This is the most recent book I decided to read in my current run-through of Elinor M Brent-Dyer's 'Chalet School' series.
'Mary-Lou of the Chalet School' features, not surprisingly, Mary-Lou, the delightful girl who was first introduced in 'Three Go to the Chalet School'. Mary-Lou is one of the strongest and most likeable characters in the series, in my view, and this book is one of the more interesting.
In this book, Mary-Lou is in the senior part of the school for the first time. She arrives back late due to a family problem, only to discover a new girl who has a very bad temper, and refuses to be friendly with anyone.
Mary-Lou is quite a leader, and has several special friends. But she's also outgoing and caring, and can't bear to see anyone left out. And she's a champion 'butter-in', as the author puts it. So she determines to do something about it.
Later in the book, an accident happens that changes several people's lives. It's a good book with some very moving sections. It's definitely one of the better ones in the series, in my opinion.
(You can also read my longer review of 'Mary-Lou of the Chalet School', written after I re-read it fourteen years later)
Somehow, even when they get samey, I can't stop reading 'Chalet School' books when I'm in the mood for them. Elinor M Brent-Dyer wrote several in the series that were remarkably similar. Yet she kept some overall plot lines going through the fifty-plus books in the series, and while I've read them all more than once, they're great for relaxation when I'm on holiday.
'A Chalet Girl from Kenya' features Jo Scott. She is a goddaughter to Joey Maynard, although Joey doesn't know about this at first. Jo turns out to be the daughter of one of her old school friends, with whom she had lost touch until, but an admittedly unlikely coincidence, they bump into each other.
Jo Scott is sent to the Chalet School while her parent are abroad. She settles in well, unlike some of the more difficult students in the series. She's a pleasant girl, who makes friends relatively easily.
Alas, life is not particularly kind to Jo. But when tragedy strikes, Joey Maynard takes her to her heart. I found this story very moving in places, and thought it one of the better books in the series.
Best to read after at least a few of the earlier ones, but definitely recommended as part of the series.
(You can also read my slightly longer review of 'A Chalet Girl from Kenya' written after I re-read it again, fourteen years later).
I have just finished reading yet another of the Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer, one I hadn't read for a long time. I couldn't remember what it was like at all, and wasn't even quite sure why I picked it up. I had been feeling that several of these books were very samey, best not read one after another.
'Joey goes to the Oberland', however, turns out to be an excellent book in the series. That's mainly because it features one of the author's best characters, in my view - Joey Maynard (who started live as Joey Bettany). Joey has a lot of depth and personality, and always feels very real.
Joey and her family travel to their new home in the Swiss Oberland, as the Chalet School starts to move back there after the second world war. They meet some old friends along the way, and make some new ones when they arrive.
It was a very enjoyable book, in my view. There's not much about the 'school', but lots of time in the company of the delightful and irrepressible Joey.
Best to read as part of the series; each book stands alone, but characters re-appear, and it's more interesting reading about old friends when one has met them before in other books.
You can also read my longer review of 'Joey Goes to the Oberland', written after re-reading 12 years later, when I had a few more criticisms of the story!
I have just finished re-reading yet another of Elinor M Brent-Dyer's prolific series about the Chalet School.
In this book, 'Changes for the Chalet School' the School prepares to leave St Briavel's. This is a fictional island off the coast of Wales where they have been for a while during the war. Now at last they are planning to return to the Oberland.
There's not a lot of plot in this book, despite the rather extreme changes ahead. Instead it's very much a formulaic school story. There's a bit of light relief when the girls visit the Cadbury factory in Birmingham, although too much educational detail for my tastes. There's also an amusing episode when they have some trouble with pigs at night...
By the time I was half-way through I realised it had only been a year since I had read this book, but I kept going anyway.
Not very exciting. Worth reading as part of the series if you're a fan, but not really recommended as an introduction to the Chalet School.
You can also read my somewhat longer review of 'Changes for the Chalet School' which I wrote after re-reading again, twelve years later.
I fully acknowledge that some of Elinor M Brent-Dyer's 'Chalet School' books are samey school stories (written, I suppose, at the insistence of her publisher). But some of them stand out above the rest as lovely character-driven stories, and in places I often find them quite moving.
'Three go to the Chalet School' is one of my favourites. It primarily features Mary-Lou Trelawney, who becomes an important character in later books. Mary-Lou is a delightful, outspoken and friendly little girl. She meets the enormous Maynard family (who are neighbours) and is delighted to be able to join the Chalet School.
When Mary-Lou arrives, she meets the strange and very reserved Verity-Ann Carey. She is also new and an unlikely friendship - partly based on the fact that they both have double first names - is formed.
Then, rather to Mary-Lou's surprise, an old friend of hers is also sent to the school a little later in the term. She is pleased, but this causes her some new problems.
I consider this one of the more enjoyable and moving books in the lengthy series. It was quite significantly cut in the 'Armada' paperback edition.
All these books stand alone, and this wouldn't be a bad one to read as introduction to the series, if you don't want to start at the beginning. But it's always best, in my view, to read these later books in the series with the background of at least a few of the earlier ones.
(You can also read my longer review of 'Three Go to the Chalet School' after acquiring the 'Girls Gone By' full edition and re-reading in 2011)
I am continuing my foray into re-reading Elinor M Brent-Dyer's many books about the Chalet School. I've just finished 'The Chalet School and Rosalie', which was written as a one-off, not chronologically, and is somewhat shorter than some of the other books.
Rosalie is a very shy and feminine girl, who arrives at the Chalet School feeling rather uncertain. Tom - of all people - is asked to look after her. Tom is very boyish, and about as different from Rosalie as is possible. They're an unlikely contrast, but somehow make friends, and Rosalie soon starts to idolise Tom.
In some senses it's a fairly ordinary run-of-the-mill school story. It's pleasant enough but there was nothing to capture my interest particularly.
Apparently the Armada paperback version was not significantly cut from the original, but some versions of this have other, bonus stories as well.
Elinor M Brent-Dyer was a prolific writer, and I've enjoyed her books for over thirty years. Staying in a house with dozens of Chalet School books, I find myself reading lots of them - although in fairly random order - as a quick means of relaxation.
'Tom Tackles the Chalet School' features a girl, who insists on being called Tom. It clearly isn't her real name, and as we quickly learn, it's not an abbreviation of Thomasina either.
Tom is a very boyish and determined girl, who doesn't in the least want to go to a girls' school. Brought up amongst boys, she is convinced that girls are sneaky and dishonest. She believes that only boys understanding concepts like loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship.
This is slightly surreal in today's climate of equality. But it presumably was a realistic (if unlikely) possibility in the middle of the 20th century when this book was published. Anyway, Tom is determined to look down on everyone at the Chalet School when she arrives. But she finds - to her amazement - that the girls are as honest as boys, and she slowly begins to settle in.
It's all terribly sexist, of course, and completely ignores the possibility of gender dysphoria. But I found this book quite enjoyable on the whole, one of the better ones in the series.
I can go for ages without picking up any of Elinor M Brent-Dyers' books. But once I start re-reading them, I find them almost compulsive. They're light, intended for older children and teenagers. But the characters are believable and the situations are sometimes moving and often interesting.
'The Chalet School Does It Again', however, is really a run-of-the-mill school story. The title itself seems something of a cop-out, and reflects the story which does not have anything much to make it stand out.
As with all these books, this is worth reading by fans of the series, but it's nothing special. Don't read this unless you have read some of the earlier books in the series and like re-meeting favourite characters.
(You can also read my rather longer review of 'The Chalet School Does It Again' written after I re-read it thirteen years later)
Every so often I feel like reading some ultra-light children's fiction. I found this book on one of my sons' bookshelves. Although I'd never heard of Jean Ure before, it looked interesting.
The story of 'See you Thursday' focuses on a teenage girl who is annoyed that her mother is going to take in a lodger. He's not just an ordinary lodger, either. He's a blind music teacher.
However, when she gets to know him, she find that he's young, undemanding and charming - and starts to fall in love.
It's really teenage fiction rather than children's, although it's probably too simple for many of today's sophisticated teenagers. I thought it was an excellent book to help children see the positive side of blindness, and the kind of prejudice that disabled people sometimes suffer.
Recommended.
I'm enjoying - on the whole - reading my way through some of Agatha Christie's crime novels. I keep wondering why on earth I didn't start them before this year.
In 'The secret of Chimneys', Anthony meets an old friends, and agrees to deliver an important manuscript to London. He is also asked to return some letters to someone who has been blackmailed.
He quickly becomes involved in the lives of various people. He attempts to solve the mystery of an unexpected murder, as well as trying to discover some missing family jewels.
I thought the plot was excellent, and there were some surprises at the end which kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Susan Howatch is one of my favourite modern writers. Her books are psychological masterpieces, plumbing the depths of human frailties and weaknesses. Yet at the same time they have an encouraging message of hope.
'The High Flyer', is a sort of sequel to 'A Question of Integrity'. It's not necessary to have read it first; this one would stand alone without difficulty, as it focuses mainly on completely new characters. But it's classed as the second in the 'St Benet's' trilogy, and there's more depth of understanding from having read the first one beforehand.
Carter Graham is the main protagonist in this novel. She is an efficient business manager, married to someone similar. After introducing them, the book takes us back temporarily to their courtship, and the tensions they've had. These are exacerbated by an ex-wife who seems determined to cause trouble.
As Carter discovers more and more about her husband's past, she becomes increasingly worried. Occult links appear, and when she finally decides to talk to the ex-wife, she is prevented from doing so in a shocking way.
The plot moves rapidly towards an exciting climax, even if it does seem a little melodramatic in places. Nick, Lewis and Alice (characters from 'A Question of Integrity') appear, seen from Carter's viewpoint. But there's not much directly about them in this book.
'The High Flyer' is rather different from Howatch's other books. However I found it gripping and thought it well worth reading.
(You can also read my longer review of 'The High Flyer', which I wrote after re-reading just three years later)
Elinor M Brent-Dyer wrote over fifty books in her 'Chalet School' series. I read them first as a teenager, and have enjoyed dipping into them randomly ever since.
'Gay from China at the Chalet School' features Jacynth Hardy. She has been sent to the Chalet School by her aunt, who is her only living relative. Her aunt is about to have a major operation, and although Jacynth - a likeable girl - is happy to go to school, she's very worried about her aunt.
Meanwhile, the school Heads are involved in a car accident, and the ghastly Miss Bubb comes as a temporary replacement. She's not as horrible as JK Rowling's Dolores Umbridge, but still completely wrong for the Chalet School, which has an important emphasis on health, freedom and friendship, as well as academic excellence.
Gay Lambert befriends Jacynth, discovering a shared interest in music, and teaches her to play the cello.
Good adventures - some of the Chalet School books are a bit samey, but this one is a little different and all the more enjoyable for that.
Note - the Armada paperback edition of this book, which was heavily abridged, changed the title to 'Gay Lambert at the Chalet School'. The more recently published Girls Gone By edition reverted to the original title as well as containing the full text of the original.
(Evidently I particularly like this book - longer reviews can be found on reading 'Gay from China at the Chalet School' again in 2002, and yet again in 2003!)
I do like children's fiction - or some of it, anyway. Louisa M Alcott is, of course, known best for her classic 'Little Women'. This book is the immediate sequel. It is in fact (confusingly) included in the movie version of 'Little Women', whereas the book stops at the stage where Meg and John get engaged, much to Meg's sister Jo's disgust...
'Good Wives' takes up the story when Meg is still newly married. It also follows the other sisters as they grow up and fall in love. There's not a huge amount of plot. The book is character-driven, and follows the problems and joys of day-to-day life.
There's light humour here and there, as well as some extremely moving moments in the midst of sadness. Inevitably there's an old-fashioned feel to this book, and some author asides that are a bit irritating, but overall it's a warm book which I enjoyed re-reading.
Recommended, but best to read after 'Little Women'.
(I wrote a longer review of 'Good Wives' in 2017, after re-reading yet again).
I decided to read yet another Agatha Christie crime novel. I'm trying to catch up on the many years before I started on this author. In one sense they're becoming a little samey, but only in the sense any logic puzzle is similar to another logic puzzle.
But at the same time there's always a challenge to try and solve the mystery. I like trying to see the false trail of clues, and to look at the psychology of the suspects.
'The mystery of the blue train' is an exciting adventure concerning some valuable jewels. Mr van Alden buys some jewels for his married daughter, and she is murdered on a train.
Hercule Poirot just happens to be on the train, as is Katherine, an English girl who's never had anything exciting happen to her...
As seems to be the case with Agatha Christie, the characters are somewhat two-dimensional. But the writing is crisp and the plot very well devised.
The mystery unfolds in a clever fashion, and Poirot, as ever, reveals the murderer in the end.
Recommended.
Having re-read and enjoyed one of Louisa M Alcott's books recently, I thought I would re-read its sequel.
'Jo's Boys' is the last of the four novels she wrote for teenagers, in the 19th century. It's about the March family, introduced in the book 'Little Women' and its descendants.
This book mainly focuses on the school that Jo Bhaer (originally Jo March) has founded for boys. She uses principles that would have been considered quite radical in those days.
I thought it very pleasant read, despite a bit of author moralising now and again.
Recommended; but it's best if you've read the other books in the series first. Note that while they are regularly in print in paperback form, these books are long out of print and can be found inexpensively or free to download in electronic form.
(If you would like to know more about this book, I wrote a much longer review of 'Jo's Boys' when I re-read it yet again in 2018)
I'm enjoying reading Agatha Christie's books, and particularly the ones featuring the small and rather arrogant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. So the title of this book sounded like a good one to try next.
'Poirot investigates' is actually a collection of early short stories featuring Hercule Poirot. They are told from the first person perspective of Hastings, his old friend. They seem to be in a style which I suppose was intended to be reminiscent, in a satirical way, of Watson and Sherlock Holmes.
There's quite a bit of light humour - or at least irony - pervading the stories, as Hastings reveals his own (usually wrong) deductions. Inevitably Poirot shows him where he went wrong, and reveals the correct answer.
I found this collection very enjoyable. It would make a good introduction to Agatha Christie's work.
Recommended.
In my avid reading of Agatha Christie's books (for the first time), I had more than once been recommended 'The murder of Roger Ackroyd'. I was told that it is a masterpiece... one where very few people guess 'whodunit'. I was intrigued... and wanted to read it myself before someone told me the answer!
This story is told from the point of view of Dr Stoppard. A friend of his, Roger Ackroyd, is murdered one night. Hercule Poirot, who has just moved into the area, decides to investigate. He gets Dr Stoppard to assist him.
Various people are suspected, in a masterly plot, which left me guessing until about a chapter before the unmasking. Then I suddenly had an 'aha!' moment, that turned out to be correct.
I was also pleased to note, as an aside, that Agatha Christie's characters play the game mah-jong. Moreover, like in my family, the initial race to build the walls is as important, if not more so, than the actual game.
I thought this plot very clever indeed, deservedly a classic by this prolific author.
Highly recommended.
Every so often, in the middle of reading fairly light romances, sagas and even crime fiction, I take a foray into the world of children's or teenage books. Louisa M Alcott was an American writer in the 19th century, whose work seems rather dated now. Nevertheless, her books are warm and relaxing, and I find them very encouraging.
'Little Men' is the third in the series of four books that began with 'Little Women'. Although technically complete in itself, it is a continuation of the previous books. The story focuses mostly on the offspring of the original March girls (Meg, Jo and Amy), and several other boys whom Jo and her husband look after.
There's a bit of author moralising in places, as tended to happen in that period, and inevitably the writing and style is quite old-fashioned. But human nature hasn't changed, and there are some very moving moments along with a lot of fun.
I thought this an enjoyable read, probably intended for teenagers originally.
(I wrote a much longer review of 'Little Men' after I re-read it again in 2018)
I discovered yet more of Agatha Christie's books at a relative's house..It seems that I am becoming hooked on light crime novels. It is such a relief to discover that there's no horror, little suspense, and a minimum of gore in these books, even if they do contain murders galore.
'A Caribbean mystery' features the gentle Miss Marple. She confuses people by seeming like a little old lady, who couldn't possibly know anything about murders or mysteries. In this book, she is on holiday abroad when - surprise, surprise - a murder takes place.
In her usual gentle fashion, Miss Marple discovers what happened, and who was responsible. It's perhaps a bit convoluted, but still an enjoyable story.
Recommended.
