three holiday stories, truman capote

a christmas memory, one christmas, and the thanksgiving visitor
honestly, the man is a genius

addendum: because i can't not respond to the only visitor to this page :)
i thought it was wonderful because he has such a gentle vivid descriptive touch, he truly can paint word pictures and not just pictures, sound and texture portraits and tastes and smells as well. i loved the somewhat arch premise of telling the world from a seven year old's memories, and -- the climax of one story -- i felt the betrayal and heartbreak when miss sook lied to save odd hendersen from buddy's childish cruel breathless act of vengeance. so many words, for me, to try and say what that moment was in the story. they were three beautifully drawn little vignettes, maybe not genius, but wonderful to me. and to me these stories breathe snow and sweet cleanness. this is not trying to be vague or cute, this is truly the feeling i get reading it. i loved the time i spent in buddy's company; for me that's enough?

discipline

just in passing -- i've bought books that look good, and i do mean to read them, but why don't i? because they're mine, she says wisely. books from the library go in three weeks, books belonging to friends have to go back to them, but books on my shelf will stay there, quietly dreaming till i choose to reanimate them. and that's really the order in which i tend to read books. what we should do is say to su-lin, right dear, you give the nice library their books, and just have a look at your own, right? right?

cold comfort farm, stella gibbons

* had meant to read it years ago, but it took minzhi shoving it into my hands at sengkang to get me started :)
wittily written, wryly observed, kind of like a very feminine waugh, and feminine because of its unlikely multiple happy endings. and who could resist its premise! as minzhi puts it, i'm all for intelligent young women who don't want to go out to work!

the little white pony, elizabeth goudge

* finding revival, because the jk rowling spoke of liking it as a child!
i liked it for itself! though might not have picked it up but for the recommendation, though not for its provenance. enough wonder and mystery to suggest magic without resorting to it, a fun heroine, funny characters. and lots of food!

the transfigured hart, jane yolen

about difference, about being yourself, about acceptance or finding your place. a gentle, magical tale. and a unicorn in it.

the time of the angels, iris murdoch

very cold, very inexorable, and ultimately without redemption. a solution offered, when there was only a nebulous sense of mystery, and horror at its heart.

ms mcginty's dead, agatha christie

murder is easy, agatha christie

N or M? agatha christie

the nice and the good, iris murdoch

nother murdoch trophy
as with her others, a languid unhurried movement to a beautifully plotted end. although her people are not created to be sympathetic they are created to seem real, no matter how improbable they are. which is as it should be.

the eighteenth emergency, betsy byars

at points wonderfully funny! tightly plotted but conclusion rather flat.

shadow without a name, ignacio padilla

an accidental book!
strangely compelling. very artful storytelling, or more artful than i'm used to, which is not at all a bad thing. a story pieced together only in your mind, as the narrative successively distances and yet reveals a plot that i can only describe as overarching.
still don't really want to read writers in translation. there is a touching formal lyricity to the prose, but i seem to have lost my accustomed sense of intimacy.

the mystery of banshee towers, enid blyton

* finally completed the five find outers, satisfyingly and very late in life!
how easy these mysteries are to solve, now!
also want, but not very actively, to hunt out books from other serieses i've left incomplete!

david and jonathon, cynthia voigt

relentlessly dark, ultimately redemptive
reading voigt really makes me happy, a quiet under the surface happiness that should be treasured

cleary's teen books

have also recently encountered the lot -- lots of clearys in queenstown etc

sister of the bride
the luckiest girl
jean and johnny
cannot remember if i've found fifteen

also the raph s mouse trilogy and a strange one called muggie maggie, about learning to write cursive. coming of age takes many guises.

dawn of fear, susan cooper

more coming of age
coming to terms with self, with world
war in background, used to set this off
cleverly and carefully written

ramonas and henry hugginses, beverly cleary

recently sought out and reread the lot. she has some stremely choice turns of phrase! happy making.

seaward, susan cooper

fascinating premise, loving characterisation, melding of fable into a coming of age story

back home, michelle magorian

sometimes brutal portrait of another aspect of post-war -- evacuated children and their relationship with an unfamiliar home, family, customs
my objection to magorian, whom i first encountered in goodnight mr tom, is the stiltedness and forced syntax of her writing. have overcome this sufficiently, however, to have read a few while in leeds, because she does have compelling characters and plots

murdochs

started with the message to the planet
so far

the bell;
the sea, the sea;
the green knight;
flight from the enchanter;
a severed head;
an unofficial rose;
a fairly honourable defeat;
the good apprentice;
the sandcastle

have not disappointed, though i have the tendency not to remember which plot goes with which title. also am prepared to find i have not read some of above list but have read others and forgotten about them. shallowness of brain something i should address. will also attempt to articulate responses to above at later date.

the prime of miss jean brodie, muriel spark

next to nature, art, penelope lively

impressions: the present tense
recording, rather than reporting, events

the dark is rising sequence, susan cooper

sequence of five, wonderfully rounded
enthusiastic recommendations from minzhi, which i pass on
love the careful prose. it occurred to me, while reading this, voigt uses very exact sense words, but susan cooper thinks about flash of description words, and in children's books the weight that is given to writing is very touching