50-Book Challenge 2009: Books 11-20
Books 1-10.
11. Five Children and It, E Nesbit - this was mysteriously missing from my shelves, so it got added to my Christmas wishlist and reread accordingly. Still wonderful even after 100 years; few people have ever written children as convincingly as Edith Nesbit (notably, btw, her children are seldom orphans, although the parents tend to be conveniently absent for whatever reason), who also throws in a little social of her own social conscience for the adults: "If grown-ups got hold of me," says the Psammead, "… they'd ask for a graduated income-tax, and old-age pensions, and manhood suffrage, and free secondary education and dull things like that, and get them and keep them, and the whole world would be turned topsy-turvy."
12. Saints of Augustine, P E Ryan - well-meaning but ultimately dull small-town America coming-of-age story involving two former best friends, one of whom happens to be gay and both of whom have their problems. As, indeed, who doesn't? Lazy characterisation: the gay boy just happens to have a female best friend who was born to be a stereotypical fag hag (can you still say that? Whatever the current term is, if not), and both characters' boyfriend and girlfriend respectively are too perfect, mature and understanding to ring remotely true to life.
13. Prince Caspian, C S Lewis - people are so generally down on poor old Lewis these days that it's hard to remember sometimes that he wrote a jolly good story and that's why these books are still in print. I reread this after we'd watched the film and was amused to be reminded that the Telmarines were not, originally, swarthy and heavily-accented (= Hollywood-bad), but English and rather common … which would, I daresay, also be bad. Worth noting: Telmarine revisionist history ("duller than the truest bit of history you ever read, and more untrue than the most exciting adventure story"), Nikabrik's foolish contention that the enemy of one's enemy is one's friend - not such a good idea when you're talking about the White Witch - and, of course, the almost-Bacchanal, where you can almost hear Lewis pulling up in his head: "Whoa, wait a moment - children's book, children's book …"
14. The Diamond of Drury Lane, Julia Golding - the rip-roaring adventures of a plucky orphan girl living under Richard Sheridan's wing in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the late 1890s. Much-hyped by children's book critics but, really, nothing special. I suppose if I had 12-year-olds I would rather they read this than a lot of other things, but I don't feel robbed that it wasn't part of my childhood.
15. The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette, R T Raichev - I don't think words can adequately convey how much I disliked this book. The plot is so-so, but the writing's so stilted that I had to check the copyright page to see if it had been translated from another language. It hadn't, so there is no excuse. It also suffered from major perspective problems: 99% of it was from the main protagonist's point of view, but every so often it shifted disconcertingly and threw the thing out of balance - more so than it was to begin with, that is. And, annoyingly from a plot point of view, the story really only starts to get going after the book ends. One thing it does have going for it, and that's that the protagonist and her admirer are adults - old enough to have grandchildren. I was also rather envious of the lead character's job as the librarian in a London gentleman's club, a job which, if it existed, would have suited me down to the ground. Oh, well.
16. After the Armistice Ball, Catriona McPherson - this, on the other hand, I enjoyed very much: the writing flows, it's well-plotted, and the main character is both likeable and believable. I particularly appreciate her matter-of-fact view of marriage: she has her part of the house, her husband has his, and they occasionally meet for meals. I look forward to reading the sequels. (In fact, I would have bought the next one in the series, but it was on my Amazon wishlist, mysteriously vanished into the 'purchased' section sometime around my birthday, but never materialised - so I guess I'll have to wait till Christmas …)
17. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison - lightweight and funny, although I am sure the world will be glad to know that it did not, as the blurb promises, make me laugh my knickers off.
18. Mariana, Susanna Kearsley - rather oddly, this is a 2009 reprint of a 1994 book. 'Oddly' because, as any fule in the bookselling world kno, there are an awful lot of books out there, and very few of them stay in print for more than a few months, never mind get a second print run. Why this merited a reprint is hard to tell. Not that it's bad; I enjoyed it - it's the standard young woman/old house/Mysteries of the Past plot (qv: everything Barbara Michaels ever wrote), which happens to be a plot I like, so I'm not complaining. In this case the twist in the tale is that the heroine and a number of people around her are reincarnations of the star-crossed lovers of Civil War days. Predictable, but a cosy read.
19. Roots of Evil, Sarah Rayne - someone, somewhere recced Sarah Rayne, so I bunged a bunch of her titles on the aforementioned Amazon wishlist and three of them turned up on my birthday. Yay! This, by contrast to the previous title, was decidedly un-cosy, involving as it did numerous people being murdered by being stabbed through the eyes, a mass rape and, oh, yes, the Holocaust. I would never have bought it if I'd known any of that, and had to squint in a few places to make the print blurry so I could get through the nastier bits, but I enjoyed (most of) it very much in spite of that. It's an involving and fascinating psychological thriller with, again, elements of Dark Secrets of the Past. Not by any means a masterpiece, but a real page-turner.
20. Spider Light, Sarah Rayne - another psychological thriller from the same author. More Dark Secrets of the Past, although this time the implausible coincidences - and the sheer number of murders, to say nothing of the sheer number of murderers! - rather threaten to overbalance the story. But, again, hard to put down, and responsible for a couple of very late nights. I'll be picking up the rest of this author's books when I can.
11. Five Children and It, E Nesbit - this was mysteriously missing from my shelves, so it got added to my Christmas wishlist and reread accordingly. Still wonderful even after 100 years; few people have ever written children as convincingly as Edith Nesbit (notably, btw, her children are seldom orphans, although the parents tend to be conveniently absent for whatever reason), who also throws in a little social of her own social conscience for the adults: "If grown-ups got hold of me," says the Psammead, "… they'd ask for a graduated income-tax, and old-age pensions, and manhood suffrage, and free secondary education and dull things like that, and get them and keep them, and the whole world would be turned topsy-turvy."
12. Saints of Augustine, P E Ryan - well-meaning but ultimately dull small-town America coming-of-age story involving two former best friends, one of whom happens to be gay and both of whom have their problems. As, indeed, who doesn't? Lazy characterisation: the gay boy just happens to have a female best friend who was born to be a stereotypical fag hag (can you still say that? Whatever the current term is, if not), and both characters' boyfriend and girlfriend respectively are too perfect, mature and understanding to ring remotely true to life.
13. Prince Caspian, C S Lewis - people are so generally down on poor old Lewis these days that it's hard to remember sometimes that he wrote a jolly good story and that's why these books are still in print. I reread this after we'd watched the film and was amused to be reminded that the Telmarines were not, originally, swarthy and heavily-accented (= Hollywood-bad), but English and rather common … which would, I daresay, also be bad. Worth noting: Telmarine revisionist history ("duller than the truest bit of history you ever read, and more untrue than the most exciting adventure story"), Nikabrik's foolish contention that the enemy of one's enemy is one's friend - not such a good idea when you're talking about the White Witch - and, of course, the almost-Bacchanal, where you can almost hear Lewis pulling up in his head: "Whoa, wait a moment - children's book, children's book …"
14. The Diamond of Drury Lane, Julia Golding - the rip-roaring adventures of a plucky orphan girl living under Richard Sheridan's wing in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the late 1890s. Much-hyped by children's book critics but, really, nothing special. I suppose if I had 12-year-olds I would rather they read this than a lot of other things, but I don't feel robbed that it wasn't part of my childhood.
15. The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette, R T Raichev - I don't think words can adequately convey how much I disliked this book. The plot is so-so, but the writing's so stilted that I had to check the copyright page to see if it had been translated from another language. It hadn't, so there is no excuse. It also suffered from major perspective problems: 99% of it was from the main protagonist's point of view, but every so often it shifted disconcertingly and threw the thing out of balance - more so than it was to begin with, that is. And, annoyingly from a plot point of view, the story really only starts to get going after the book ends. One thing it does have going for it, and that's that the protagonist and her admirer are adults - old enough to have grandchildren. I was also rather envious of the lead character's job as the librarian in a London gentleman's club, a job which, if it existed, would have suited me down to the ground. Oh, well.
16. After the Armistice Ball, Catriona McPherson - this, on the other hand, I enjoyed very much: the writing flows, it's well-plotted, and the main character is both likeable and believable. I particularly appreciate her matter-of-fact view of marriage: she has her part of the house, her husband has his, and they occasionally meet for meals. I look forward to reading the sequels. (In fact, I would have bought the next one in the series, but it was on my Amazon wishlist, mysteriously vanished into the 'purchased' section sometime around my birthday, but never materialised - so I guess I'll have to wait till Christmas …)
17. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison - lightweight and funny, although I am sure the world will be glad to know that it did not, as the blurb promises, make me laugh my knickers off.
18. Mariana, Susanna Kearsley - rather oddly, this is a 2009 reprint of a 1994 book. 'Oddly' because, as any fule in the bookselling world kno, there are an awful lot of books out there, and very few of them stay in print for more than a few months, never mind get a second print run. Why this merited a reprint is hard to tell. Not that it's bad; I enjoyed it - it's the standard young woman/old house/Mysteries of the Past plot (qv: everything Barbara Michaels ever wrote), which happens to be a plot I like, so I'm not complaining. In this case the twist in the tale is that the heroine and a number of people around her are reincarnations of the star-crossed lovers of Civil War days. Predictable, but a cosy read.
19. Roots of Evil, Sarah Rayne - someone, somewhere recced Sarah Rayne, so I bunged a bunch of her titles on the aforementioned Amazon wishlist and three of them turned up on my birthday. Yay! This, by contrast to the previous title, was decidedly un-cosy, involving as it did numerous people being murdered by being stabbed through the eyes, a mass rape and, oh, yes, the Holocaust. I would never have bought it if I'd known any of that, and had to squint in a few places to make the print blurry so I could get through the nastier bits, but I enjoyed (most of) it very much in spite of that. It's an involving and fascinating psychological thriller with, again, elements of Dark Secrets of the Past. Not by any means a masterpiece, but a real page-turner.
20. Spider Light, Sarah Rayne - another psychological thriller from the same author. More Dark Secrets of the Past, although this time the implausible coincidences - and the sheer number of murders, to say nothing of the sheer number of murderers! - rather threaten to overbalance the story. But, again, hard to put down, and responsible for a couple of very late nights. I'll be picking up the rest of this author's books when I can.