Falling in Love with Natassia: on page 216, almost half way through. I've had to get past a section that made me want to chunk this one, but things are better now. At almost half way, Natassia is not a major character, although she appears to be the inciting incident. I have no idea at this point what my final decision on this novel will be.
Wild Swans: on page 258, right at half way. The Changs have survived so much, but the Cultural Revolution is imminent, and I'm fearful. I was unaware of the famine in China that killed approximately 30 million people in 1958-1962. Chairman Mao's policies were both ridiculous and amazingly destructive, but disagreement of any kind was fatal. As Cheya and I have discussed, examining and comparing the lives the "three daughters of China" led in comparison to 3 generations of our own families is revealing.I've given up getting The Thirteenth Tale from the library and placed another Amazon order. Another mixed bag: Tender at the Bone - Ruth Reichl, The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield, Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton, and The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton.
Last year on my other blog, I did several posts relating to children's books as a result of doing a Meme about them. I visited several sites that also completed Shelley's Meme and found that Enid Blyton's books called to me. Recently, I've read several mentions of Enid Blyton and the Famous Five
Other posts resulted from an article about what children should have read before finishing school with choices from J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Andrew Motion and just pondering the subject of children's books. As a result, I eventually ordered a set of L.M. Montgomery's Ann books which I started and stalled on this summer. Now, I'm pursuing Enid Blyton (the choice of many readers who did Shelley's Meme as well as showing up frequently in other places in the blog world).
We are reading The Thirteenth Tale for my on-line book club. Stop by if you would like to join in! www.thewrittenword.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteI pulled my copy of The Faraway Tree off a shelf in our guestroom after that meme made its rounds a month or so ago. Read the first chapter and got distracted by another book. Thanks for the reminder to go back and read more. It was one of my favorite books as a young girl. Well, Really Mr. Twiddle is another Blyton book on my shelf. Great books!
ReplyDeleteStephanie - The order won't be here until around Nov. 5th, but I will stop by and see when you are going to start. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLes - Blyton certainly found her way into a lot of hearts. She really was a prolific writer and wrote so many different series I had difficulty in making a decision on what to order.
If I needed an excuse, I can always consider this "research" for the grandkids, but like many other serious readers...nostalgia for that early feeling of reading delight is often the reason. Although I've never read Blyton, I know she fits into that stage of my reading life.
Adventures of the Wishing Chair and the Magic Faraway Tree were my favourites!
ReplyDeleteMarg - The Faraway Tree seems to have made most people's lists. I'm glad I chose that one.
ReplyDeleteI read the Pullman books recently and LOVED them!
ReplyDeleteFor a second I thought you wrote that you were giving up on *reading* The Thirteenth Tale and I thought, "noooooooo!!!!".
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to see what you think of the Monardo book. It is on my list as well, but I don't know when I will get to it. I read her earlier book and enjoyed it, but that was ages ago. She is an instructor at our Writer's Workshop Program at the university where I work, but I have never met her.
ReplyDeleteDorothy - I haven't read the Pullman books yet, but still think a good book is a good book...regardless of what age the book was written for. Two fun reads for young readers are The Egypt Game and The Westing Game - different authors and subjects, but both are mysteries. I loved both of them.
ReplyDeleteCarl - Noooooo!! I'm not giving up on reading The Thirteenth Tale. :)
Danielle - I've read a good bit more on "Natassia" and still don't know what I think. My mind has changed at least 3 times so far. Says something, though, that I'm still reading...
I think something's been going on with my Sage (My RSS reader). It didn't indicate any new posts for you until today and when I get here, I see 2 new posts. GRRRRR...
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of Enid Blyton and was disappointed that the library doesn't have any. I like the idea of buying them for "research" for the grandchildren.
Count me as another Enid Blyton fan. I think that her Famous Five books established the fondness for mystery novels which I have carried into my adult life. My absolute favourites of hers though are the books in the Malory Towers series (one of the two boarding school series that she wrote). Those books are among the first I can remember buying with my own money round about the age of ten or eleven.
ReplyDeleteKate - I dithered about whether to try The Famous Five or the Malory Towers series first...have always loved books in a school setting (removed from parental supervision kids seem more independent). Can't wait for my order to arrive so I can read them quickly and maybe order more!
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