feather_ghyll

09:22 pm: REVIEW: Cracks (2009)
Cracks (2009) (rated 15)

Directed by: Jordan Scott
Written by: Ben Court and Caroline Ip
Starring: Eva Green, Juno Temple, Maria Valverde, Imogen Poots

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1183665/

( Read more... )

Tags: genre: coming of age, genre: school story, genre: tragedy, links: imdb page, review: film, sports: diving, the bad mistress, the foreign new girl

02:31 pm: PERSONAL: Goodbye then, Borders in the UK
I saw in the newspaper on Friday that Borders was going into administartion, and so, on Saturday, I decided to go to the shop, feeling like a vulture. (It's become a tradition, sadly, after Woolworth's last year). I spent far more than I normally would at Borers (which is part of the problem), gifts, unreduced stationery and fantasy books I'd had my eye on before, knowing that even with a discount, they were probably still dearer than online (which is another part of the problem). I've always liked Borders. All the stores I've visited had had an airier feeling than Waterstone's. But then, I'd been given a book token on my birthday and I think I had to get them to order something, because there wasn't anything on the shelves that I wanted. It was very busy, dispiritng because there was a guilty buzz, even though I don't know how many real bargains people got.

Tags: discussion: first-hand bookshops, discussion: personal

05:33 pm: REVIEW: A Term to Remember
A Term to Remember: May Wynne. Aldine.

( It is very difficult for schoolmistresses to avoid making favourites, and it was just because Mrs. Levall was so fond of sunny-faced Clare, with her pride, her impulses, and her rebellion, that she felt she must err on the side of sterness of judgment rather than leniency. )

Tags: authors: w, genre: school story, may wynne, review: book, review: wynne, sports: cricket, the charity/scholarship girl

07:05 pm: REREADING: In the High Valley
In the High Valley: Susan Coolidge Latimer House 1949.

I got this many, many moons ago, and may have reread it since, but last year, I bought a copy of ‘Clover’, a sequel to the ‘What Katy Did’ trilogy, which brings Clover Carr to the high valley of the title of this sequel. I meant to reread this book after finishing 'Clover'. It took me a few months to do so. Ah well, it's only taken me a few weeks to get this up. ( Read more... )

Tags: american setting: usa, authors: c, genre: fmily story, genre: romance, review: book, review: coolidge, series: katy, susan coolidge

06:04 pm: OVERVIEW: School stories on film
Ths isn't the review that I said was coming (but then today was meant to be a book-buying day and that didn't happen either). Friday before last I read Anne Billson's feature on 'An Education', An Education that is very British, and the depiction of (British) school life or lack therefor on the big screen. I then saw 'An Education' (recommended, even if it sometimes falls on the side of being funny and charming rather than profound, the acting is very good, and the heroine's school life is a thread) and before it a trailer for Cracks, which is mentioned in the feature. I'm not sure entirely whether elements that were hinted at in the trailer will come through in the film. It looked like one I'd want to see, although everyone's hair was awfully messy!

Anyway, in her feature, Billson asks But why did no one ever film Malory Towers, or The Chalet School?. She discusses part of the reason in the feature, I think, St. Trinian's, which in part parodied the girl's school story. A strong, parodic or absured iconography like that made a 'straight' rendition difficult. In addition, the examples she offers are series, which before the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomena would probably put film-makers off (but why no television series?) Perhaps not so much these days? I don't know. It would be fun to see an all-girls school story with the rivalries, the midnight feasts, the prefects nd mistresses and the daring rescue from a fire or unexpected tide!

Tags: anne billson, discusson: film adaptations, genre: coming of age, links: discussion, overview: film

08:09 am: PERSONAL: Confirming I'm alive
I've just been rather busy and not reading what could be classified as Girls Own. The closest I've come to it was The Rag Bag Family by Yvonne Coppard, which is a children's paperback about thirteen year old Rita, who's life goes into turmoil when her grandmother, who has always looked after her, has a stroke and she is sent to a foster family. I thought it was well-written and liked the dervlopment of Rita. I also read Summer Love by Diane Schwemm, which is book 1 of a series set in 'Silver Beach'. I won't be rushing out to try to find the rest of the series. It's about families who go to the same lakeside resort every year, but it's the end of their childhood for siblings Elli and Ethan. Apart from freaking out about her own possible boyfriend and the realisation that adults are fallible, Elli's worried that Ethan is involved with her nemesis Charlotte. Despite the focus on boy-girl love, it is perhaps Elli and Charlotte's mutual obsession (Charlotte envies Elli's 'perfect' life) that drives the book. It was written in a really patronising font.

Otherwise, after finally using Watersones's online service (because their shops seemed to have stopped stocking anything I'd like to buy) in response to what could be termed begging e-mails - their wonderful hub (see The Bookseller) let me down.

I hope that a review or two will be posted here eventually, but life is still looking like being busy at present.

Tags: american setting: usa, authors: c, authors: s, discussion: first-hand bookshops, discussion: personal, genre: coming of age, genre: family story, genre: romance, overview: books

07:43 pm: TENNIS: US Open 2009
I am typing this before the men's final begins.

I was really jealous of someone at work saying that they'd stayed up all night to watch the tennis. Every time I've remembered to switch on Radio 5SL, they've been either advertising their US Open coverage or apologising for rain delays, so I haven't had an opportunity to get used to listening to radio commentary as opposed to listening and watching TV commentary. At the middle of the slam, I have to say that I thought it would be Serena and Federer. (I thought Murray would be back in the finals too, but I thought Federer would be too strong. As it turned out, Cilic was. I think the world no. 1 should be too strong for Del Potro, using the word 'strong' to mean as a player.

Anyhow, well done Kim Clijsters - as the world expected after the semis. Good for her to come back and see the hard work that came after her decision to return be repaid so handsomely (and she manged what Davenport and Hingis did not. But then, perhaps she should take late-flowering Capriarti as a morel). I think that it says something about the weakness of the women's game, specifically the top women's game. I don't know how serious the Henin rumours are, but she's got to be tempted. We'll see if Clijsters manages to sustain this level.

Ha, 'see', when I certainly shan't see the men's final!

Tags: discussion: anyone for tennis, hard court season 2009, sports: tennis

06:03 pm: REVIEW: Cherry Ames at Spencer
Cherry Ames at Spencer

Some other time, I will do the research and write something more considered about Cherry Ames - both girl detective and career girl and surely the poster girl for the hybrid series, usually published by World Distributors. She takes on a different nursing job in each books, which seems to involve a child-appropriate mystery and good looking young doctors who would sure like to know rosy-cheeked Cherry better. Unlike the heroines of other nursing books, she must always disappoint them, because she always loves Dr Joe* the most.

Cherry Ames at Spencer by Julie Tatham. World Distibutors 1958

The book certainly hits all the things I expected to see. ( Read more... )

Tags: american setting: usa, authors: t, genre: career story, genre: girl detective, genre: mystery, julie tatham, overview: series, review: books, review: tatham, series: cherry ames, series: nancy drew

03:51 pm: REVIEW: The Girl Who Wouldn't Make Friends
The Girl Who Wouldn’t Make Friends: Elsie J. Oxenham Nelsion Triumph Series

I bought this because it was by EJO, but by the end of the first chapter, I knew I’d read about the further adventures of Robin and thr Abbey links to Plas Quellyn. Not that I can remember much about them, and I’ll have to hunt up my copy of Robins at the Abbey. Of course, it should be no surprise to me that it's linked, aren't all her books?

( Read more... )

Tags: authors: o, celtic setting: wales, discussion: abbey girls, elsie j. oxenham, genre: family story, genre: mystery, genre: orphan adopted, review: book, review: oxenham, series: abbey girls

09:18 pm: PERSONAL: bits and bobs
Following the last post on the Guides documentary, there was a feature in the Guardian's women's pages about the Guides, linked to the anniversary that inspired the documentary. (It's a very Guardian's women's page feature, but there were pictures of Guiding books in the paper!) Keep the campfires burning: 100 years of the Girl Guides by Emine Saner.

I'm currently reading a Bessie Marchant story. I don't know whether I'll write up a review, but I hope to type up a full review of an EJO book in the next few days. In another example of my indeciseveness, I went to a shop two days ago and saw two Viola Bayley books!!! I've been wishing I'd come across some for ages (by which I mean several years). I was thrilled. Then I saw the prices. One was going for £25 pounds (well, I bought four books from the same shop for that total, so even though it was rare I forgot about it even as it was in my hands). Another was going for a more affordable price, but the title was less distinctive (most of her books are called 'Somewhere Adventure'). There was also a Mabel Esther Allan but I wasn't sure whether I had a copy of that or not either. I decided to check and think about it.

I came to my decision, returned to the shop this morning to find it closed when it should be open, and I had a train to catch. By the time I return to that shop, I have no doubt all those books will be gone. I don't know if there's a moral to the story (well, I could have gone to the shop yesterday when it would have been open, or even checked the books. And, in fact, I daresay I posted a similar story about this same shop and other books this time last year). I normally make up my mind whether to buy or not on the spot and can live with it.

Never mind, I came home to find a Girls Gone By edition of a book that I saw for sale at well over £100 in shops in London I know I shouldn't bother entering. But this copy has the advantages of what's sure to be an informative introduction and no guilt for breathing on it, or eating and drinking around it. In some ways, I'm a terrible book collector, I'm more of a story devourer. Whatever I am, the catalogue was tempting.

Oh, and I read my first Helen MacInnes today (Ride a Pale Horse), encouraged by positive comments on callmemadam's lj, which I'd echo. For a spy thriller, the characters were satisfyingly paranoid and thoughtful. I look forward to reading more by her.

Tags: adult books, authors: a, authors: b, authors: m, authors: o, bessie marchant, book-shopping, discussion: personal, discussion: second-hand bookshops, elsie j. oxenham, helen macinnes, links, links: guides, links: personal experience, mabel esther allan, viola bayley

03:07 pm: OVERVIEW: 100 Years of the Girl Guides
I just watched the hour-long documentary 100 Years of the Girl Guides, which aired on BBC4 on Sunday on iPlayer, where it can still be watched by residents of the UK until Sunday night. Past experience suggests that it will be repeated on BBC2 at some point.

I was never a Brownie, Guide or Ranger, but read about them from enthusiastic proponents like Mrs Osborn-Hann, Ethel Talbot and Catherine Christian (or is it Christine Chaundler? perhaps both). The programme, a mixture of history with talking heads: former Brownies or Guides all, but some being celebrities or notables talking about their experienc/view of what they learned or women talking about certain experiences that they'd been through. It made me tear up, to be honest, ( Read more... ) Anyway, if you were/are one of the huge numbers who were/are involved in the Guiding movement, or just a reader like me, I'm sure you'd find it fascinating. There was no mention of guiding books, although they used clips of Guides' footage.

Tags: discussion: guides, discussion: history of girls' education, discussion: second world war, genre: guiding, overview: television programme

08:28 am: PERSONAL: weekend haul
I got a chance to go into a proper, if tiny, second-hand bookshop over the weekend. I don’t recall whether I’ve written about thi particular shop before here or not. It’s the sort of shop where you have to be willing to devote time to searching and even literally kneel down if you’re a children’s book collector or, er, a bookish child. I had a bit of a misanthropic spell there. I’d like to say it was idiot holiday-makers who clearly only went into bookshops when they came across them unexpectedly out of the daily run, but it was people in general. It was mainly the lack of space, books are essentially in piles, three deep in one small room. I scattered some piles about three times and got stepped upon.

Still, I got all of the books that I’m going to discuss next (and more) there:

The Adventurous Rebel: Eileeen Graham. C&J Temple, 1949?.

This is a historical adventure for older girls. I am getting tired of the way early twentieth century children’s writers automatically side with the Royalists (oh those gay cavaliers!) all the time. ( Read more... )

I then read (an overpriced copy given the edition and its condition)

Still Glides the Stream: DE Stevenson. Fontana, 1965.Will Hastie returns to the Borders having stayed in the army after the second world war, but, now in his mid thirties, he means to settle and make a go of things at home. He grew up with the family next door, almost counting Rae his brother and Patty his sister, but Rae died in the war, leaving his parents broken and hopeless. Patty now has a fiancée, who should help her, but Will - unaccountably doesn’t like him. A telling picnic gone wrong shows Patty that she doesn’t like him that much either, but Will has gone off to investigate a mystery thrown up by an enigmatic message from Rae that arrived after news of his death. In the south of France, where Rae died, Will discovers that his friend found and married a beautiful Frenchwoman, and she bore him a son, Tom, in many ways Rae to the life again. Will eventually brings them home, where Tom heals his grandparents and Patty feels she should be happier than she is. It's all very gentle, and I liked it more than I did the last Stevenson that I read, although I was in some anxiety that Stevenson would pair off the ‘right' couple (to my mind), something she doesn’t always do.

This book loosely follows up Amberwell and Summerhills with a visit there that reminded me of people visiting Rosamund’s castle in the Abbey series. I read Amberwell when I was too young to grasp it, really. I wanted it to be more of a book about children and their big house than it was, and then it was a long time after when I read Summerhills.

The Treasure of the Trevellyans: Doris Pocock The Commonwealth Library 2 Ward lock 1959

is a perfectly fine family adventure book about the large brood of an impecunious if well regarded artist who inherits the family seat. Given what the weather is like these days, I like that Pocock does not give them a wonderful Cornish summer. It rains. A lot. ( Read more... )

Tags: adult books, authors: g, authors: p, authors: s, book-shopping, celtic setting: cornwall, celtic setting: scotland, d. e. stevenson, discussion: personal, discussions: second-hand bookshops, doris pocock, eileen graham, genre: family story, genre: historical, genre: holiday adventure, genre: mystery, genre: romance, historical setting: english civil war, overview: books

07:49 am: PERSONAL: not!book shopping
And so the volunteering stint is over for now. Books, which had already been on offer at a blanket price, were put on a better offer: a 'twofer' only more generous. The reason being that there were a lot of books that had been donated in the back room. So much of charity shop activity is based on the donations, which is one of those things that you know, but know better from experience. A lot of people were gleeful about their bargains. For some reason, more books seemed to sell in the afternoons.

There were no books that I wanted to buy, although there were a couple of familiar books I own and love. Is it just me, or do others get possessed of an urge to play with the displays so that their favourites are more prominnt sometimes when you're in a shop?

Tags: discussion: charity shops, discussion: personal

06:53 pm: PERSONAL: ordering book displays
I'm volunteering at a charity shop for a few days. I started today. The books were on offer because a lot had been donated. The most striking thing for me was that they were displayed according to colour. Part of me was horrified (they aren't clothes!), but at least there was some order. I've been to shops where books of all shapes and all sizes have been lumped together. It's annoying because it looks like a mess and if you're dedicated/obsessed enough to go through them all or if you're deluded by the chaos to think that there's the possibility of finding treasure, you have to go through them all with nothing to guide the eye. Usually, it's a long and frustrating process. I don't love alphabetic systems in shops however, it takes the romance out for me as a book searcher. And it makes for odd companions. I suppose my preferred method - in shops - is themed books: literary, murder mysteries, adventure, westerns, romance, children with books perhaps ordered according to size.

Let's not discuss my personal system, which is a work in process, dictated by shelving space and half my books not being to hand or unpacked. But then, I'm not trying to sell them.

Tags: book-shopping, discussion: charity shops, discussion: personal

08:49 am: TASTER: The British Girl's Annual
I thought I'd mentioned beginning this, but I had it mixed up with the last annual I read, The Big Book of School Stories for Girls. The British Girl's Annual was 'compiled by the editor of Little Folks' and published by Cassell and Company Ltd in 1918.

I've been reading no more than a story a day, and actually less frequently than that, so I'm edging two thirds of the way through. I've just finished my second Violet Methley story, 'Her Wits' End', which is less noteworthy than the first of Methley's stories in the annual, 'A Daughter of the Legion'. ( Read more... )

Tags: authors: g, authors: m, authors: t, captain charles gibson, continental setting: france, discussion: first world war, discussion: guides, ethel talbot, genre: annuals etc, genre: guiding, genre: historical, genre: romance, genre: spy foiling, historical setting: french revolution, historical setting: regency, overview: author, overview: book, violet m. methley

09:26 am: REVIEW: Up a Road Slowly
I've just finished reading this book, so this may not be that considered a review. I began it last night, stopped for a good night' sleep and completed it over breakfast.

Up a Road Slowly: Irene Hunt

I remember that I found out about this Newberry Award winner online, but not precisely where or in what context it was recommended. I'd certainly recommend it, it's a coming of age story, slightly in the vein of L.M. Montgomery, with good writing to savour. ( Read more... )

Tags: american setting: usa, authors: h, discussion: influences, genre: coming of age, genre: family story, irene hunt, l. m. montgomery, review: book, review: hunt, series: anne, series: emily

05:12 pm: REVIEW: Peggy's Last Term
Of course, I always seem to come across Ethel Talbot, Bessie Marchant and Angela Brazil books because there are so many of them I had some preconcieved ideas based on the title, Peggy's Last Term, that it would be about a prefect saying goodbye to her school and setting some young'uns right. But that wasn't the story at all. (As I've reread Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where he ( Read more... ) I didn't need to read that story anyway. And it is the sort of story you'd get in a series, not as a stand-alone.

Peggy's Last Term: Ethel Talbot. Nelson

( Read more... )

Tags: authors: t, discussion: first world war, discussion: guides, ethel talbot, genre: guiding, genre: school-story, j.k. rowling, review: book, review: talbot, series: harry potter

07:52 am: TENNIS: Wimbledon 2009 in review
I feel almost unqualified to talk about the final, as I had to leave for church at around 7-6 in the fifth, knowing it would be the last man standing (but 16-14! I don't think my nerves could have taken it, and, as everyone said, if it had been Murray, they probably couldn't). I'd pegged Federer to win, but as soon as the heavily Roger-oriented 'greaest this', 'record that' build-up began, I found I wanted Roddick to begin. Well, it may have been either that or knowing that he had to get off to a good start, and wanting that for the sake of having a good match. But he did, great saves when he was facing break points, he took the first and the second looked like it was going to a break, which we knew he was good at. And good? Oh yes, at first. I think I got a little overset and thought that the point for 6-1 would have won him the breaker, but when I realised my mistake, I was confident that he'd take his four set points. And he didn't. He flunked it, while Federer did no less than you could expect him to do. Roddick fans either groaned, or like me and was it Henman? sat in stunned silence. The third set seemed to go by fast, but credit his resilience, although he must have been dreading the upcoming tiebreaker - I know I ws. Federer showed him how to do it and I was worried that the containing game wouldn't work and Federer's brillianc might become untethered and Roddick would fold up, regretting the second set bitterly, and the face that he hadn't lost a service game. But no. I wanted him to have the double-break to serve first, but he couldn't - Federer was too good, that old refrain - and anyway, the miracle was that it was down to the fifth set. Whoever won that would be the champion (time to think of the second set tie-break later by one and the overly defensive play later by another). And their serves wee awesome, and there was to be no tie-breaker, which Roddick must have relished, but there could be no loose games, but how could they play one now, at the end, anyway, in this, the final crystalised in the fifth set. AND I HAD TO GO.

I entertaned myself during the course of the match, repeatng my 'you're not on GMTV now, castle' refrain whenhe over-expalined. "We call this lined-off piece of grass the court, but not, of course, the tramlines, because this is a singls match, where you have two mewn playing each other. Those lines - tram lines the're called - are for doubles matches, that is when wo people play. Together. There are four people on court." Also, I liked to imagine Ndal crying manly tears into the Med (he really was the unmentioned missing presence) and Murray sitting on a sofa, making acid remarks about the tactics. I think thiswas inspired by the anecdote of roddick catching the last set of last year's final and it motivating him to come back. And come back he did, more serious, more intent. Fitter, yes, with Stefanki's game-plans, but older and more focused on his chances. And, whatever else, he was part of another final that can be rightly dubbed 'epic'.


As for the Championships, I'm hopeless at this, because i can't say which was the best match I watched - I have a feeling that I only saw bits or highlights of the matches that will go down as classics: Serena and Dementieva for the women; the final, Roddick versus Hewitt, Murray versus Wawrinka, Haas versus Cilic. What I missed the most, though, was a Michael Stich commentary. Where was he? Away? On radio? He's great. I'd rather him than John Lloyd.

My favourite ladies outfit - eh - this is a stab, but I really liked the back strapping of Venus's dress, o I'll give it to her (either she wears something really tasteful or reallu outre). The only reason I put that in is parity, because I want to talk about the excellent neck-line of Djokovic's tshirt. Seriously, I covet it. (So I would have thought would the men, with the Andies twitching their t-shirts like irritated toddlrs all the time). And with that (not the roof and the weather or how it's still Henman Hill or the dissection of the women's game or the British game) I leave Sw19 - mentally - for another 50 weeks or so.

Tags: discussion: anyone for tennis?, grass court season 2009, sports: tennis

08:20 am: TENNIS: Wimbledon 09 last day but one
I watched the tennis for most of the afternoon, but at about 75% intensity. I suppose one can't be into every match always, and perhaps I didn't care enough about the players. Yes, the Williamses are impressive and yes, their position as best of the game is ambiguous, because they don't play the tour like most other players, they focus on the grand slams etc. etc. Anyway, when Venus couldn't convert her chances in the first, mainly because Serena was serving with a strong arm (or legs, it's about the legs, apparently) and Serena outpowered her - quite comprehensively in the second. Well, it wasn't a classic, exactly. (And I was wrong.)

I half watched both the men and women's doubles finals, loving the rat-a-tat net exchanges the most. I hope Wimbledon digs its heels in and keeps the doubles matches as long a they should be nd keeps giving them the relative prestige that they get. It's also a shame that there are so few big opportunities to play mixed doubles, because professional sports are so often segregated on gender lines and here's one instance where they needn't be. Obviously, having two different tours means that it's difficult to arrange, but it's got fun dynamics.

Tags: discussion: anyone for tennis?, grass court season 2009, sports: tennis

10:36 am: TENNIS: Wimbledon semi finals.
( Women's semis )

( Men's semis )

I also watched Jamie Murray's semi finals, which were notable for proving that he's better than no. 75 in doubles, and that Sam Smith has a crush on Daniel Nestor. I always rather like it when the female commentators (Jo Durie does it more) gt to discuss the men's looks. (WHAT?) On a more serious note, the day we've arrived is the day an all-female commentator team will cover a men's match.

Tags: discussion: anyone for tennis?, grass court season 2009, sports: tennis