolutely recommend it if you’re feeling any sort of anxiety or depression re: current apocalyptic style events & want a pure escape that while for adults still manages to retain a childlike sense of wonder! 5/5 stars from me!
Read
July 27, 2019Full review: https://supermonsternovels.com/2019/0...
September 28, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. It was like a bunch of short stories put together about the life of this witch. Each chapter is a different story, but there are some that reference previous chapters. I really enjoyed it. I really like the narrator Nicola Barber. She's fantastic. I want to hear other books she's read.
November 29, 2016
I first read these stories, what, forty years ago? I recalled them as being funny, and some of them still were (as well being an obvious source for Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg), but what my teenage self hadn't noticed was the quite appalling sexism in one of the stories. (It is apparent from other of Roberts' work that he has ... issues, shall we say).
October 25, 2012
Enormous sense of wonder, amazing characters, often odd and somewhat lackluster storytelling, but on the whole a great read. I listened to it, the Neil Gaiman Presents version, and the voiceactress without a doubt brought all of the characters to full life inside my head.
December 5, 2013
Anita by Keith Roberts is a solid 3.5 star book. I could not bear to give this book 3 stars. It is beautifully written and the stories have a certain sparkle. I despair only that its not a complete story but many small ones.
April 23, 2009
Original collection of linked comic tales about a young witch; the stories were first seen in the U.K. digest SCIENCE FANTASY
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews