The only other of the Oz books that I’ve read other than The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which was the only one I knew as a child) is The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) but on revisiting it now after many years, I was surprised to find how, besides being a fun and imaginative adventure…
Guest Post: Book Reviews: The Crimson Brier Bush (1937) by Frances K. Judd and The Whispering Statue (1937) by Carolyn Keene: Two Teen Mysteries #1937Club
Here are my mother's second and third picks for Karen and Simon's #1937Club, two teen mysteries which turned out a lot more dramatic than she expected After reviewing a short story by an unknown author as my first offering for the 1937 club, I decided to look for someone familiar and an assuredly comfortable read.…
Book Review: Jane of Lantern Hill (1937) by L. M. Montgomery #1937Club
On the lines of stories like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, Elizabeth Von Arnim’s The Enchanted April, and Lucy Maud Montgomery’s own, The Blue Castle, where a change of scene and importantly nature bring about a life changing transformation in the characters’ until then dreary and oftentimes even miserable lives, is Jane of Lantern…
Book Review: Blue Sky Morning by Kim Jihyun and translated by Polly Lawson
I received a review copy of this book from Floris Books via Edelweiss for which my thanks. I was absolutely captivated by Kim Jihyun’s The Depth of the Lake and the Height of Sky a couple of years ago, a book which without a line of text, gets readers to experience the story or more…
Book Review: Ellie May & Her Toy Dragon, Ben (2023) by Genna Rowbotham and illustrated by Shamima Afroz Alis
I received a review copy of this picture book from the author, Genna Rowbotham for which my thanks. Ellie May and Her Toy Dragon (2023) is a colourful and sweet story told (like another of Genna Rowbotham’s books I previous reviewed) in verse. This is the tale of a little girl Ellie May, who can’t…
Book Review: Howl’s Moving Castle (1986) by Diana Wynne Jones #MarchMagics2024
For #MarchMagics2024, I finally picked up my very first Diana Wynne Jones and what an absolute delight it was from start to finish—so much so that I didn’t want to put it down once I started. It luckily being a weekend when I read it, I could do just that! While using a fairy-tale structure…
Book Review: Silver on the Tree (1977) by Susan Cooper #Dewithon24 #TDiRS22
Maybe because the Dark can only reach people at extremes—blinded by their own shining ideas, or locked up in the darkness of their own heads. Set amidst the Welsh landscape and weaving in Welsh and Arthurian legends, Silver on the Tree (1977) brings to a satisfying conclusion Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence where…
Book Review: Secrets of the Snakestone (2024) by Piu DasGupta
I received a review copy of this book from Nosy Crow via NetGalley for which my thanks. A cursed gemstone, a dark secret society, a colourful circus and a sweet sloth, all amidst nineteenth century Paris where a young Indian girl must find her missing father and solve the mystery of why she was so…
Book Review: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by L. Frank Baum #Ozathon24
Thanks to the #Ozathon24 hosted by Lory at Entering the Enchanted Castle, it was after years that I cracked open the covers of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), a book I enjoyed as a child (and have read several times) and the only Oz book I knew back then. Reading it I realised how…
🎄🎄Book Review: Christmas with the Savages (1955) by Mary Clive🎄🎄(and a new favourite word)
The second set of Savages back-to-back, though not linked with the first at all, except that both books have children in them with this one focusing on them more than on the adults. But before I say anything about the book itself, I just have to say that my new favourite word (noun/adjective, whichever one…
Literary Potpourri 