Wednesday Reading Meme
Jan. 24th, 2024 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Sorche Nic Leodhas’s Gaelic Ghosts, a collection of Scottish ghost stories. The preface is as charming as the stories themselves, for Nic Leodhas reminisces about where she learned the stories: this tale of a ghost dog from an uncle, the tale of the Lady’s Loaf-Field from a great aunt… a peek into an oral tradition.
Also D. E. Stevenson’s Amberwell, a family saga that starts in the 1920s and stretches till just after World War II. Amberwell is the name of the family estate, and Stevenson is so good at writing about places in a way that makes you see them; and so good, too, at writing characters who feel like real people, some of them nice and some of them dreadful (the parents in this book! Their motto is “never explain,” which tells you just about everything you need to know about their parenting style), but vivid and lively and a pleasure to spend time with. Reading her books is like going on a visit.
And also Hilary McKay’s Lulu and the Dog from the Sea. One of the delightful things about deciding to read through an author’s entire catalog is that it leads you to wonderful finds, like this series of easy readers about Lulu and her cousin (and best friend) Mellie, who are always getting into scrapes on account of Lulu’s love of animals. I don’t usually read easy readers, but McKay combines a simple writing style with a cracking good story about befriending a stray dog on a seaside holiday. Highly recommended as a present for a child learning to read, especially if the child loves animals.
What I’m Reading Now
This week in Sir Isumbras at the Ford, I’ve reached the end of book two. Anne-Hilarion’s father is off to France, NEVER TO RETURN, or so he and his father-in-law both suspect… Knowing Broster, this may be a blind before she kills the Chevalier de la Vireville, who will probably die dramatically in Raymonde’s arms right after confessing his love.
Also continuing on in E. B. White’s One Man’s Meat. We’re in May 1939 now (these essays were originally written as columns for Harper’s) and the threat of war hangs in the air like a fog, its tendrils winding through the cracks even into White’s chicken coop.
What I Plan to Read Next
The sequel to Amberwell, Summerhills. I shall have to put an interlibrary loan on it, so it will be a bit... but on the other hand the Purdue interlibrary loan office was EXTREMELY on the ball with Mary Stolz's Go and Catch a Flying Fish (about which more anon!), so perhaps it will be here soon!
Sorche Nic Leodhas’s Gaelic Ghosts, a collection of Scottish ghost stories. The preface is as charming as the stories themselves, for Nic Leodhas reminisces about where she learned the stories: this tale of a ghost dog from an uncle, the tale of the Lady’s Loaf-Field from a great aunt… a peek into an oral tradition.
Also D. E. Stevenson’s Amberwell, a family saga that starts in the 1920s and stretches till just after World War II. Amberwell is the name of the family estate, and Stevenson is so good at writing about places in a way that makes you see them; and so good, too, at writing characters who feel like real people, some of them nice and some of them dreadful (the parents in this book! Their motto is “never explain,” which tells you just about everything you need to know about their parenting style), but vivid and lively and a pleasure to spend time with. Reading her books is like going on a visit.
And also Hilary McKay’s Lulu and the Dog from the Sea. One of the delightful things about deciding to read through an author’s entire catalog is that it leads you to wonderful finds, like this series of easy readers about Lulu and her cousin (and best friend) Mellie, who are always getting into scrapes on account of Lulu’s love of animals. I don’t usually read easy readers, but McKay combines a simple writing style with a cracking good story about befriending a stray dog on a seaside holiday. Highly recommended as a present for a child learning to read, especially if the child loves animals.
What I’m Reading Now
This week in Sir Isumbras at the Ford, I’ve reached the end of book two. Anne-Hilarion’s father is off to France, NEVER TO RETURN, or so he and his father-in-law both suspect… Knowing Broster, this may be a blind before she kills the Chevalier de la Vireville, who will probably die dramatically in Raymonde’s arms right after confessing his love.
Also continuing on in E. B. White’s One Man’s Meat. We’re in May 1939 now (these essays were originally written as columns for Harper’s) and the threat of war hangs in the air like a fog, its tendrils winding through the cracks even into White’s chicken coop.
What I Plan to Read Next
The sequel to Amberwell, Summerhills. I shall have to put an interlibrary loan on it, so it will be a bit... but on the other hand the Purdue interlibrary loan office was EXTREMELY on the ball with Mary Stolz's Go and Catch a Flying Fish (about which more anon!), so perhaps it will be here soon!
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Date: 2024-01-24 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-25 12:02 am (UTC)