books

percy jackson - the battle of the labyrinth, rick riordan

2008-06-18T01:34:00.007+08:00

comfort me with apples, ruth reichl

2008-06-18T01:34:00.005+08:00

tender at the bone, ruth reichl

2008-06-18T01:34:00.004+08:00

the linden tree, ellie matthews

2008-06-18T01:34:00.003+08:00

the willoughbys, lois lowry

2008-06-18T01:34:00.002+08:00

toby alone, timothée de fombelle

2008-06-18T01:34:00.001+08:00

jack plank tells tales, natalie babbitt

2008-06-18T01:34:00.000+08:00

i capture the castle, dodie smith

2008-04-20T18:12:00.000+08:00

the listmaker, robin klein

2008-04-20T18:10:00.000+08:00

exceedingly mediocre

'b' is for betsy, carolyn haywood

2008-04-20T17:54:00.001+08:00

because i'm honest. also because the pictures were really adorable. i'm a bit of a sucker for line drawings

porcupine, meg tilly

2008-04-12T10:12:00.003+08:00

(i verily believe she was in the colin firth valmont, in the michelle pfeiffer role. madame du something, tour something ... )
like a very very pale imitation of cynthia voigt's homecoming

little plum, rumer godden

2008-04-12T10:11:00.002+08:00

sequel to miss happiness and miss flower

remembrance of things paris - sixty years of writing from gourmet

2008-04-12T10:10:00.000+08:00

set in stone, linda newbery

2008-04-12T10:09:00.004+08:00

all faux victorian gothic, and then selling out

the shell house, linda newbery

2008-04-12T10:09:00.001+08:00

it tries.

powers, ursula le guin

2008-03-23T22:56:00.001+08:00

the last of the annals of the western shore. also rereading gifts and voices.

a game of dark, william mayne

2008-03-23T22:55:00.000+08:00

of pageants and picnics, elizabeth david

2008-03-23T22:54:00.000+08:00

runemarks, joanna harris

2008-03-23T22:53:00.000+08:00

the mysterious benedict society, trenton lee stewart

2008-03-23T22:51:00.001+08:00

it looked like it was going to be okay, but it really wasn't

arthur, for the very first time, patricia maclachlan

2008-03-03T21:35:00.000+08:00

the facts and fictions of minna pratt, patricia maclachlan

2008-03-02T22:22:00.001+08:00

the artful eater, edward behr

2008-03-02T20:40:00.001+08:00

percy jackson and the curse of the titans, rick riordan

2008-03-02T20:39:00.000+08:00

at large and at small, anne fadiman

2008-03-01T16:37:00.001+08:00

the child that books built, francis spufford

2008-03-01T16:35:00.000+08:00

animal, vegetable, miracle; barbara kingsolver

2008-03-01T16:34:00.001+08:00

percy jackson and the sea of monsters, rick riordan

2008-02-17T20:41:00.000+08:00

percy jackson and the lightning thief, rick riordan

2008-02-17T20:40:00.000+08:00

bridge to terabithia, katherine paterson

2008-02-16T19:07:00.001+08:00

the julie / julia project, julie powell

2008-02-16T19:06:00.001+08:00

a glorious orgy of self-indulgence

2008-02-16T18:58:00.008+08:00

here are some lists i made in the dry spell

louis sachar, holes (good, and others less so by the same)
penelope lively, the house in norham gardens (an excellently achieved atmosphere)
david lebovitz, the great book of chocolate: the chocolate love
celia rees, the bailey game
cynthia voigt, angus and sadie

also --
the exiles
dolphin luck
peter duck
saffy's angel
bad girls
the other wind
the second mrs gioconda
missee lee

and here something i tried to write.

of course it's been because i was ashamed; ashamed of not having updated in so long, as well as ashamed of the books i've been reading -- there really is not much use in recording a mckay or voigt or read for the seventeenth time, or lots of ruth rendells for the first time, which is my new vice and a vice i blame on douglas adams. nor did i like the admission, and later realisation, that all i had read for so many months was books for children, no matter how comforting or even how beautiful. what i do miss, however, is a record of writers discovered and to be explored, and a record of what i have loved.

2008-02-16T18:49:00.003+08:00

it is with some shame that i see it has been two years since last i updated this page; i truly did not realise. more than that; i was half planning to come back when i had read something worth writing about, something that would be a cool reemerging, but of course--nothing is that cool. so it has been two years, planning bits of sentences in my head, reading nothing exciting or new, reading for comfort and constancy and, as f spufford says, because i have the habit to support. maybe i'm not back, as it were; i'd like very much to be, though.

remains of the day, kazuo ishiguro

2006-02-13T21:18:00.000+08:00

happy ever after, adele geras

2006-02-13T21:14:00.000+08:00

i first came to adele geras through her beautifully, sensitively written stories of jewish life in israel, and was charmed to find she wrote other sorts of fiction too. this isn't as good as i remember her, but is still a passable, sometimes strained, frequently touching rendering of fairytale: rapunzel, sleeping beauty and snow white.

the tower room
watching the roses
pictures of the night

zuckerman bound, philip roth

2006-02-13T21:12:00.000+08:00

the ghost writer
zuckerman unbound
the anatomy lesson

to read: the prague orgy

also

2006-02-13T21:06:00.000+08:00

sayerses: the documents in the case; five red herrings
pratchett: mort
christie: the mystery of the blue train
susan cooper: king of shadows; the dark is rising sequence
arthur ransome: great northern; swallowdale; the picts and the martyrs
konigsburg: silent to the bone
frances hodgson burnett: a little princess (don't you love this book)
sylvia waugh: the mennyms sequence
louisa may alcott: an old fashioned girl
hilary mckay: dog friday; the amber cat
nina bawden: the outside child; the real plato jones

girls in the city, jeanne betancourt

2006-02-13T21:02:00.000+08:00

a series of teen books. barely readable, but entertaining

the golden hour, maiya williams

2006-02-13T21:01:00.001+08:00

not good at all

national velvet, enid bagnold

2006-02-13T21:01:00.000+08:00

one of the classic horse stories

sirens and spies, janet taylor lisle

2006-02-13T21:00:00.000+08:00

despite its unprepossessing title, tenderly and achingly written.

the girls of slender means, muriel spark

2006-02-13T20:59:00.002+08:00

mio, my son; astrid lindgren

2006-02-13T20:59:00.001+08:00

the heart is big enough, five stories by michael j. rosen

2006-02-13T20:59:00.000+08:00

the octave of angels, margaret mcallister

2006-02-13T20:58:00.001+08:00

i picked it up for its evocative title, and the story is nearly as lovely

a friend for rachel, margaret mcallister

2006-02-13T20:58:00.000+08:00

phoenix dance, dia calhoun

2006-02-13T20:56:00.000+08:00

not bad, and with a heartbreaking examination of manic depressiveness. also a retelling of the tale of the twelve dancing princesses.

clean break, jacqueline wilson

2006-02-13T20:52:00.001+08:00

a little better than usual, actually, which was pleasing. the irresponsible irresistible absent father was rather well done.

daisy chain war, joan o'neill

2006-02-13T20:52:00.000+08:00

unremarkable

the penderwicks : a summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy, jeanne birdsall (j)

2006-02-13T20:48:00.001+08:00

delightful at first, and mainly for the subtitle, which was irresistible. at the end, however, neither the boy nor his companions could be said to have been very interesting.

kneeknock rise, natalie babbitt

2006-02-13T20:48:00.000+08:00

paradise end, elizabeth laird

2006-02-13T19:50:00.000+08:00

goldengrove unleaving, jill paton walsh

2005-12-10T02:05:00.000+08:00

afternoon of the elves, janet taylor lisle (j)

2005-12-10T02:02:00.000+08:00

a stitch in time, penelope lively (j)

2005-12-10T02:01:00.001+08:00

the great good thing, roderick townley (j)

2005-12-10T02:01:00.000+08:00

how i became a writer and oggie learned to drive, janet taylor lisle (j)

2005-12-08T11:46:00.000+08:00

crocodile on the sandbank, elizabeth peters

2005-12-08T11:45:00.000+08:00

the voyage of QV66, penelope lively (j)

2005-12-08T11:40:00.000+08:00

the bluest eye, toni morrison

2005-12-08T11:37:00.000+08:00

the bear nobody wanted, alan ahlberg (j)

2005-12-03T15:05:00.001+08:00

the intruder, john rowe townsend (yp)

2005-12-03T15:05:00.000+08:00

the winter of our discontent, john steinbeck

2005-12-03T15:04:00.001+08:00

lily's crossing, patricia reilly giff (j)

2005-12-03T15:04:00.000+08:00

astercote, penelope lively (yp)

2005-12-03T15:00:00.000+08:00

and also

2005-11-26T14:56:00.000+08:00

sayerses: bellona club, clouds of witness, nine tailors, murder must advertise, strong poison, hangman's holiday, gaudy night, busman's honeymoon, striding folly and thrones, dominations, a presumption of death
mckays: the exiles at home, the exiles in love, saffy's angel, the exiles, indigo's star
wynne joneses: dark lord of derkholm, year of the griffin, conrad's fate
voigts: dicey's song, a solitary blue, bad girls, it's not easy being bad, tell me if the lovers are losers
konigsburgs: the outcasts of 19 schuyler place, jennifer, hecate, william mckinley, and me, elizabeth
and: the moon by night (l'engle), the circus is coming (streatfeild), listen to the nightingale (rumer godden)

a house of tailors, patricia reilly giff (yp)

2005-11-26T14:42:00.000+08:00

becoming rosemary, frances m. wood (j)

2005-11-26T14:41:00.001+08:00

jenny and the cat club, esther averill (j)

2005-11-26T14:41:00.000+08:00

the driftway, penelope lively

2005-11-26T14:40:00.002+08:00

seven-day magic, edward eager

2005-11-26T14:40:00.001+08:00

thursday's children, rumer godden

2005-11-26T14:40:00.000+08:00

permanent rose, hilary mckay

2005-11-26T14:39:00.001+08:00

the echo in the chimney, hilary mckay

2005-11-26T14:39:00.000+08:00

pippi longstocking, astrid lindgren

2005-11-26T14:38:00.000+08:00

forever x, geraldine mccaughrean

2005-11-26T14:37:00.000+08:00

stop the train!, geraldine mccaughrean

2005-11-26T14:36:00.000+08:00

knight's castle, edward eager

2005-11-21T15:18:00.000+08:00

thursday's children, rumer godden

2005-11-21T15:17:00.001+08:00

a passage to india, e.m. forster

2005-11-21T15:17:00.000+08:00

2005-11-06T00:22:00.000+08:00

just a note to self, really -- i haven't been to the library, or read anything new, since the last post, which feels like forever. what i have been doing is rereading little house, and the tillerman cycle, and bits of night watch, and also the five find-outers. you have to read, but if working is as hard as that spell of marking, i really get, more, why people don't.

the fantoras, adele geras (j)

2005-10-13T22:23:00.000+08:00

adele geras has written some rather lovely teen, jewish books, but these were awful. for anyone who has encountered the bagthorpes the fantoras are absolute rubbish, though the conceit of the omniscient narrator is occasionally faintly amusing

the fabulous fantora files
the fabulous fantora photographs

a redbird christmas, fannie flagg

2005-10-13T22:21:00.000+08:00

yes, all right, she's my trash. but there's always so much food in her stories! like where else would i, at sixteen, have read about fried green tomatoes? and here there's red velvet cake :(

the scarecrow and his servant, philip pullman (yp)

2005-10-13T22:20:00.000+08:00

philip pullman so seldom disappoints, does he :)

midnight, jacqueline wilson (yp)

2005-10-13T22:16:00.000+08:00

sophie's choice, william styron

2005-10-13T22:13:00.000+08:00

poach gave me this when i asked her for a book she thought i'd like. it was beautiful, though i think less a me book than a rather poach and minzhi book.

the stones are hatching, geraldine mccaughrean (yp)

2005-10-13T22:09:00.000+08:00

somehow an addictive narrative, shaped like a fairy tale, and we know that means a story full of fear, and treachery, and cowardice, and dark magic and undeserved triumph. not bad

thud!, terry pratchett

2005-10-13T00:27:00.000+08:00

a little lower than the angels, geraldine mccaughrean (yp)

2005-09-17T18:43:00.000+08:00

science of discworld iii: darwin's watch, terry pratchett, jack stewart and ian cohen

2005-09-17T18:42:00.000+08:00

find a stranger, say goodbye, lois lowry (yp)

2005-09-12T22:17:00.000+08:00

the orange girl, jostein gaarder (yp)

2005-09-12T22:14:00.000+08:00

the science of discworld ii: the globe, terry pratchett, jack stewart and ian cohen

2005-09-10T14:41:00.000+08:00

the science of discworld, terry pratchett, jack stewart and ian cohen

2005-09-10T14:40:00.000+08:00

the full cupboard of life, alexander mccall smith

2005-09-10T14:39:00.000+08:00

in which mma ramotswe and mr j.l.b. maketoni finally move from engagement to marriage. there's apparently a new one coming too.

the witch of clatteringshaws, joan aiken (j)

2005-09-10T14:38:00.000+08:00

dido twite again!

deep secret, diana wynne jones (yp)

2005-09-10T14:37:00.000+08:00

cool, in the usual way; also nick mallory obviously resurfaces in merlin conspiracy, which is nice

midnight for charlie bone, jenny nimmo

2005-08-28T22:28:00.000+08:00

very blah; not a title i'm proud of putting here either. there's a sequel; we'll see if i bother.

the kalahari typing school for men, alexander mccall smith

2005-08-28T22:27:00.000+08:00

and here the school library collection stops, how silly. precious ramotswe would not approve.

morality for beautiful girls, alexander mccall smith

2005-08-28T22:26:00.000+08:00