Hil, I think the books you've settled on for your friend's kids are great (I've been meaning to get a copy of The Snowy Day for Rose), but thought I'd put in a plug for our current favorite book, Ten Nine Eight by Molly Bang. It's our bedtime book and is really warm and sweet and charming: [link]
Patron: That girl is a witch. Mal: Yeah, but she's our witch.
'Safe'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Kate P. - Oct 16, 2012 9:48:53 am PDT #19922 of 28370
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
Connie Neil - Oct 16, 2012 10:44:37 am PDT #19923 of 28370
brillig
I'm reading Josephine Tey's "Brat Farrer" for the first time, and I now know what kind of writer I want to be when I grow up. Her style is sort of minimalist, in that there's little overt description, but it's all so evocative. A girl describes Aunt Bee as having a face like an expensive cat, which she is secretly pleased by, and the rector's wife later says, "Yes, but not the fluffy kind." And I can instantly picture Aunt Bee. I don't know the color of her hair or her height or build, but I know her.
In referring to a dead relative, Bee say "Walter has died." The rector's wife asks "Did he die in an odour of sanctity?" "Carbolic. A workhouse ward I believe." I snickered so loud the other people in the lunch room looked intrigued, but I didn't look up to give them the satisfaction.
And she has dozens of books I've never read!
flea - Oct 16, 2012 12:07:07 pm PDT #19924 of 28370
information libertarian
Ah, you're in for a treat. Not dozens, though, only 6 or 7.
sumi - Oct 16, 2012 12:13:15 pm PDT #19925 of 28370
Art Crawl!!!
Sadly, not dozens.
I love Brat Farrer. (How could I not - a mystery, with horses.)
Connie Neil - Oct 16, 2012 12:22:07 pm PDT #19926 of 28370
brillig
Not dozens, though, only 6 or 7.
Ah, I was getting her confused with Georgette Heyer. Whom I also haven't read. I think I confused her with Barbara Cartland.
Scrappy - Oct 16, 2012 12:44:29 pm PDT #19927 of 28370
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Heyer's writing is smart and funny. Cartland's writing is...not.
Connie Neil - Oct 16, 2012 1:02:08 pm PDT #19928 of 28370
brillig
It was the similar covers of the books when I was a kid. I shall rectify my lack of Heyer.
megan walker - Oct 16, 2012 4:51:41 pm PDT #19929 of 28370
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
I went on a big Tey binge a year or two ago. Can't believe I had never heard of her before.
Brat Farrar is my favorite, along with The Daughter of Time.
Jesse - Oct 16, 2012 4:56:07 pm PDT #19930 of 28370
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
I still haven't read Brat Farrar, partly because the old Mystery adaptation is still in my brain.
DavidS - Oct 16, 2012 5:42:07 pm PDT #19931 of 28370
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Can't believe I had never heard of her before.
How is that possible? Maybe because Betsy doesn't post here anymore.
Daughter of Time was voted the greatest mystery of all time by a large poll of mystery writers.