101/1001 (Ate)

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Read Thirty Books  6/30

I read Apple Bough by Noel Streatfeild last weekend.  How she got everyone to read her books when she can’t spell half her name is beyond me.

I loved Ballet Shoes as a child, of course; over and over.  I read another one of hers in my twenties, about some children caught up in a Turkish or maybe Armenian earthquake: a child in that book went to ballet school.

This one is about four children, three of whom are prodigies.  One – wait for it – goes to ballet school.

Streatfeild’s gift is to write interesting characters living unusual lives, and to make them believable.  A family travelling the world so that an eight-year-old boy can play in concerts is an odd premise even now; I can’t imagine what the original Sixties audience made of it.

If I had to give it a one-word review, I would say: Fabulous.  Unputdownable.  Entertaining.  Fun.

Sorry: it’s too good for just one word.

All of the books I am reading or have read recently seem to be child-related in some way:

• The Bunty and Mandy annuals were comics for girls
• Apple Bough  is about children, for children
• Ender’s Game (just read) and To Kill A Mocking Bird (reading) are written from a child’s perspective

I have no discrimination in my reading: if it’s well-written, I’ll read it.  Maybe.  Unless it’s dull and over-hyped (Catcher In The Rye, anyone?)

I will also read poorly written, formulaic trash so long as it has heaving bosoms and a brute hero.

What can I say?  I’m a romantic at heart.*

*This post was brought to you by my doppelgänger.

*

Don’t forget to check on my fellow 101/1001ers, Sarsm and Perfecting Motherhood.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wildlife

Some of our gerbils.  They are fabulous pets who will interact with you yet remain ‘wild’.  The photo of Pepper on the Hub’s hand is a little blurred, but I include it to show you how she would groom his hair.

Joke 50

Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, “Why is the bride dressed in white?”

“Because white is the colour of happiness,” her mother explained. “And today is the happiest day of her life.”

The child thought about this for a moment. “So why is the groom wearing black?”