thisbluespirit: (reading)
I realised that I never did any [community profile] yuletide recs this year, because I felt too unwell and also I never went back for a proper second go-round. So, I thought I would get on and at least rec the handful I collected, instead of moaning at the internet.

12 recs in The Box of Delights, Cadfael, The Dean's Watch, Georgette Heyer, Jonathan Creek, Matilda, Sapphire & Steel & UK Cities )
thisbluespirit: (Northanger reading)
I'm still not recovered from last week, although probably some part of that was my fault for trying to make use of that family history offer over the weekend, but there we go. I'll get there, I suppose.

In the meantime, here's a post.

What I've just finished reading

I have read the next two in the Kate Shackleton mystery series by Frances Brody. I still don't know quite what to make of them - I'm enjoying them, I can read them and yet... I don't know.

I also went to the library and got some Regencies to try and get me back reading again a little better, which worked until I was undone by the Thing last week. They were slight, but no Carolyns, at any rate. (Two more MC Beatons, but nothing that reached the ridiculous/sinister heights of the Mannerling idea.)

However, then I got Snowdrift, the reissued collection of Georgette Heyer's short story collection, Pistols For Two, with three rediscovered stories in it! I mean, her short stories aren't anything to her novels, but this was the most exciting thing reading-wise that has happened to me since I was ill, I think. They were slight, but it was very lovely to have new Heyer words for the first time in probably twenty years.

And then I randomly found on a charity book stall in my supermarket, a weird little teen book I used to have a fascination with back in the 90s, The Bewitching of Alison Allbright by Alan Davidson. It is still a very odd little book, not quite like anything else I can think of & enjoyable to have a revisit, even if not at anywhere near the same intensity as back then. It's not a fantasy - the 'bewitching' involves no magic, just the glamour of riches hiding some sinister/obsessive intentions.


What I'm Reading Now

Nothing, really; I need to get a bit better again. HMS Surprise needs more brain than I have, and I've a few other things started and abandoned, so mostly, nothing and occasionally re-reading some of the older stories in Snowdrift. (I like my new copy better than the old one, which is nice, because it's not always the case.)

I am still taking (family history-related) notes from London in the 19th Century by Jerry White.


What I'm Reading Next

Something, I hope. My TBR pile is far larger than my actual reading ability, but you've got to have optimism and hope and ambition, right?
thisbluespirit: (Northanger reading)
(My friends came, had a nice time, liked each other, and went. I am now vv tired and also have not yet watched DW, because vv tired so catching up must wait, but in the meantime, one of two posts I made earlier; in this case my final Yuletide recs post. <3)



Somewhat belated, but better late than never, as they say.

19 recs in Discworld, Georgette Heyer, Howl's Moving Castle, Hundred & One Dalmatians, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, King Lear, The Librarians, North & South, Northanger Abbey, Owl Service, Poldark, Timeless & Victoria )
thisbluespirit: (I Capture - writing)
(I still have space for more topics if anyone hasn't left me one yet! The original post is here should you wish to.)

[profile] ramasi requested: Book-to-movie (or tv) adaptations you like? (Or didn't like, if you feel like ranting).

My first thought was that this was a very nice question, the second that this could be a very long post if I'm not careful. So I made myself choose 5 favourites, setting myself a rough guideline for inclusion - something along the lines of "it needs to be something I've watched at least twice and should be where I read the book first". (And then promptly broke that rule with my first choice, as you do.) (The pics in this post, btw, are my screencaps, excepting those for the first two, which I stole from Google.)

Book to Screen adaptations )
thisbluespirit: (Northanger reading)
Here's the fic I wrote for [community profile] fic_corner. I was waiting to post it because I started finally typing up the original treat I was going to write for someone, but it is still not quite working out. That's about two months of it not quite working out now, so I shall just have to bury it until one day it resurrects itself as something (as stories often do) - and get on and post my fics and some recs for very shiny fics from the collection:

I defaulted early on, but I wrote two treats, one in the short treat collection, one in the main:

Two fics in Enid Blyton (Adventure Series) and Journey To The River Sea )

And now, recs! I have to say, from what I have seen, it looks as though there is a very high percentage of exceptional fic, so I'd recommend poking around to see what childhood favourites you might find in the 100+ fandoms. However, here is a selection from those I know and read (mostly in the first half of the alphabet, because I'm incurably alphabetical and don't have that much reading stamina).

Recs at Fic Corner )
thisbluespirit: (Northanger reading)
It's like someone made a fic exchange especially for me (and I probably won't even be able to play). But I know lots of you like plenty of YA/children's books, so go here and find out more - and have some fun brainstorming over the nominations!

alt

A Kids' and YA Book Fic Exchange

The banner goes to the Dreamwidth side, but it's on LJ, too: [livejournal.com profile] fic_corner
thisbluespirit: (Default)
[profile] hhertzof is planning a children's/YA lit fic exchange, and you can find out more and vote in the name poll here. I think it's probably of interest to quite a few of you - every and any child/YA lit is probably going to be eligible.

(So, yes, Diana Wynne Jones, Chalet School, Enid Blyton, picture books, modern YA epics, time-honoured classics, anything).
thisbluespirit: (carry on Richard O'C go away reading)
I usually ignore these, but, oh well, why not? I'm a little bored tonight. So, in what seems to be a sort of updated version of the BBC's Big Read list (with a mystery missing no. 19. I think I shall add in something I like. *evil*). Taken from [livejournal.com profile] justice_turtle:

There were rules, but I'm just going to bold the ones I've actually read, and make any relevant notes next to any of the others. I find predicting what I will or won't read in the future is unreliable. I think someone reckons the average most people will have read is 6. I think that's a bit pessimistic. I also, since I nicked it of JT, put in the full list of Carnegie winners as a contrast to the Newbery list. (They are the UK and US equivalents - the Newbery came first, though.)

Long booklist is long )

Carnegie winners )
thisbluespirit: (inkheart - fear kills everything)
6. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

Books were her home when she was somewhere strange - familiar voices, friends that never quarrelled with her, clever, powerful friends, daring and knowledgeable, tried and tested adventurers who had travelled far and wide.


Of all the books I probably wouldn't have read if I hadn't been a children's librarian, Inkheart has to be pretty high up on the list of my favourites. It's not only a gloriously old-fashioned, complex and engaging children's fantasy (in the best possible way, and beautifully written - or, very well translated, since I'm unable to read German), it's an exercise in pure bibliophilia. Inkheart is about book-loving Meggie, her book-binder (or book doctor) father, Mo, her great Aunt Elinor (a book collector who verges on bibliomania), an author and a number of escaped book characters. It's a genuine fantasy novel, but the only magic in it is the power of books and words, of printed paper pages, and reading, and writing - and reading aloud. And about the power, danger and addictiveness of stories and the imagination, of the contrast between fantasy and reality. It's also about the way that stories and characters have a life of their own that can't truly be owned by anybody, even their creators.

The hardback copy I first read (published by Chicken House) was lovely - covers, paper quality, typesetting, everything. A lot of thought went into having not just the cover art (which is nice, but not the thing here) but the whole feel of the book match the theme of it, of getting completely lost in a story. (Actually, I'm thinking now, given how much of it is also about loving the sheer physicality of books - the covers, the paper, their presence in the house, under the pillow, everywhere - it's a little ironic to think how many people are going to read an e-book version of this. That's not a criticism... just a passing thought.)

My only regret is that I couldn't have read it when I was 10 or 12 or so. On the other hand, whether I'd have ever been able to emerge again is a good question, so perhaps it's as well. It is, however, very much one of those books that is a worthwhile read at any age. (Stories have their own shape, and sometimes that shape is a children's novel. That doesn't automatically make it not worth reading by adults.)

Books are like flypapers )

Credits: textures by [livejournal.com profile] tiger_tyger
thisbluespirit: (aiken - dozen words (lucas))
Firstly, any icons I make for this challenge will be snaggable in the usual way (unless otherwise stated). And if I'm talking about books/TV/films etc, I will try not to be spoilerish.

So, here goes... (You will soon see why I wanted to pair these two).

1. Book: Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (1958)

Photobucket

"Time no longer..." murmured Tom, and thought of all the clocks in the world stopping ticking, and their striking stopped too, drowned and stopped forever by the sound of a great Trumpet. "Time no longer..." repeated Tom; and the three words began to seem full of enormous possibilities.


Tom's Midnight Garden )


2. Book: A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (1939)

Photobucket

I smell the hot scents of the herb garden drenched in sunshine, and the perfume of the honeysuckle after rain, but stronger than these is the rich fragrance of the old house, made up of wood-smoke, haystacks, and old old age, mingled together indissolubly. All these scents and sounds are part of the story I have to tell, with light and darkness, shadows and tragedy interwoven.


A Traveller in Time )

Credits: Icon textures by [livejournal.com profile] tiger_tyger.

ETA: [livejournal.com profile] persiflage_1 and [livejournal.com profile] dbskyler each gave me seven subjects for a meme recently. I have decided now to make sure I included those subjects somewhere in this challenge. Indeed, most of them I already had without even thinking when I went to check! (I'm not sure about the lemons, though, but we'll see... If I can fit lemons in somewhere, I will.)

Heads up

22 Mar 2012 06:08 pm
thisbluespirit: (aiken - dozen words (lucas))
[livejournal.com profile] historicalyafen is starting (what should be) an ongoing children's/YA historical lit comment fest

I thought I'd post it here, because it's something I watch, but it's a small comm, so just to let you know if you'd like to play, or if you know of anyone else it will interest, you can pass it on & help there be more rare fandom ficlets in the world. (They've got a fairly wide definition of historical ya/child. lit on the comm; as long as it's comes on a ya/child. lit list somewhere and is set in this world's past, or an au of this world's past, anything goes.)

I might see if I can think of any Joan Aiken prompts to leave or something. Tomorrow or later, though, as earlier today I used up my concentration and hurt my head by accidentally thinking too much. *head!desk*
thisbluespirit: (Five)
I nicked this off [profile] daibhid_c- how could I, a children's librarian, pass up on this one? Of course, it's odd for me, as this meme assumes one has stopped reading children's books. Heh.

Books, glorious books! )

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