feather_ghyll

My next post will be a full review of a book, but over the past week or so I have spent a lot of money on books (really, a lot. I justified it with birthday money, discounts and REALLY, REALLY wanting the books). They will be read and reviewed in due course.

I've also read Mercy by Caroline B. Cooney is worth reading. For some reason, I wasn't expecting much of the author - I don't think I've read anything by her, but associated her with garish covers... The story of perhaps the most pragmatic girl in her settlement, brings out much of the complexity inherent in a situation in the turn of the eighteenth century in which Indians (gradually differentiated into Mohawks and other tribes), currently allied with the French, attack a whole Puritan English settlement and kidnap most of the residents they don't kill, who are mainly children. Over a long, cold and dangerous winter trek to Canada and new lives, some assimilate, some resist, awaiting ransom. Both writing and story-telling were of a high standard.

The Key to Rose Cottage by Margaret Baker features impetuous Margery, madcap Robin and their cousin Nicola. A series of coincidences mean that they have to keep house without any adults if they mean to have their holiday. I will say that the characters were lively.

Doris of Sunshine Ranch by Helen Dickson was obviously a sequel, but I had forgotten that I owned and had read the earlier book - I only discovered after checking an old list of books I own. One day I hope to have all said books in one place and be able to make an up to date list, or certainly all my Girls Own books. Doris and her family live on a Canadian ranch during the second world war. She's the eldest girl of the house and has to take on a lot of responsibilities when her mother goes away to meet her first grandson. The book is an odd mix of sentimentality (though it does manage not to pair everyone off as the opening chapters seem to suggest will happen), the kind of events you come across in a family on holiday story and exposition about the area. Its sentimentality mainly revolves around Doris being soft on all the young ones, except for brother Pat, whom she kicks on the shins a lot to shut him up when he is tactless, without ever explaining that to him. ( Read more... )