📘 Reading matters…..

I written very little about what I’ve read recently so here’s a look at some from the past few weeks – or couple of months if you’re really pedantic🙂

June arrived with its seasonal changes… Winter with its short days was a coming in so I decided on a couple of shortish reads to begin with…..

Great Granny Webster – Caroline Blackwood 1977
* I’ve no idea where I heard about it but this little book was a fun read about a larger than life character – available on Libby

Jumping the Queue – Mary Wesley 1983
Matilda Poliport, recently widowed, has decided to End It All.
But her meticulously planned bid for graceful oblivion is foiled, and when later she foils the suicide attempt of another lost soul – Hugh Warner, on the run from the police – life begins again for both
* An interesting read that flowed along from one ‘scene’ to another with no wondering why did that happen.
It’s one of those books you can’t put down and are a little disappointed when it ends but realise it really was the right length after all. With an ending I hadn’t anticipated at all.
Mine was a library copy but it’s available on Internet Archive.
If you’re interested there’s also a 1989 film version (Sheila Hancock as Matilda) HERE

*****
Then it was on to thinking about what was coming up in the months ahead with two very aptly named seasonal reads

A Winter Away – Elizabeth Fair 1957
Republished by Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press 2017. Hoopla

This was one of those very English books from the mid ‘50s about life in a country village – Maude who is staying with her cousin Alice (and her ?companion) has become secretary to Alice’s landlord – a very eccentric ‘lord of the manor. It was an easy gentle read, full of fun and misunderstandings, which filled the task of a seasonal read. I enjoyed it.

(Discovered while looking for something else)
Winter Holiday – Arthur Ransome 1933
Swallows and Amazons #4 – free download (faded page.com)

Two new children meet the Swallows and Amazon children and with a little bit of longing as well as trepidation take part in adventures they never dreamed about. Sharing skills, boosting self confidence, accepting differences – no sailing on water involved but because it’s set in winter (one harsh enough to freeze the local lake) there’s lots of sledging as well as ice skating also a planned expedition to an imaginary nearby North Pole.

****

Which then brings us up to the end of that month- time to make our way north to the winter sunshine in a Queensland coastal town

Winter Solstice
Rosamunde Pilcher 2000
* A longish but quite interesting read by an author I’ve struggled with previously. This time I enjoyed most of the wordy descriptive chapters dealing with Elfrida’s family & friends plus all the emotions, decisions and more that cropped up.

The Dead of Winter
Stuart Macbride 2023
* A novel by a brand new to me author shelf picked for its title……
Detective Constable Edward Reekie (plus his new boss DI Montgomery-Porter) set off on a cold snowy journey to deliver a dying prisoner to a small village in Scotland ……where they become snowed in along with the rest of the ‘ankle tagged’ community of ex convicts…….

Definitely a ‘couldn’t put it down, wonder what on earth is going to happen next, page turner’. A humourous crime novel is certainly a first for me so I’m on the lookout for more of Stuart Macbride.

Two down- two to go…..one more month of winter
so both of these below have been renewed ready to see the season out

The Winter Garden
Nicola Cornick 2022
The Winter Palace
Paul Morgan 2024

****

AND in case you didn’t know…..the yearly JANE AUSTEN JULY event is in full swing again. She was born 250yrs ago this December and (by coincidence) died exactly 208yrs ago today – 18 July 1817.
As usual it involves various reading watching discussing challenges…..my book club decided we’d go easy this year and each do our own thing and then chat (me included) afterwards…….FaceTime is a wonderful thing!

So with school holidays bringing children to the van park last week I was able to share this little book about Jane Austen with a young girl staying next door.

Jane Austen – Vegara/Wilson 2018

Part of this series – https://littlepeoplebigdreams.com

She chatted away about loving to read and wanting to write – and was really interested in the ‘simple story’ about Jane’s life. Her mum wouldn’t allow photos so I took (and forwarded to the mother) this collage showing Jane ‘reading and writing’ ……there’s the note book I gifted her (for her little stories) plus the sand dollar she gave me ‘for being her friend’

My little neighbour was definitely a little person with big dreams – hopefully her dreams come true

*****

Years ago I watched reruns of the tv series Sanditon (Season 1) on iView – love a period drama – knowing it was based on the unfinished book Jane began writing in 1817

This year I thought I’d refresh my memory of the storyline by chasing up and finding the actual words to read – a big hooray for Project Gutenberg!
A free download of the manuscript can be found HERE.
Like Dickens, the language of Austen is a language of its own and the download actually has ‘clickable’ notes/explanations off to one side of words and phrases used/ added/substituted.

Something else I did find online was this free audiobook – for some readers listening to the words could be more helpful than trying to understand the language used in the written word.

About Jane Austen…..

July in Jane Austen’s World…..
******

What’s on your bookshelf

Bookworms Monthly