feather_ghyll

I feel I should write about callmemadam's passing, because, using Livejournal's term, I did think of her as a friend, having interacted with her for many years, first there, more recently here, and in losing her I am sad. There are other emotions, mixed ones, based on what I have learned about her passing. I'm also aware that our interaction was all digital. There will be no more posts, no more replies. I have met 'friends from the internet' (in other guises) back when I told my mother and she blanched, but that might well have been twenty years ago. Things, most of all our understanding of relationships over the internet, have moved on. I have lost a friend. But I am aware that I only knew part of her as she did of me or anyone who read this will, which is always the case in any relationship, only perhaps more pointed when we have control over what we share online, what we type, what we delete before pressing 'post'.

Anyway, in tribute, I was so delighted to find someone who loved Girls Own books and who shared her knowledge and opinions about them, but so much more. I will remember her beautiful pictures of her garden, and her trenchant reviews in particular.

Happy new year! Here's my 2022 in books, tennis and some other things.

( Read more... )

( Read more... )

A housekeeping note: I shall only be posting here, not crossposting to Livejournal, I know I haven’t posted much recently, although I generally don’t at the start of a year.

Malory Towers, a Wise Children production (2019)

Starring: Izuka Hoyle (Darrell Rivers), Rose Shalloo (Mary Lou Askinson), Renee Lamb (Alicia Johns), Rebecca Collingwood (Gwendoline Lacey), Francesca Mills (Sally Hope), Vinnie Heaven (Bill Robinson) and, in this performance, Stephanie Hockley (Irene Dupont)
Adapted and directed by: Emma Rice.


This musical adaptation is to be found these summer holidays in ( Read more... )

I managed only four and a half rereads during the month of February, and I still haven’t completed the fractional! I intended to read more, but there you go. I needed something to drive me to reach for the ‘to reread’ pile, and this ventured did that. I reread and reconsidered a couple of books.

I also treated myself by rereading ‘The Blue Castle’ by L.M. Montgomery, which I love, although that didn’t blind me to some weaknesses. ( Read more... )

So, I don’t think Rereading February was a worthless exercise, and if I don’t reread more books, I’ll probably set aside another month like that in future. It was weird, though, to continue buying new books – as if I’d walk past a charity shop or second-hand bookshop and not browse! – whilst having to admit to myself that I wouldn’t be reading the book I’d purchased forthwith. It’s rare that I do, but normally there’s the possibility I might, so there was that change in perspective.

Here are a couple of links:

From Silver Petticoat Review Why you should read Mary Stewart.

This feature delves into the appeal of Stewart’s romantic suspense books from the perspective of someone who'd just found them. I started reading them as a teenager and return to them as comfort reads, so I have no objectivity, but the points made here resonated.

Wales Online* started the year an article on charity shops and the bizarre and valuable objects that have come in to be sold, and why there are far fewer bargains to be found, although there’s still always the possibility of one. I’ve been going to charity shops since I had pocket money, chiefly for the books – I have to be in the mood to look for clothes, but I have certainly brought many an item over the years. My gravy boat came from a charity shop.

And a couple of days ago, Andy Murray announced he will soon be forced to retire from tennis early due to his hip. Much has been said on the subject of his wonderful career, and I've always supported him since seeing him as a scrawny, talented teenager matching and besting good players. While I've never been a fan of the swearing, like most Welsh and Scottish people, I understood where his 'supporting whoever's playing England' comes from. We saw him work and mature and succeed. While he wasn't quite able to push the big three consistently, and what an era to play in, his achievements: the three grand slams, the Davis Cup, many tournaments and two back-to back Olympic golds are great. Dunblane must be very proud.

As for the Australian Open, I feel the women's side is more open than the men's. Will this be the year Zverev makes his breakthrough in the slams, or is it still too early?

^It's not a great website pop-up wise.

Prep: Curtis Sittenfeld. Black Swan, 2010.

I can’t pinpoint why I didn’t read this sooner. I’ve read ‘An American Wife’ and ‘Sisterland’ by Sittenfeld and was aware of this novel. Literature about American boarding schools has always fascinated me, mainly as a subset of the girls own genre because of the different context. You’d have thought I’d rush to read a novel in this setting by an author I admired, but I’ve seen more than one copy in a charity shop and passed it.

Well, a time came when I picked a copy up. ( Read more... )

I’ve been on holiday abroad – my next review will tell you where. I found bookshops everywhere I went (well, in one place, I had the help of a guidebook). Second-hand bookshops smell like second-hand bookshops – a comforting smell – even if their English-language sections are small (and overpriced). There will, hopefully, be reviews of some of the books I read when not sight-seeing or when I was resting my weary feet.

I had access to Eurosport, which meant I saw bits of the US Open, ( Read more... )

Gratis, a lesson you'd think I would have learned: when buying a second-hand book, it is worth checking the last page, not to scan the content - I'm no advocate of that! - but to make sure that it's there. The last page of a story has to be the most irritating missing page. This lesson did not come about as a result of the book I'm about to review.

The Girls of Chequertrees: Marion St John Webb Harrap October 1925

This is a reread because I accidentally purchased a second copy of this book, having forgotten I already owned one, and I’d forgotten the story too. ( Read more... )