Tag: Remember These

Remember These? Books beginning with F and G

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Before I started blogging I used to keep a list of the books I read in an A-Z notebook – the title, the author and a rating out of 5, but no other information. I did this from the mid-1990s to around the year 2000, but sadly kept no records after that until October 2009 when I started my blog.

I still have the notebook and a few years ago I began writing a series of blog posts highlighting some of the books listed under each letter, but only got as far as E before getting distracted and forgetting to do the rest. I did enjoy working on those posts, so I have decided to continue and try to get all the way to Z this time – and yes, I do have a book listed under Z!

So, without further ado, here is a selection of the books that appeared on the ‘F’ and ‘G’ pages of my notebook. I originally gave the books ratings out of 5 and the additional symbol * means that I particularly loved the book while X means I didn’t finish it. Although I’ve included my original ratings here, these do not necessarily reflect what I would feel about the books if I read them again today!

Books beginning with F and G:

Gormenghast The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake 5/5*
I remember buying this book after watching the BBC adaptation in 2000. My edition includes all three novels in the trilogy – I didn’t like the third one, Titus Alone, but loved the first two, Titus Groan and Gormenghast.

The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye 5/5*
This wonderful novel set in India is one of my favourite historical fiction novels. I loved it the first time I read it and when I re-read it in 2010 I was pleased to find that it was still as good as I remembered.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 5/5*
I have read Gone with the Wind several times and don’t know if this particular entry refers to my first read or a later re-read. It’s another favourite, though, so it would get 5/5 from me every time.

Grim Pickings Grim Pickings by Jennifer Rowe 5/5
This was a great Agatha Christie-style mystery novel set in Australia and revolving around a murder that takes place in an old woman’s orchard where her family have gathered to pick apples. I think it was part of a series, but I never read any of the others.

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively 3/5
This is one of Penelope Lively’s children’s books. I can remember what the front cover of my copy looked like (and I think I still have it somewhere) but the story has faded from my mind. I would like to read it again as I think I might appreciate it more now than I did the first time.

The Fog The Fog by James Herbert 3/5
I very rarely read horror novels these days but I used to read a lot of them. I enjoyed this one, about a mysterious fog that spreads across Britain, altering the minds of everyone who comes into contact with it.

Freezing by Penelope Evans 3/5
I have no memories at all of reading this book. According to Goodreads, it’s a crime novel about a photographer who works in a mortuary and tries to find the identity of a drowning victim who is brought into the morgue one day. It sounds a bit gruesome but I must have enjoyed it enough to give it a 3/5 rating.

First Impression by Margot Dalton 3/5
I can’t remember this one either. It’s another crime novel, this time about a detective trying to solve a missing child case.

Fog Heart The Ghost Road by Pat Barker 2/5
If you’d asked me whether I’d read anything by Pat Barker I would have said no, but obviously I did read this one. I think I’ll have to read it again as I can’t remember anything about it and I suspect it deserves more than 2/5! It’s the third in the Regeneration trilogy and I don’t have any record of reading the previous two, so maybe that was the problem.

Fog Heart by Thomas Tessier 2/5
The story of two couples who are drawn together when they attend a séance and meet a young medium called Oona. I do vaguely remember reading this book, but I wasn’t very impressed by it.

The Ghosts of Candleford by Mike Jeffries 2/5
Neither the title nor the author sound familiar to me but Amazon tells me that this is a ‘classic tale of the supernatural’. Seeing how many books I’ve read and then completely forgotten about has confirmed for me (if I needed to have it confirmed) that starting a book blog was an excellent idea!

Have you read any of these books? Can you shed any light on the more obscure ones?

I’ll be back soon with another selection, but if you missed my earlier Remember These? posts you can see them here.

Remember These? Books beginning with D and E

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Remember These? is a series of posts looking at some of the books I recorded in my old pre-blogging reading diary. The diary spanned my teens to my early twenties, and although I’ve included my original ratings, these ratings do not necessarily reflect what I would feel about the books if I read them again today!

Here are some of the books that appeared on the ‘D’ and ‘E’ pages of my notebook.

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (5/5)

If there’s any author who really seems to divide opinion, it’s Diana Gabaldon. I personally love her books and have read the whole Outlander/Cross Stitch series several times (there are currently seven books in the series with at least one more to come). Dragonfly in Amber is probably my favourite – I loved the Paris setting and the black magic aspect, and it’s also the most emotional of the seven books, in my opinion.

The Dark Half by Stephen King (5/5)

Between the ages of about fifteen and twenty I read a lot of Stephen King books but haven’t read any since then. I seem to remember this being one of my favourites. It’s about an author, Thad Beaumont, who writes under the name George Stark. But when Thad decides to ‘kill off’ his pseudonym, he discovers that George doesn’t want to die…

Dragonfly by John Farris (4/5)

Synopsis: “Abby Abelard is the hottest-selling romance writer in America. Dr. Joe Bryce, a dedicated physician, has spent the last three years in war-torn Africa. But he has sins on his conscience and a frightening past he can never outrun, even with Abby’s help.”
I have no memories of this book at all, so can’t tell you what it was that I liked about it. Have any of you read it?

Elidor by Alan Garner (3/5)

I first read this at school and later bought my own copy of it. It’s about four children who find themselves drawn into a mystical land called Elidor where evil forces are at work. The book is quite scary in places but I would highly recommend it for older children and young teenagers.

The Dark Cliffs by F.E. Smith (3/5)

This is obviously a very obscure one! I’ve been unable to find any information online at all, although LibraryThing tells me it’s been tagged as gothic suspense. I’d love to hear from anyone who remembers reading this book.

Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock (3/5)

I only came across Michael Moorcock’s books because my dad liked them and passed his collection on to me. I’ve never been very interested in fantasy, but I loved these books. The Elric series (particularly this one, Stormbringer and The Stealer of Souls) were my favourites.

Double Vision by Annie Ross (2/5)

Synopsis: “When an American heiress is murdered, the police charge her British husband with murder. But, when a second murder occurs, there is no solution. UK TV director, Bel Campbell, learns of a third mysterious death, and finds the key to the identity of the murderer.”
Yet another one I don’t have any memories of reading!

The Drowning People by Richard Mason (2/5)

This is a murder mystery with a difference – we are told the identity of the murderer on the first page and the rest of the book attempts to show us why he did it.

Have you read any of these books?

Remember These? Books beginning with ‘C’

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Remember These? is a series of posts looking at some of the books I recorded in my old pre-blogging reading diary. The diary spanned my teenage years to my early twenties, so most of the books mentioned below will have been read during the 1990s and although I’ve included my original ratings, these do not necessarily reflect what I would feel about the books if I read them again today!

I gave the books ratings out of 5. The symbol * means I loved the book. X means I didn’t finish it.

Books beginning with ‘C’

Here are a selection of the books that appeared on the ‘C’ page of my notebook:

The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean M Auel (5/5*)

This is the first book in the Earth’s Children series which follows the adventures of Ayla, a prehistoric girl who is adopted by a group of Neanderthal people. I loved this one, but for some reason I couldn’t get into the second book at all, so gave up on the series. Should I give these books another chance?

Charley – Joan G. Robinson (5/5*)

Also published under the title, The Girl Who Ran Away. I’d love to hear from anyone else who remembers this children’s book, as it was one of my favourites. It was about a girl called Charley who was sent to stay with her aunt. When a misunderstanding caused her to believe that her aunt didn’t want her, she ran away and tried to survive on her own in the English countryside.

Claudia’s Shadow – Charlotte Vale Allen (4/5)

I can’t remember reading this one at all! Here’s a description from Amazon: “When her sister Claudia dies mysteriously, Rowena Graham cannot accept the verdict of suicide. In a desperate move to learn the facts about her sister’s death, Rowena moves into her sister’s home and takes over the management of Claudia’s restaurant.”

Children of the Dust – Louise Lawrence (3/5)

This is a post-apocalyptic YA novel which follows the story of three generations of people who survive a nuclear war. I read this book at school and remember it being a very effective and harrowing portrayal of both the war itself and the aftermath.

The Christmas Mystery – Jostein Gaarder (3/5)

I first read this as a teenager and re-read it in December 2009 (my review is here). I didn’t like it as much as Gaarder’s other books such as Sophie’s World or The Solitaire Mystery, but it is a perfect book to read at Christmas and has an interesting advent-calendar structure of twenty-four chapters, one for each day of advent.

Choices – Noah Gordon (3/5)

This is the third in a trilogy of books by Noah Gordon about three doctors from three different generations of the Cole family who have all inherited a special ‘gift’: they can sense when a patient is going to die. The first book, The Physician, is set in the 11th century; the second, Shaman, is set during the US Civil War. This one has a more modern setting and I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first two. It was also a lot shorter and didn’t have the same ‘epic’ feel.

The Copper Peacock – Ruth Rendell (2/5)

A short story collection by the crime writer Ruth Rendell. I can’t even remember reading this book or anything else by Ruth Rendell.

The Celestine Prophecy – James Redfield (1/5)

This book was part adventure story, part spiritual self-help book. It was about an ancient manuscript discovered in the rainforests of Peru, which contains nine important insights into life. Although it sounded fascinating I was very disappointed by it.

Crucifix Lane – Kate Mosse (x)

Kate Mosse is better known as the author of Labyrinth, Sepulchre and The Winter Ghosts. This was one of her earlier novels and something a bit different, as it was a science-fiction novel about a woman from the 1990s who travels 11 years forward in time. I didn’t manage to finish this one and haven’t had any better luck with any of her other novels.

Have you read any of the books I’ve mentioned?

Coming soon… Remember These? Books Beginning with ‘D’

Remember These? Books beginning with ‘B’

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Remember These? is a series of posts looking at some of the books I recorded in my old reading diary. The diary spanned my teenage years to my early twenties, so most of the books mentioned below will have been read during the 1990s and although I’ve included my original ratings, these do not necessarily reflect what I would feel about the books if I read them again today!

I gave the books ratings out of 5. The symbol * means I loved the book. X means I didn’t finish it.

Books beginning with ‘B’

Here are a selection of the books that appeared on the ‘B’ page of my notebook.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (5/5*)
This was one of my childhood favourites, but is a classic that can be enjoyed by adults too. If you’ve never read it, it’s told through the eyes of a horse called Black Beauty and highlights the way horses can suffer through the cruel treatment of their owners. Needless to say, this is yet another children’s book that makes me cry! The edition I have is a hardback with beautiful colour illustrations – sorry about the poor quality photo, but I couldn’t find the cover of this particular edition online anywhere.

Bloodstream by Tess Gerritsen (5/5)
It’s funny because I’ve read a few reviews of Tess Gerritsen books recently and didn’t take much notice of them, thinking that they didn’t sound like my type of books. In fact, I would have sworn that I had never even read one. Well, obviously I was wrong. I have read one and apparently I loved it!

Born of the Sun by Gillian Cross (5/5)
Gillian Cross is a British author best known for her children’s series, The Demon Headmaster. She also wrote this book, which I couldn’t remember at all until I read the synopsis: “For years, Paula and her father have dreamed and talked about trying to find the lost city of Atahualpa. And now, without warning, Paula is taken out of school and finds her dream come true…But as they descend towards the jungle, Paula senses that all is not quite as it should be. Why is her father so moody and impatient? And why does he insist that the expedition is being shadowed by sinister enemies?”

Borderliners by Peter Hoeg (4/5)
Peter Hoeg is best known for the thriller Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow. After reading Miss Smilla, I remember looking for more of Hoeg’s books and came across this one in the library. Although I appear to have enjoyed this book at the time, I can’t remember much about it now except that it was about a group of students at a private school in Denmark who discover that they’re being used as part of a social experiment.

The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb (4/5)
Sharyn McCrumb wrote several novels that deal with Appalachian history and folklore. I remember reading this one, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter and She Walks These Hills, and I enjoyed all of them. The Ballad of Frankie Silver takes as its starting point two murders separated by more than a century and looks at the ways in which the justice system has changed over the years.

Bloody Roses by Natasha Cooper (3/5)
This was one of a series of murder mystery books featuring the detective Willow King who leads a double life as both a civil servant and a romantic novelist. It seems that I used to read a lot of crime fiction and murder mysteries, which is interesting because they’re not genres that I read very much at all anymore.

The BFG by Roald Dahl (3/5)
I think I probably read all of Roald Dahl’s children’s books, most of them more than once. This one was never one of my favourites though and although I can remember some of the characters (Sophie, the ‘Big Friendly Giant’, the other evil giants) I can’t really remember the plot.

Boy by Roald Dahl (3/5)
This is an autobiographical work by Roald Dahl, in which he shares stories about his childhood years. It’s written in the same lively, humourous style as his fiction.

Bright Island by Mabel L Robinson (X)
I’m intrigued by this one because I don’t remember it at all, not even the title. I didn’t like it enough to even finish it and yet it apparently won a Newbery Honor in 1938. Can anyone remind me what it was about?

Do you remember reading any of the books mentioned above?

Coming soon… Remember These? Books Beginning with ‘C’.

Remember These? Books beginning with ‘A’

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A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was planning a series of posts looking at some of the books I recorded in my old reading diary. The diary spanned my teenage years to my early twenties, so most of the books mentioned below will have been read during the 1990s and although I’ve included my original ratings, these do not necessarily reflect what I would feel about the books if I read them again today!

I gave the books ratings out of 5. The symbol * means I loved the book. X means I didn’t finish it.

Books beginning with ‘A’

Here are a selection of the books that appeared on the ‘A’ page of my notebook. Some of these are classics that many of you have probably read. Others are very obscure, so if you’ve read them I’d love to know what you thought of them!

Animal Farm by George Orwell (5/5*)

I obviously loved this when I first read it. I’ve reread it a couple of times since then and I still think it’s a great book.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (5/5)

One of those children’s classics that can also be enjoyed by adults. I haven’t read it for a long time; I wonder if I would feel any differently about it after reading Alice I Have Been earlier this year?

A Home For Jessie by Christine Pullein-Thompson (4/5)

My best friend and I bought this book and the next two in the Jessie series (Please Save Jessie and Come Home Jessie) from the school book fair when we were about 10 or 11 years old. The series follows the adventures of a boy called Matt and the black Labrador puppy that he rescues from being drowned. This was my favourite Jessie book and I loved it so much I re-read it many times, even after I was ‘too old’ for it (can you ever really be too old for a book?) and it made me cry every time.

All the Rivers Run by Nancy Cato (3/5)

This was recommended to me by my mother because I had enjoyed The Thorn Birds and she said this was a similar book also set in Australia. I can’t remember much about this one, though.

Acorna: The Unicorn Girl by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball (3/5)

I’ve never been a big reader of fantasy novels, but I must have enjoyed this enough to give it a 3/5 rating.

A Kind of Thief by Vivien Alcock (3/5)

I can’t remember reading this at all, and even the Goodreads description doesn’t bring back any memories for me: “When her father is suddenly arrested and put into prison, thirteen-year-old Elinor finds that she has to face many unpleasant truths about him and their way of life.”

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (3/5)

I really need to be in a Christmassy mood to appreciate this book. I’ve read it several times over the years and would probably have given it a different rating every time! I re-read it on Christmas Eve last year and really enjoyed it. The edition shown in the picture is the one that was given to me as a Christmas present when I was a child and is a beautiful hardback with colour illustrations.

A Proper Little Nooryeff by Jean Ure (2/5)

I forgot about this one when I did my post on children’s ballet books a few months ago. It was about a teenage boy who becomes a ballet dancer. Nooryeff, if you were wondering, is a mispronunciation of the name (Rudolf) Nureyev.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (2/5)

I remember my English teacher at school telling us about this book but saying it was suitable for a ‘more mature reader’ so I didn’t actually read it until after I had left school. The chapters describing the fires of hell must have left a big impression on me because that’s all I can actually remember about the book. I’ve never wanted to read anything else by Joyce though, so I don’t think he’s an author for me.

Across the Barricades by Joan Lingard (2/5)

We read this at school in English Literature. It would have been very relevant in the 1990s, as it was set in Northern Ireland and told the story of Kevin, a Catholic boy, who falls in love with Sadie, a Protestant girl. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this was actually the second in a series of books about Kevin and Sadie. I think maybe the fact that I was made to read it at school affected my enjoyment of it.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (2/5)

Like many children/young teenagers I used to read a lot of Judy Blume books. This was one of her most popular books, so I’m sure some of you will remember reading it too. I don’t seem to have enjoyed this one very much though.

A Likely Lad by Gillian Avery (1/5)

I can’t remember reading this but I only rated it 1/5. According to the product description on Amazon, ‘Pressured by his father to leave school for a career he doesn’t want, a nineteenth-century Manchester boy runs away and gains a new perspective on his future.’ This actually sounds like something I would probably enjoy more if I was reading it now!

An Air That Kills by Andrew Taylor (x); Act of Violence by Margaret Yorke (1/5); A Thin Dark Line byTami Hoag (3/5)

These three are crime novels which is why I’ve grouped them together, but I can remember absolutely nothing about them and even looking up the descriptions on Amazon doesn’t help bring them back to my mind. I must have thought the Tami Hoag one was okay. I did go through a phase of reading a lot of crime novels, but now I almost never read them (I think I’ve only read one in 2010).

A Touch of Practical Magic by Robert Gould (x)

I recognise the title and can even picture what the cover looked like, but I have no idea what it was about. It seems to be out of print and I can’t even find a synopsis online. I obviously didn’t like it enough to finish it anyway, so I won’t spend too much time worrying about it, but if anyone remembers this book please let me know!

Coming soon… Remember These? Books Beginning with ‘B’.