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The Smiths of Silver Lane: Ethel Talbot Nelson (my copy is inscribed 1933)

As the title suggests, this is a family story. We gradually get introduced to the Smiths: ( Read more... )

Rangers and Strangers and Other Stories: Ethel Talbot Nelson

I didn't realise until opening this book to read it that it was a collection of short stories, rather than one book-length story. The title of the collection comes from the first and longest story, and is, in a way misleading, because ( Read more... )

I thought I'd mentioned beginning this, but I had it mixed up with the last annual I read, The Big Book of School Stories for Girls. The British Girl's Annual was 'compiled by the editor of Little Folks' and published by Cassell and Company Ltd in 1918.

I've been reading no more than a story a day, and actually less frequently than that, so I'm edging two thirds of the way through. I've just finished my second Violet Methley story, 'Her Wits' End', which is less noteworthy than the first of Methley's stories in the annual, 'A Daughter of the Legion'. ( Read more... )

Happy New Year! I've been away reading for a fortnight, among other things, one of Jane Shaw's Susan stories; 'Red Caps at School' by Ethel Talbot, a really slight story, but not as annoying as I found some of her books over the past year; 'Sadie Comes to School' by May Wynne, a busy story with a new American girl, spies, near fatal accidents and an undercooked Christian moral; the much older 'Captain Polly' which was more of a Seven Little Australians/What Katy Did family story. I also read 'Nancy Drew and Company', a collection of academic essays about North American girls' series books, which I gleefully covered with exclamatory glosses, even though I wasn't familiar with about two thirds of the series that were discussed.

I've just finished 'Winter Holiday' by Arthur Ransome, which was a perfectly seasonal book to read at the end of the Christmas holiday, although of course, a Ransome is a good read it any time.

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After a lousy 24 hours, I finally caved and spent nearly £9 on a Swallows and Amazons mug from Borders that I've been eyeing for months. My other excuse is that there was a broken mug incident over the holidays. It features illustrations from the books on a green background and the quote about how the books almost wrote themselves. I have yet to use it.

Coming soon (maybe): a review of the TV adaptation of Ballet Shoes and Finding Minerva, which I read over the holidays.

I had other content for tonight, I'll get to it in a moment, but what a refreshing change to come home to see a match being played in sunshine with every hope of it running its course. The fact that it was Henin v S WIlliams - everyone's tip for the match of the quarters - was a bonus. I came in at the start of the second set, and the points were really intense. Like the crowd, I wanted Henin to win, and believed she would, even though she didn't contain Serena as well as she had in the French. But at the beginning of the third,, she just decided to up a gear, and there wasn't much Serena could do about it. Even when things got tight, there was certainly enough of a cushion. Henin is the player to beat, her quality has shone through so far this tournament.

Um, sorry for the 'shone'. Doubles next - poor mixeds, still on the first round. Murray is indeed becoming a star of the Championship. More involving was the next doubles match they showed, Mike Bryan (played by Bob Bryan) and Lisa Raymond (played by Maura Tierney) versus Melanie South (played by a heftier Thora Birch) and Alex Bogdanovic (played by a hedgehog) all played some entertaining tennis from what I was. And the Brits won! They beat the number 1 seeds who had plenty of titles between them. Just as I was wondering why Melanies 'Shotmaker' South wasn't higher up in the rankings, the commentators kindly explained she wasn't the best mover, but that that was protected more in doubles. Well, why doesn't she concentrate on doubles then? Her serving was very solid, her volleying and hand and eye co-ordination class and she stayed with Bryan. Erm. Yeah. Hopefully there will be just as much tennis tomorrow, because it was starting to feel like a tennis debating tournament.

Word of the day: (Justine Henin's as shared by Tracey 'not biased in the American player's favour at all' Austin) aggressivity.

Sally at School: Ethel Talbot, Nelson

This is a mid-read review!

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