Recommendations

I know I've been remiss in the past months, but not having time to write full reviews, I'd still like to share a couple of great books I've read recently. Reviews should be coming soon:

Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (In my opinion, there are too many werewolf books. There are not enough werewolf books as good as this one. Listen to a sample chapter here)

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Even if the non-ending is completely frustrating, it's definitely a series to keep an eye on. Read some sample chapters here)

Retirement Rescue - The Swish of the Curtain

The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown
Published - 1941
Pages – 308
In print? – Yes. Longwater books reprinted this in 2006
THEN – 4.5 stars out of 5
NOW – 4 stars out of 5

Jacket description:
When seven bored children discover an abandoned chapel in their home town, they decide to renovate it and to form the Blue Door Theratre Company. The talented and resourceful group soon discover that they are serious about their theatrical ambitions, but will their parents stand in their way?
This classic children’s novel remains a timeless inspiration to any young reader with a passion for the performing arts.

Seven children (all of whom have some special talent or other – singing, composing, dressmaking etc) set up their own theatre company. Yes, it’s more than a little unbelievable, but it’s also the sort of thing every child would have enjoyed. It’s also set in a time when such a thing is less hard to believe. The Swish of the Curtain is very quaint, old-fashioned but still charming and holds its appeal for children. The kids, especially nine-year-old Maddy, are some of the best characterised I’ve ever read, having an old-fashioned innocence along with extra maturity, especially when dealing with their nemesis Mrs Potter-Smith, head of the Women’s Institute. Mrs Potter-Smith (or ‘Smither-Pot,’ as Maddy refers to her) is constantly out to undermine the children’s plays because people enjoy them more than hers. Some critics have said that they talk as if they’re older than they should be, but Pamela Brown was only 14 herself when she wrote this. The Swish of the Curtain is definitely a children’s classic, and will appeal to many children today.

‘An answering thud was heard offstage, and Mrs Potter-Smith puffed on, wearing a Greek tunic, with primroses in her hair which she had “let down” for the occasion. She flung out her plump arms towards the audience, declaiming, “I am the Spirit of Spring!”
The ginger girl stuffed her hankie in her mouth, and Maddy whispered confidentially to Sandra, “Are we supposed to laugh?”’ – page 10-11

'“Personally, when I was eight, a really juicy murder appealed to me as much as anything,” Maddy told them.' – page 136

Retirement Rescue - Prove Yourself A Hero

Prove Yourself a Hero by K. M. Peyton

Published - 1978
Pages – 173
In print? – No. But see if you see a copy secondhand, snatch it up.

THEN - 4.5 stars out of five

NOW - 4.5 stars out of five

This was my favourite re-read book for years. It’s definitely my most-travelled because it’s so small and light.

Jacket description:
One can never prepare to be kidnapped: to anticipate the terror, exhaustion and violence: or to understand the disorientation and imbalance that accompanies the return to freedom – if one is lucky.
Jonathan Meredith’s disappearance, apart from anything else, was annoying. It cost half a million pounds and mucked up a lot of arrangements, particularly his parents’. And for Jonathan, things would never be the same again.

You can tell this book is old – look at the use of ‘one’ and the colons! But, the writing doesn’t feel dated. In fact, reading it now gives the impression that it’s a book written recently, but SET in the past. Everyone has their strange favourite book-themes, mine is kidnapping. This book is special in that doesn’t just deal with the kidnapping – that takes up about half of the book – it also deals with the aftermath. Jonathan, the son of a business tycoon, is extremely claustrophobic, but he faces his capture and the prospect of death very maturely. This is as good a book as I remember it being when I first read it.

'He didn’t see how he was going to even notice if he lost consciousness, because there was so little to show for being alive, except the spreading pain of cramps which he would have been all too happy to forego. There was, curiously, no sense of time: time was only as long as he could breathe, and time was running out.' - Page 22

'He could see one solitary star between the clouds, and it’s unwinking eye transfixed him with this extraordinary sense of his own being, because shortly he wouldn’t be.' - Page 65

Mini reviews - I see a theme here ...

On my most recent trip to the library, I got several books that I’ve realised are all similar in a way. Usually I lean towards historical fiction or fantasy, but I’ve just read several that focus on modern teenage girls tackling some kind of big problem. I didn’t really realise it until I’d read them all, they all focus on very different issues. I thought I’d share.

Spiked! – Sandra Glover
As might be guessed from the title, this is a book about a girl’s drink being spiked. Don’t worry though, it’s not a story with a MORAL. Spiked! was really interesting because it was a bit like a game of Cluedo. Of course, most of the characters have secrets and these gradually come out as the audience try to work out who the bad guy is. This is made the more intriguing because you get sections of the book written in the ‘spiker’s’ point of view without revealing their identity. The plot isn’t too gripping, but this didn’t matter because I was too busy trying to analyse each characters’ motives and possibility of being the psycho. It also addresses the often avoided issue of the problems that a victim faces after a traumatic event, how everything doesn’t automatically become right again. Enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the last minute, this book was more a puzzle or game than an example of wonderfully written prose, but it was fun and very interesting.

Looking for jj – Anne Cassidy
A disturbing and yet gripping take on how a child could become capable of murder. This was fully believable, especially the sections written from the point of ten-year-old jj. Several years on, and the story also addresses the difficulty for a teenager to recover from something so haunting in her past, as well as how constant media interference can threaten the world she’s built up for herself. As other critics have pointed out, it’s completely gripping, completely believable and well worth reading. It’s a disturbingly realistic look into the psychological impacts of abandonment, guilt, fear, and how a single mistake can haunt the rest of your life. It’s not easy reading. But it is well-written and thought-provoking and I highly recommend it.

Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
This book was at a disadvantage because it is very similar to Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen, which I’ve already read. Similar, and in my opinion, not as good. Traumatic event, mistaken result of traumatic event means everyone hates her, she doesn’t know how to deal with it. All about recovering, being able to speak up for yourself and generally becoming comfortable with yourself. I’d say targeted at a 13-15 year old audience, it’s an interesting character study, but I felt that the plot-line was a bit bare. If you haven’t read Just Listen, you’ll probably really enjoy this one, it’s sympathetic and detailed enough. If I’d read them the other way around, I’d have enjoyed Speak a lot more.

Let’s get Lost – Sarra Manning
I do love the idea that people who seem to have it all are secretly crumbling apart underneath. I also love the fact that this main character becomes an obsessive tidier when she’s upset. I didn’t like the idea that a twenty-year-old would go out with a sixteen-year old and not notice the age difference. The older a person gets, the less an age gap matters, I think, but in your teens you do so much growing that such a difference should be obvious. I do like a story about a mean girl, especially one who is fighting so hard to keep it together because of something really bad that’s happened recently. I cared about the main character and her family, I just didn’t care enough about any of the other characters to really enjoy this story. Small parts of this book really interested me, but I had to wade through a whole lot of words to reach them. I confess – I skipped bits. I hardly ever do this, it’s my version of dumping a book and not reading any more. Other people may enjoy Let’s get Lost and relate to it, but I just didn’t.

Of the four, Spiked! and Looking for jj were my favourites and I'll be looking out for more titles by both of these authors. Any suggestions from people? I think I'll be giving this genre a rest for a while, but are there any similar books I should try?