Recent reading
Feb. 27th, 2024 06:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaThis weekend I went to a Eurovision-themed figure skating disco, bet you didn't expect that! Or rather, my niece was the one who wanted to go, and my sister and I went along. After a few minutes of feeling like Bambi on the ice, I remembered at least how to skate forwards, and did not fall. I wonder if that will have been the last time in my life that I wear figure skates (I borrowed them for the occasion).
The Kelpie's Pearls by Mollie Hunter (1964)
This one is much more of a children's book than the two previous ones I've read by her before. It's a story about the uneasy co-existence of the world of kelpies and witchcraft with the modern world where one can take the weekly bus to Inverness. Morag is an old woman who really just wants to chat with the kelpie by the pool and be friends with the boy who likes animals, but once someone gets wind that the kelpie gave her pearls, she gets no peace. Her attempts to get rid of the curious crowd backfire, until the kelpie helps her... I continue to enjoy Mollie Hunter, and have three more of her books in my bookcase to go.
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K J Charles (2023)
I needed some page-turney comfort reading, and K J Charles as usual delivered! Solid entertainment in the best sense of the word, recommended. I loved the setting on early 19th century Romney Marsh, and Joss Doomsday the harried manager of the smuggling family was great. I liked Gareth Inglis as well (of course I can never resist someone who is fascinated by natural history), and the balance between romance, plot, and supporting characters worked well for me.
Note to self: don't forget to nominate for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
unsent_letters_exchange...
The Kelpie's Pearls by Mollie Hunter (1964)
This one is much more of a children's book than the two previous ones I've read by her before. It's a story about the uneasy co-existence of the world of kelpies and witchcraft with the modern world where one can take the weekly bus to Inverness. Morag is an old woman who really just wants to chat with the kelpie by the pool and be friends with the boy who likes animals, but once someone gets wind that the kelpie gave her pearls, she gets no peace. Her attempts to get rid of the curious crowd backfire, until the kelpie helps her... I continue to enjoy Mollie Hunter, and have three more of her books in my bookcase to go.
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K J Charles (2023)
I needed some page-turney comfort reading, and K J Charles as usual delivered! Solid entertainment in the best sense of the word, recommended. I loved the setting on early 19th century Romney Marsh, and Joss Doomsday the harried manager of the smuggling family was great. I liked Gareth Inglis as well (of course I can never resist someone who is fascinated by natural history), and the balance between romance, plot, and supporting characters worked well for me.
Note to self: don't forget to nominate for
unsent_letters_exchange...
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-27 06:36 pm (UTC)Flight of the Heron:
Keith & None
Keith & Any
Keith & Francis
Keith/Ewen
Ewen & Francis
Ewen/Alison
Ewen/Alison/Keith
Hornblower:
Horatio Hornblower & Kitty Cobham
Horatio Hornblower & None
William Bush & Any
William Bush & None
William Bush & Bush's Sisters
William Bush & Horatio Hornblower
William Bush/Horatio Hornblower
Kidnapped:
Alan Breck & David Balfour
Alan Breck/David Balfour
David Balfour & Ebeneezer Balfour
David Balfour & Mr Campbell of Essendean
David Balfour & Mr Rankeillor
I haven't decided if I'm going to nominate Wounded Name this round; I'm still picking all my fandom slots.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-27 07:33 pm (UTC)I can do Wounded Name. Jill is already nominated, I see...perhaps I'll add Mr Rowl, as well, and consider what else I want.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-27 07:53 pm (UTC)Are you interested in having "Ewen & Any" in the tagset? For correspondence with Rev Forbes or any other parties that occur to an author?
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-27 07:59 pm (UTC)Sure, why not? I rather like the idea of newspaper articles and other documentary stuff.
Bambi on ice
Date: 2024-02-27 09:53 pm (UTC)is a powerful image -- hope you didn't fall down!
Did you play ice hockey when you were young? Your new house looks like it could be an excellent skating area.
I'm just back from my thrice weekly walk around the neighborhood where it's 20°c. We've got crocus and snow drops and the big lake is almost ice-free and this is just weird weather.
Re: Bambi on ice
Date: 2024-02-28 11:45 am (UTC)Nope, never played ice hockey, but I did do a little elementary figure skating as a child. Yes, I have definitely been looking forward to skating or skiing on that lake, depending on whether there is snow on the ice or not! But if I do, I'll wear these kinds of skate, where you strap the metal blade onto your ordinary boots.
Your weather does sound pleasant, but unseasonable...
Re: Bambi on ice
Date: 2024-02-29 02:37 pm (UTC)Can I interest you in a primitive Japanese version of this, recently noted by my partner at a flea market?
(Anyway, I'm glad you had fun skating, it sounds neat! Skating forward is all any reasonable person should be expected to do.)
Re: Bambi on ice
Date: 2024-02-29 03:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-28 06:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-28 11:49 am (UTC)Eurovision is hugely popular among children in Sweden, and they're stretching out the Swedish competition to who knows how many pre-finals. I was talking to a friend whose two kids watched it religiously, even though they didn't actually seem to enjoy it much. She gently suggested that maybe the family could do something else together instead, whereupon the kids said that they had to watch it, because everyone would be talking about it in school the next week...
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-28 04:49 pm (UTC)