Book Review: 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

Elspeth McGillicuddy sees a murder being committed on a train as it draws up to one she is on. However, when no body is found, the police are inclined to disbelieve her story, as only her imagination. But it just so happens that Elspeth is a friend of Miss Marple’s, and the latter is inclined to believe her friend. Now she has not only to solve the murder, but to prove that one happened in the first place…

This was an enjoyable mystery, but I’d guess it’s not one of Christie’s best (though it’s only the second I’ve read). Although it’s a billed as a Miss Marple book, she plays only an incidental role, being apparently too old to get involved in any proper detective work. Lucy Eylesbarrow, hired by Miss Marple to help out, is however, a good character who I liked a lot. The other characters who were involved in the mystery, were pretty well-drawn-out too, and I liked some of them. The tension was built up well, when it seems as though the murderer could be one of several people; I didn’t want it to be any of them, so it was pretty tense waiting to find out who it would be.

In the end, though, I didn’t find the solution entirely satisfying – in that it seemed to come purely from Miss Marple’s intuition, and I didn’t see how she could really have worked it out. I don’t often guess mystery solutions in advance, but I like to be able to see afterwards how it could have been solved. So all in all, this was not a huge success, but I am sure I will be reading more by Agatha Christie in the future. The two books I have read so far have both been Miss Marple books, so perhaps I will try one of her other series next.

Classics Club Spin

 It's time for another Classics Club Spin! You can find out about it here. My list:

1. The Watsons by Jane Austen
2. Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
3. Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
4. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
5. My Antonia by Willa Cather
6. The Wisdom of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
7. In the High Valley by Susan Coolidge
8. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
9. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
11. The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell
12. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
13. Elizabeth, Captive Princess by Margaret Irwin
14. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
15. Further Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
16. Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery
17. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
18. The Painted Garden by Noel Streatfeild
19. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
20. The Chaplet of Pearls by Charlotte Mary Yonge

Hopefully, this will help me to make a bit of progress with my list, of which I've been rather neglectful of late.

October Books

I haven't done a monthly recap post for a while, but I haven't posted much lately so I thought I'd do a summary of what I've read this month.

 

 

Firstly, I finally finished Lord of the Rings! I think it's been round about a year, perhaps just over, since I first picked up The Fellowship of the Ring. I tend to be very slow about reading long books - I need to take breaks to read other things in the middle - but I didn't quite expect to take so long to finish. I did enjoy it, and am partly tempted to start over again with FOTR, since it feels like an age since I read that. At any rate, I can now say that I have read it.

I made some progress with Mount TBR this month; I'm still hopelessly behind my goal of 24 books, but I did get a few off: The Return of the King (as mentioned above), Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, and Forged in the Fire by Ann Turnbull. Scarlet was a disappointment - despite having really enjoyed Cinder (last year), I found this a bit of a chore to get through; I think I just wasn't that interested in Scarlet and Wolf or their story. I did enjoy the bits with Cinder and Kai more. I'll probably still move on to Cress eventually, as it sounds like I'll enjoy it more, but it's not a top priority. Forged in the Fire I really enjoyed - despite also taking me a long time to read - but it's the kind of book you can quite easily put down and come back to without too much trouble. It's the sequel to No Shame, No Fear, which I read quite a number of years ago now, about Quakers and religious persecution in seventeenth-century England; this book (as the title suggests) deals with the years of the plague and the Great Fire of London. I'd recommend both books, and am looking forward to reading the third one, Seeking Eden.

 

Other books I've read this month:

The Bookseller's Tale by Ann Swinfen (reviewed here)

Jane Austen and Names by Maggie Lane; this was quite an interesting read, although short, although I already knew a bit about the subject so there wasn't that much that was new, and there were a couple of things that were incorrect, although these were pretty minor things. There was an index of names mentioned in Jane Austen's book at the back, which I thought was helpful.

Mr. Majeika on the Internet by Humphrey Carpenter; a fun, but kind of wacky children's book, that I'd definitely have enjoyed as a child.

Adrienne and the Chalet School by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer; enjoyable, but I prefer the earlier books in the series.

A Very Distant Shore by Jenny Colgan; this was OK.

 

Also, this is my 100th post! I find it hard to believe I've written so many, but there you are.

Footnotes: October 2017

 

Footnotes is a monthly link-up hosted by Ashley and Emily. It's all about sharing quotations. Just in time, I'm joining up with the October prompt, which is: a quotation from a poem.

 

There were quite a few quotations I could have shared this month, but I've chosen a short quote from Charlotte Bronte's poem "Gilbert":

            For words oft give but echo faint

            Of thoughts the mind conceives.

 

I've definitely experienced thoughts and feelings that I wasn't able to express in words; sometimes this might be because I don't have the words or don't understand my thoughts well enough, but other times it does seem like language is inadequate. However, one of the joys of collecting quotations is that sometimes you find that others have said things that express your thoughts perfectly, when you weren't able to do so yourself.

Weekly Poem: Psalm 13 by Mary Herbert

How long, O Lord, shall I forgotten be?

What? ever?

How long wilt thou thy hidden face from me

Dissever?

How long shall I consult with carefull sprite

In anguish?

How long shall I with foes triumphant might

Thus languish?

Behold me, Lord, let to thy hearing creep

My crying;

Nay, give me eyes and light, lest that I sleep

In dying;

Lest my foe brag, that in my ruin he

Prevailed;

And at my fall they joy that, troublous, me

Assailed.

No! no! I trust on thee, and joy in thy

Great pity:

Still, therefore, of thy graces shall be my

Song's ditty.

 

Mary Herbert

Book Review: The Bookseller's Tale by Ann Swinfen

Summary

The Bookseller's Tale is the first in a series of mysteries set in 14th-century Oxford. The book takes place a few years after the population has been decimated by the Black Death, the effects of which are still widely felt. Nicholas Elyot, the main character, is a bookseller who lost his wife to the plague. One day he finds the body of a student in the River Cherwell, and discovers that his death was not due to natural causes. The town authorities don't seem to have any interest in investigating the murder, but Nicholas and his friend Jordain Brinkylsworth, a member of the university, feel they owe it to the victim to find out.

 

Thoughts 

One of the big things I liked about this book was the historical detail - we find out quite a bit about medieval Oxford, the university, and particularly about Nicholas' work as a bookseller, which I found really interesting. Some readers might not enjoy these details as they mean there is a little less focus on the mystery, but I think they seemed to fit naturally into the story. I also enjoyed the scenes of domestic life, and how the effects of the Black Death were explored; for example, the characters feel that since "the Death", people are more immune to suffering and thus less willing to help others. I'm not sure whether this would have been the case but it's not something I'd thought about before, so it's interesting to consider.

 

As for the mystery, I thought it was good. Perhaps not surprisingly, books play a significant role, and it was one of those mysteries where there are various clues which don't make sense and have to be pieced together. There were a few twists along the way, which I didn't see coming (though perhaps others might).

 

The one thing I thought could have been improved on the characterisation. The main characters were all likeable enough, but they seemed a bit flat and forgettable; none of them exactly leapt off the page. Still, there were enough interesting things about this to keep me reading, and I'm hoping the characters might develop more in later books.
 

All in all, I thought this was a good read, and I'm looking forward to continuing with the series. (There are four books at present, and hopefully more to come.) I might also check out some of the author's other books, as most of them also sound interesting. If you enjoy mysteries, and/or have an interest in history or the Middle Ages, then I'd definitely suggest checking this out.

 

At time of posting, this is currently discounted to 99p/$1.29 on Kindle.

Weekly Poem: She walks in beauty, like the night



photo from Unsplash

She walks in beauty, like the night

   Of cloudless climes and starry skies,

And all that's best of dark and bright

   Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellowed to that tender light

   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

   Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

   Or softly lightened o'er her face,

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

   How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

   So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

   But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

   A heart where love is innocent.

Lord Byron

Mini-Reviews #7: Classic Adventures

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Professor Arronax is on an expedition to find what is believed to be a large whale which has been attacking ships. However, his trip takes a surprising turn when he and two companions find themselves trapped on board the submarine Nautilus - the real culprit. Until they can find a way to escape, they must travel along with Captain Nemo and his men, exploring the underwater realm, and attempting to reach the South Pole, facing adventures and dangers along the way.
 

This was quite good. I didn't enjoy it as much as Journey to the Centre of the Earth, but I still found the adventures for the most part enjoyable, and I liked the character of Captain Nemo - he is a bit of an ambiguous character, someone who has suffered a lot and does some bad things, but he is an interesting character and I can't help liking him at least a bit. The descriptions of things seen under the sea were also interesting. I also liked the scientific details - there is enough to make the story somewhat believable, but not so that it gets bogged down in details.

 

The Prisoner of Zenda

Rudolf Rassendyll travels to Ruritania just before the coronation of King Rudolf IV, a distant cousin of his. He is surprised to find out just how much he and the King resemble each other - so much so that most people would not be able to tell them apart. As a result of this he ends up being drawn into a charade, by which he must pretend to be the King, now a prisoner of his half-brother Michael who is after his throne. Michael cannot reveal his as the pretender, without giving away that he has the real King as a prisoner. So Rassendyll, along with two loyal friends, must find a way to rescue the King without being killed themselves.

 

Altogether I really enjoyed this book. It's fast-paced and entertaining, but also has moments of reflection. There are also some quite funny moments, both in dialogue and in event, such as when Rudolf has to fight off three men with a tea-table (who would have thought it?). It's not a book that takes itself too seriously. But the ending too is pretty satisfying. I also liked Rudolf's intentions to be honourable and do the right thing - it also made the situations more complex, and the solutions more satisfying.

Weekly Poem: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

So, I was thinking a while back that it might be nice to share some of my favourite poems on here, and decided to try doing a weekly post. Despite getting a few posts together I didn't get round to actually posting anything, but I found this in my drafts recently and thought I might as well give it a go. How long I will keep it up I cannot say, but I have a few poems lined up for the coming weeks at least.

This was originally meant to be posted back in February, and I chose the poem in honour of Valentine's day and of I Love Austen Week (since the poem is quoted in the 1995 version of Sense & Sensibility and always makes me think of Marianne & Willoughby). It doesn't really fit quite so well now, but I've decided to share it anyway.

 

image by Christian Hebell // Creative Commons Zero

 Sonnet 116
 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

    Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

    Or bends with the remover to remove.

O, no! It is an ever-fixèd mark,

    That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

    Whose worth's unknown, although his heart be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

    Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

    But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

        If this be error, and upon me proved,

        I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

 

William Shakespeare

Mini-Reviews #6: School Stories

 

The Manor House School by Angela Brazil

The girls of Winterburn Lodge are not looking forward to another dreary term at their London boarding school. So they are rather excited when it is announced that, due to an issue with the drains which necessitates extensive maintenance work in the school building, the school will be moving to a country manor house for the summer term. As well as providing lots of opportunities for outdoor games and pursuits, the manor naturally comes with various associated legends and mysteries; in particular, a horde of hidden treasure which is rumoured to be somewhere within the grounds. Lindsay and Cicely, the two heroines, determine to find this treasure, which leads to some adventures - and misadventures. Throw in a few half-term excursions that don't go according to plan, and you get a very action packed book!

 

I quite enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and there was a lot going on. It seems to be aimed at a younger age group than most of Angela Brazil's books; the main characters were eleven and twelve and it read more as an adventure story than a school story, some parts of which stretched credulity rather a little. But it was a fun read. It's available on Project Gutenberg.

 

End of Term by Antonia Forest

The fourth book in Antonia Forest's series about the Marlow family, although the second I've read. Like the first book, Autumn Term, this is mostly about twins Nicola and Lawrie, the youngest in a family of eight children, and their school friends. Unlike The Manor House School, this is a fairly realistic boarding school story, with most of the drama surrounding the end of term Christmas play. Lawrie is desperate to play the Shepherd Boy, while Nicola's friend Miranda, who is Jewish, feels left out at not being allowed to participate. Meanwhile Nicola has hopes of getting into the junior netball team. Things don't go entirely according to plan, but will it all work out in the end?

 

This was a really good book. I didn't enjoy Autumn Term as much as I had been expecting to, but I found this a much better read. The characterisation is very strong and there is a strong emphasis on the relationships between the characters - both within school and between the Marlows in the home scenes - which is very well done and which I liked a lot. Despite being a more realistic story, there's still a fair bit going on and the climax is fairly dramatic, which made it a gripping read towards the end. I definitely really liked this book and will look forward to reading more about the Marlow family. Unfortunately the books can be quite hard to track down, but I do have one more, The Attic Term, sitting on my shelf so I expect I'll be reading that quite soon.
 

I'm linking up with the Old School Kidlit reading challenge, since this month's theme was school stories. I've been rather sporadic about participating so far, but since next month's theme is mysteries, which is another of my favourite genres, I'll hopefully be getting back on track.

Footnotes: September 2017

I'm linking up again with Footnotes, a monthly quotation link-up hosted by Ashley and Emily.

 

 

This month's prompt is: a quotation that makes you laugh.

 

I've recently read Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers; one of her series about Lord Peter Wimsey, who is trying to prove the innocence of a young women convicted of murder. It's a brilliant book, so of course I couldn't just limit myself to one quote.

 

 

"I have already carefully explained to you that this time I am investigating this business. Anybody would think you had no confidence in me."

"People have been wrongly condemned before now."

"Exactly; simply because I wasn't there."

"I never thought of that."

 

*****

 

"I say - I've thought of a good plot for a detective story ... You know, the sort that people bring out and say, 'I've often thought of doing it myself, if only I could find time to sit down and write it.' I gather that sitting down is all that is necessary for producing masterpieces."

 

*****

 

"But you wouldn't want a wife who writes books, would you?"

"But I should; it would be great fun. So much more interesting than the ordinary kind that is only keen on clothes and people. Though of course, clothes and people are all right too, in moderation. I don't mean to say I object to clothes."

 

*****

 

"My idea is that Miss Vane didn't do it," said Wimsey. "I dare say that's an idea which has already occurred to you, but with the weight of my great mind behind it, no doubt it strikes the imagination more forcibly."

 

*****

 

"I know I've got a silly face, but I can't help that."

Top Ten Tuesday: Forgotten Classics

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today's theme is Ten Hidden Gem Books in X Genre. I've decided go for classics, so I'm listing ten older books that have been mostly forgotten or that I think should be better known:

A Cathedral Courtship by Kate Douglas Wiggin

A sweet romantic tale combined with a tour of English cathedrals

The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte Mary Yonge

A tragic Victorian bestseller

White Boots by Noel Streatfeild

A story about family, friendship, and ice skating

The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit

Six children determine to restore their family's fortunes - but things don't really go according to plan

Seven Sisters at Queen Anne's by Evelyn Smith

Seven sisters go off to school for the first time,

Half Magic by Edward Eager

A magic coin that only grants half of what you wish for - what could possibly go wrong?

Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

I've reviewed this recently here.

Young Bess by Margaret Irwin

An entertaining novel about the young Elizabeth I

The Silent Shore by Ruth Elwin Harris

The first in a series about four sisters set during and after World War I

The Girls of St. Wode's by L.T. Meade

A story about six girls at college in the late 1800s

Footnotes: August 2017

Today I'm excited to be joining in with Footnotes, a new link-up created by Emily and Ashley. This involves posting about a quote each month, based on a prompt they supply. As an avid collector of quotes this sounds like a great idea to me! This month's prompt is a quote from an author. Although there are of course many quotes I could supply, I've gone with the first to spring to my mind, which I like a lot and is from one of my favourite books, Anne of Green Gables:

 

 

This is a quote that always makes me happy; it's a reminder that you don't need lots of money or possessions, that there are more important things like friendship, happiness, and imagination. I love Anne's way of putting it, and I love the description of the sea, too, "all silver and shallow and visions of things not seen"; it does describe very well what it looks like in the evening.

There, I don't think my explanation has really done justice at all, and there are so many other good quotes that I could have chosen to share. However, they will have to wait for future months!

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Top Ten Tuesday: Mystery Recommendations

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today's theme is Ten Book Recommendations for ______. Since I've been reading a lot of mystery/detective books lately, I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of mystery recommendations. Then I realised I already made a similar list last September ... however, I've read quite a few new ones since then and I think this list is different enough for it to be worthwhile. So, here are ten books I recommend to people who like mysteries (especially of the classic or historical variety.

A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson (mini review)

This is one I've read recently. Set in a small town in 1950s England, featuring a mysterious death which occurred seven years earlier.

One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters

This is the second in Ellis Peters' Cadfael series, and one of the best that I've read so far, although I'd recommend the series as a whole.

Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens

The second in Robin Stevens' series featuring schoolgirl detectives in 1930s England. I enjoyed this a lot more than the first book in the series and it can be read as a standalone. The characterisation in this book is really well done, and probably stands out more than the mystery (which is also good, but not spectacular).

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (review)

The first in Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series, which I've been slowly enjoying my way through. This is one of the shorter books in the series (some are quite long) so it's definitely a good place to start, though for the most part it isn't necessary to read the books in order.

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

Shockingly, this is the only Agatha Christie book I've read to date (I really need to get on that!). It was very good though. Do I need to say any more?

The Draycott Murder Mystery by Molly Thynne

A lesser-known murder mystery from the 1920s, which has recently been republished by Dean Street Press. This was a good mystery and despite it being a standalone novel rather than a series, I found that the characters were very compelling too.

Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay

Set in a women's college in 1930s Oxford; in fact it was published the same year as Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night, with the same setting. This is a much more lighthearted book though, with a fair bit of humour as well as good characters and a strong mystery aspect.

The Good Knight by Sarah Woodbury

The first in a mystery series set in medieval Wales. This was a Kindle freebie and I didn't really know what to expect, but I enjoyed it a surprising amount, despite some flaws.

The Matters at Mansfield by Carrie Bebris

Set several years on from Pride & Prejudice, Darcy and Elizabeth have taken up mystery-solving as a hobby. This is actually one of the better Jane Austen sequels I've read, the dialogue felt reasonably authentic (at least it's not jarringly modern) and the mystery is a good story in its own right. This book also features characters from Mansfield Park.

The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence

Featuring four young detectives in Ancient Rome, this is the first in a series of seventeen books (which was one of my favourite series in years gone by). It now has a spin-off series, The Roman Quests, which is very good. (Possibly even better than the original series.)

Mini-Reviews #5: The Selchester Mysteries

I've recently enjoyed three books from the Selchester Mysteries series by Elizabeth Edmondson, so I thought I'd combine my reviews into one post. These are a series of mysteries set in 1950s England, featuring a castle, a cast of eccentric characters, a few puzzling murders, and some Cold War intrigue. I found them very enjoyable.

  

 

A Man of Some Repute

 

This was a good book, although not outstanding. The mystery aspect was very intriguing, and well done, and there was at least one twist that took me by surprise. The writing was good enough; there were no bits that stood out particularly, but it wasn't bad.

It took me a while to get invested in the characters; I think because the author had two many points of view, and would often move slightly away from the main characters to have a little bit from the viewpoint of another, more minor character. I guess this was partly to show how characters were seen by other people, but I wish she had stuck to just Hugo and Freya, so that we could get to know them quicker. However, by the end of the story I realised that I actually had become quite attached to the characters and location, and wanted more! This was probably just as well, as the story ends on rather a cliffhanger (although the main mystery is resolved, it's clear that there's a lot more to find out).

 

A Youthful Indiscretion

 

This was a quick read, only 60 pages long. I enjoyed it, although it definitely felt like it was just a bridge between two books rather than a story in its own right. It follows on from the cliffhanger at the end of A Man of Some Repute, but also introduces several new plot elements, such as a new colleague for Hugo, that are seemingly unrelated to this and not really developed in this book. Presumably they will be important later.

The ending was not very satisfying; the main plot thread is only partially resolved, and there are still many questions to be answered.

A Question of Inheritance

 

This book carries on pretty much where the last one left off. It takes a pretty long time to get to the main mystery, with lots of details of the characters' lives, and events which later turn out to be important. I found it harder to keep track of the plot in this book; I'm not sure if this is because it was more complex or just because there are a number of things which don't seem very important at the time but become significant later, and I wasn't paying enough attention to remember them. However, I still enjoyed the book a lot. Fortunately, this one doesn't end on a cliffhanger, although there are still some (rather important) loose ends that need tying up. The next book in the series will presumably do that.

 

Sadly, the author died before finishing the next book in the series, A Matter of Loyalty, but it has been completed by her son and is being released in October. This is the last one, so hopefully it will clear up all the remaining plotlines. I'm hoping it will be just as good as the previous books in the series, although I'll be sad to leave these characters behind.

Both A Man of Some Repute and A Question of Inheritance are currently 99p on Kindle (at time of posting), so if you are interested in this series now is probably a good time to look into it :)

Book Review: Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery

 (minor spoilers follow)

Jane and her mother live in Toronto with her grandmother, who loves her mother but bullies Jane. She has always believed that her father is dead, so she is shocked to find that he is in fact alive and living in Prince Edward Island, and  that he wants her to spend the summer with him. Jane goes determined to hate him, but instead she spends a glorious summer keeping house for her father and making friends with the locals. As time passes, both during and after the summer, Jane finds she has much to learn about herself and about life. She also tries to learn about the reasons for her parents' separation, and dreams that perhaps one day they might all be able to live together...

 

I liked Jane. She is perhaps more ordinary than most of Montgomery's heroines; although she is still imaginative, she's not in the same class as Anne or Emily. However, this doesn't stop her from having plenty of good qualities; she is caring, brave, and determined. Although at the start of the story she is rather awkward and lacking in confidence, as the story goes on she learns to become more confident and to stand up for herself more. She also develops a strong understanding of other people; she can see her parents much more clearly than they can see each other. The other characters are also very well-drawn, and realistic. I liked the story too. It's a gentle, character-driven story, which is my favourite kind, really. The writing is lovely and descriptive (of course).

 

There isn't anything that I strongly disliked about it, though there were some parts that I found hard to believe, like how quickly Jane learns to cook and garden, with no prior experience or training. She's supposed to have a natural gift for it, but I don't believe anyone could really learn that quickly, especially at the age of eleven. I also would have liked to spend more time with Jane's friends and neighbours at Lantern Hill; there were quite a lot of them, and there wasn't really time to get to know most of them in the time we spent there. Some of the parts where Jane's grandmother is being particularly awful were a little uncomfortable to read, and I'd really rather be reading about Lantern Hill. But that isn't necessarily a criticism of the story.

 

Two themes stood out to me as I was reading. One is that of jealousy, of selfish love. We are told that Jane's grandmother loves her mother, but it is a selfish love; she can't bear for anyone else, even Jane, to share in her mother's affections. Both of Jane's parents, too, have a tendency to be jealous, to want to be the exclusive focus of each other's attentions. The other theme was that of home. Jane longs for a proper home; she wants to be away from her grandmother, of course, but she also hates the house they live in. When she and her father are looking for a house in Lantern Hill, it has to be just right, to possess a little "magic". The people in the house matter, but the house itself matters too.

 

Overall, I thought this was a very good book, which deserves to be better known. It's a shame Montgomery never finished the sequel, because I would have liked to have spent more time with Jane and her friends.

Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Despite its popularity in the USA, this book isn't particularly well known (as far as I can tell) over here in the UK, so I never came across it as a child. This is a shame, because I think I would have loved it had I read it as a child. However, I still enjoyed it very much, and I'm glad I've finally got around to reading it.

 

Summary (Goodreads): It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract".

Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?

 

This is quite a hard book to review, as it's kind of hard to describe why I liked it. I found it a little odd, but mostly in a good way - the sort of quirkiness that makes you want to find out more. For most of the book I had literally no idea what was going to happen next - it seemed like just about anything could happen. It felt very much like the story told in the book was very much scratching the surface of the world it was set in - that there was a lot that wasn't revealed or explained to us. I liked the sense of mystery that this added. Overall, I found it a very interesting story, dealing with themes of Love over Evil; a common theme, but one which I don't think can be over-done.

 

Personally, I didn't find I was particularly interested in most of the characters; probably this was just due to a lack of time spent developing them, which was probably necessarily the case in a book this length, especially as there is a fair amount of plot to get in. (Although I did like that Meg was good at maths, which is a very underrated skill among book heroines.) However, I think the other aspects of the book made up for this. Mostly, it's left me wanting more; so I am looking forward to reading the sequels.

 

(At the time of posting, I've read A Wind in the Door, which I also enjoyed a lot, though not as much as this.)

Six in Six 2017

Six in Six is an annual meme hosted by Jo at The Book Jotter. The idea is that you pick six categories which relate to your reading in the first half of the year, and list six things for each category. I enjoyed participating in this last year, so I thought I'd join in again this time.

Six new authors to me

Madeleine L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time; A Wind in the Door)

Anthony Hope (The Prisoner of Zenda)

Mavis Doriel Hay (Death on the Cherwell)

Marguerite de Angeli (Thee, Hannah!)

John Buchan (The Thirty-Nine Steps)

Elisabeth Grace Foley (The Mountain of the Wolf; The Silver Shawl)

 

Six historical novels

The Thunder Omen - Caroline Lawrence

Raider's Tide - Maggie Prince

The Silver Shawl - Elisabeth Grace Foley

A Plague on Both Your Houses - Susanna Gregory

The Little Duke - Charlotte Mary Yonge

St. Peter's Fair - Ellis Peters

 

Six series I read or started

Brother Cadfael - Ellis Peters (St. Peter's Fair; The Leper of St. Giles)

Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy Sayers (Unnatural Death)

Paddington - Michael Bond (More About Paddington)

Alice-Miranda - Jacqueline Harvey (Alice-Miranda on Holiday; Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead; Alice-Miranda Shows the Way; Alice-Miranda in Paris)

Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew - Susanna Gregory (A Plague on Both Your Houses)

Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (The Princess of the Chalet School; The New Chalet School)

 

Six classics I have read

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne

The Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis (re-read)

The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien

Marmion - Walter Scott

The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan

 

Six non-fiction books

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Fierce Convictions - Karen Swallow Prior

The Year 1000 - Robert Lacey & Danny Danziger

Letters to Malcolm - C.S. Lewis

Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterton

The Reason I Jump - Naoki Higashida

 

Six re-reads

Saffy's Angel - Hilary McKay

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

The Tanglewoods' Secret - Patricia St. John

Shocks for the Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

Phyllida in Form III - Evelyn Smith

The Little Duke - Charlotte Mary Yonge

Recent Highlights

photo from Unsplash

It's been rather a long time since I last posted, so I thought I'd do a recap of some recent reading highlights.

Fiction

I've been enjoying quite a few mystery/detective stories recently. I really enjoyed Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay, a murder mystery set in 1930s Oxford. St Peter's Fair and The Leper of St Giles, books four and five in Ellis Peters' Cadfael series, were also very good. Unnatural Death, the third Lord Peter Wimsey book by Dorothy L. Sayers, didn't quite live up to the others in the series I've read, but it was still enjoyable. A Plague on Both Your Houses by Susanna Gregory, set in medieval Cambridge, was good, but not really to my taste; it was a bit more thriller-y than the other books I've mentioned here, with lots of twists and turns and not knowing who to trust, which is not really my sort of thing, although it kept me reading to find out what would happen.

I've also read several lesser-known vintage novels: I really enjoyed A College Girl by Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey (although the title is slightly misleading, as not much of the story is set at college; it's more a coming-of-age tale); The Girls of St. Wode's by L.T. Meade was also very enjoyable, and The Diary of a Goose Girl by Kate Douglas Wiggin was a quick, entertaining read (although rather lacking in plot).

Other books I enjoyed were A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison, several books in the Alice-Miranda series by Jacqueline Harvey, and The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Non-Fiction

Mere Christianity and Letters to Malcolm by C.S. Lewis were both excellent (as Lewis always is). Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien gave me a lot to think about. Fierce Convictions by Karen Swallow Prior, a biography of Hannah More, was a great read; she is a fascinating person to read about.

Currently Reading

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (almost finished)
A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson
North Side of the Tree by Maggie Prince (just started, but really enjoying)
The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding
Charlotte Fairlie by D.E. Stevenson

Anticipating

Death in the Arena, the third books in the Roman Quests series by Caroline Lawrence, which comes out this week. I really enjoyed the first two books, so I'm looking forward to this one.

I've got a few reviews hanging around in my drafts that I'll probably post soon, so hopefully there'll be a rather shorter interval between this and my next post.

My Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Ten Books on My Spring TBR. I'm very much of a mood reader and usually not very good at sticking to lists, so there is a good chance my reading over the next few months will be completely different to what I've listed below! That said, I really do intend to read most of them soon - we'll see!

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (my Classics Club Spin book)

Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (after I finish The Two Towers, which will hopefully be this week)

Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery (for the Old School Kidlit reading challenge)

Once by various authors

A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson

The Sound of Diamonds by Rachelle Rea

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

Thalia by Frances Faviell

The Oxford Inklings by Colin Duriez

 

Have you read any of these? If so, what did you think of them? And what are you looking forward to reading soon?

Quote of the Week


"It is the small temptations which undermine integrity, unless we watch and pray, and never think them too small to be resisted." - Rose in Bloom, Louisa May Alcott

Photo from Unsplash

Book Review: The Tanglewoods' Secret by Patricia St. John

 

 

Summary (from Goodreads): Ruth and her beloved brother Philip find solace in the expanse of the Tanglewoods' property. There they escape into bird watching, climbing, and general misadventures with their friend Terry.

But life with their Aunt is harsh, and Ruth suffers from an incorrigible temper. Just when she thinks she can't take it anymore, she learns a very special secret about a very special Shepherd. When a dreadful accident hurts one they love, Ruth and Philip learn that the Tanglewoods' Secret isn't meant to be kept a secret.

 

I read this for the Old School Kidlit challenge: a book you loved in childhood. I read this at the age of about six or seven and enjoyed it, but had never revisited it, so I didn't remember much except for a few details. I found that it didn't quite live up on rereading.

 

I think my main problem was that it was just too simplistic. Of course it was written for quite young children, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but rereading it now as an adult I just didn't enjoy it as much. Admittedly, the book does make clear that becoming a Christian doesn't make all your troubles and suffering go away, but the issues faced by Ruth and others in the book (including a pretty major tragedy) seem to be got over pretty quickly. I also found myself getting pretty annoyed with Aunt Margaret in the first half of the book; I'm not surprised Ruth keeps being naughty when her aunt is always telling her how bad she is! I also felt that it was unfair that Ruth was often made to help with the housework whilst her older brother was allowed to go out and play, but I suppose that is a sign of when the book was written.

 

The sections I found most interesting were the parts about Ruth and Philip's lives, such as their interest in bird-watching, the games they play together and their schemes for making money so that they can save up to buy a camera, and I wish that there had been more of these in the book. I also liked their relationship - they have a strong friendship as well as being siblings which  always good to read about. I think the messages in the book were mostly good and I liked that it was pointed out that adults (such as Aunt Margaret) also need Jesus and don't necessarily always have it all figured out or do the right thing. I just found the whole story a bit simplistic and the Christian parts quite heavy-handed. But I still found things to enjoy about it, and I did enjoy it more as a child (although not as much as some of Patricia St. John's other books).

Monthly Review: February 2017

 

What I Read

I re-read two books, Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay and (for the Old School Kidlit challenge) The Tanglewoods' Secret by Patricia St. John. The first of these I enjoyed much more than I did the first time around, the second not as much.

 

I also read quite a lot of other books; mostly classics. I really enjoyed A World of Girls by L.T. Meade, The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and Half Magic by Edward Eager, and also quite enjoyed The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

 

In terms of modern books, Alice-Miranda on Holiday by Jacqueline Harvey turned out to be just about as good as the first book in the series; St Grizzle's School for Girls, Goats and Random Boys was quite enjoyable, although a little bit silly, and I felt that A Quiet Kind of Thunder, although not in a genre I read much, presented a good representation of a character struggling with anxiety and selective mutism.

 

Reviews I've written are linked in book titles; reviews for some of the other books should appear soon.

 

Reading Challenge Progress

I've had a bit more success this month than last!

Old School Kidlit: This month's theme was a book you loved in childhood. I reread The Tanglewoods' Secret, the review of which should hopefully be up tomorrow.

Mount TBR: Two of the books I read this month counted for this: Saffy's Angel and The Tanglewoods' Secret. Both were rereads but fit the requirements for the challenge (books I read at least five years ago and bought after the first time I read them).

Back to the Classics: I've only just joined this challenge, but I've already managed to cross off one category; A Wrinkle in Time counts as my award-winning classic. My review should be up soon.

 

I re-read two books this month, which puts my total at four. I haven't read any non-fiction, but I read two books last month, so I'm still on track for twelve this year.

 

Posts

I participated in I Love Austen Week, hosted by Hamlette.

I reviewed The Thirty-Nine Steps.

I listed Ten Books I Enjoyed More Than I Thought I Would, for Top Ten Tuesday.

I signed up for Back to the Classics 2017.

 

Currently Reading

I'm currently actively reading A College Girl by Mrs George de Horne Vaizey (which I'm really enjoying), A Wiltshire Diary by Francis Kilvert, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, And Both Were Young by Madeleine L'Engle, and I'm rereading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (so good!). I'm trying to make myself finish some of these before I start any more, but we'll see how that goes.



Quote of the Week

 

photo from Unsplash

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Didn't Expect to Like as Much as I Did

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is Books I Liked More/Less Than I Thought I Would. I've decided to go with Books I Liked More Than I Thought I Would, as I decided I'd rather compile a list of books I really enjoyed than ones I didn't like as much.

 

The first four books are ones I read at school because they were shortlisted for awards, and I had pretty low expectations for some of them, but they all turned out to be pretty good. The others are ones I chose myself and expected to enjoy, but they exceeded my expectations.

 

 

 

Airman by Eoin Colfer

I read this because it was on the Carnegie shortlist one year, which I was reading through with some others at school. I didn't expect to enjoy it because it looked quite sci-fi-y which wasn't really a genre I enjoyed then. But actually, I really enjoyed it! (It's really more historical than sci-fi; now I'd probably class it as ruritanian).

 

Creature of the Night by Kate Thompson

Also read because it was on the Carnegie shortlist. This wasn't the kind of book I would usually read, and I found the start a bit slow, but once it got going I did enjoy it quite a lot.

 

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Again, this was probably not the kind of book I would usually read, but I thought it was pretty good.

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This was on the Red House shortlist. I'd seen it around a lot and thought I might be interested in it, but was hesitant because I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it and it also looked like it could be quite violent/dark. Which it kind of was, but I really enjoyed it anyway.

 

Raider's Tide by Maggie Prince

I picked this up very cheaply at a school library sale, thinking it might be enjoyable - it's historical fiction which is one of my favourite genres, but I don't think I had massively high expectations for it. However, I really liked it (and discovered on rereading it lately that it still holds up now, which not everything I read as a teenager does).

 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

I mean, I expected to enjoy this but had some reservations about it. However, although I am aware that it had some flaws, I did find it a very entertaining read which I enjoyed a lot (and it would have been amazing to see on stage).

 

Escape from Rome by Caroline Lawrence

(review)

This was the first in a sequel-series to one of my favourite series when I was younger, and I wasn't sure whether it would be as good, or whether I would enjoy it as much now as I would have done had it been out eight or ten years ago. But it was really good, and I think I possibly prefer it to the original Roman Mysteries series. (The sequel was very good, too, and I'm now eagerly awaiting book three.)

 

 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

(mini-review)

This is not the sort of book I usually tend to read, but I'd heard so many good things about it that I decided to try it, although I was a bit hesitant, and I am glad to say I really enjoyed it.

 

Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay

I love Hilary McKay's books, but the first time I read this book (which was one of the first of hers that I read) I thought it was enjoyable, but nothing special (I rated it three stars). However, on rereading it recently I enjoyed it so much more. I hope to reread some of the other books in the series soon!

 

The Small Woman by Alan Burgess

This was another book I expected to enjoy, but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Although it's non-fiction, it's also a gripping narrative.