Yesterday, I told myself that I really needed to cool down on the book-buying front, as I have piles of unread titles to go through. I came home with four purchased books and one borrowed book. Oops. One of them was a children’s book, two of them were books I already have copies of - one of those purchases were intentional, I wanted a better copy ( Read more... )

I have been half thinking about using some sort of rating system for my book reviews. Would it be useful? Is it too much bother - I suspect I'd get bogged down by guilt at my own subjectivity, and it would have to be something as stark as poor, all right, good and must read? Anyway, if I were to institute a rating system, this would get the lowest ( Read more... )

Researching for this review, I found out that one of its sequels, Toby of Tibbs' Cross, is that book featuring a Land Girl that I was thinking of the other day. The fact that I didn't remember that I'd read about the further adventures of this character doesn't worry me particularly, but as it wasn't on my main list of girls' own stories, that ( Read more... )

I'm not quite sure what to call the subgenre that Sally Baxter and her ilk belong to (grandmother: Cherry Ames), which is part career girl story, part mystery tale. They're nearly always published by World Distributors, so they have a similar 'look', especially if the dust jacket is intact. Other examples are Vicky Barr, Shirley Flight and Sara Gay ( Read more... )

I ended my stint at the charity shop on Tuesday. Once again, it was pretty busy, but not that many books were sold. I got a look at the selection on offer and there were very few children's books, mostly picture books, so there's no wonder I didn't sell many of them. IIRC, I sold a saga romance, a chick lit book and a humorous book. I didn't buy ( Read more... )

I've arranged to volunteer at a charity shop for a few days over the next fortnight. The opportunity to do volunteering work arose and this was one of the options, and certainly the one I was most excited about. Yes, in part it is because I hope to get first look at the books that are donated, although I'm not sure how realistic an ambition that is ( Read more... )

Adventure in the West: Alice Ross Colver. The Children's Press, first published in this edition 1955.

'A Modern Ranch Story for Girls' is how it's subtitled, in bright red joined-up handwriting on the cover of my copy. ( Read more... )

I had other content for tonight, I'll get to it in a moment, but what a refreshing change to come home to see a match being played in sunshine with every hope of it running its course. The fact that it was Henin v S WIlliams - everyone's tip for the match of the quarters - was a bonus. I came in at the start of the second set, and the points were ( Read more... )

One other Ethel Talbot down (The Foolish Phillimores), one to go (Sally at School). The Foolish Phillimores wasn’t as bad as Diana the Daring, probably because of my lowered expectations as much as the merit of the tale. The abuse of the ellipsis still remained a problem, but at least the story didn’t go where I was afraid that it would, after ( Read more... )

Rereading 'Secret Water' the other week was a real treat. ( Read more... )