Prep: Curtis Sittenfeld. Black Swan, 2010.I can’t pinpoint why I didn’t read this sooner. I’ve read ‘An American Wife’ and ‘Sisterland’ by Sittenfeld and was aware of this novel. Literature about American boarding schools has always fascinated me, mainly as a subset of the girls own genre because of the different context. You’d have thought I’d ( Read more... )

I am partly bothering to post about this so that I could use the icon.

Phantom Thread (released this weekend) (rated 15 for strong language)Written and directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson ( Read more... )

Tam Lin: Pamela Dean, Firebird, 2006.

I had known of this book for a while - I read more fantasy novels than I discuss here - and leaped at the opportunity to get this reprint, ( Read more... )

Assignment in Brittany is an early book by Helen MacInnes, set in occupied France during world war two, with one of her very competent heroes, although the challenges he has to face keep mounting. It’s a different setting to her usual Cold War stories, but certainly suspenseful.

Rules by Jane Beaton is the second in the Dorney House series, (I ( Read more... )

I recommend both, although they’re very different - the main character of one is a five year old girl, and the other film strongly features a quartette of young women.

The Beasts of the Southern Wild (12A) is going to get award attention. If you can, try to see it. It’s a fable about climate change and how it affects one family, their bayou and ( Read more... )

Ginger and Rosa 12A
Written and directed by: Sally Potter
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Alessandro Nivola, Christina Hendricks etc.

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt2115295/

( Read more... )

A Popular Schoolgirl: Angela Brazil

I had an ‘oh, Angela’ moment when ( Read more... )