Stories about little creatures

Just before Christmas, we went to our lovely friends for a wonderful dinner, and of course, the subject of books came up, and I admitted that I had never read "The Wind in the Willows" (well I had, but in school, where you go round the class with everyone reading one paragraph at a time...tortuous!). Our hosts urged me to give it a try, and I am so delighted that I did. What a wonderful book, written by Kenneth Graham, and illustrated by Arthur Rackham (whose work I adore). I also like EH Shepherd who illustrated Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh. AA Milne wrote the foreword to the The Wind in the Willows, and it was beautiful! The stories in this book are marvellous, such a delight to read, and with such fantastic adventures! The image of Toad in a dress was one of my favourites! I love this book, and it has been added to my treasure list. I loved all the descriptions of each of their homes, and couldn't decide which one I would want to stay in. They all had some magic to them. The characters were wonderful; again, I don't know who is my favourite - kindly Ratty, wise Badger, bold Toad, or curious Mole. But it is a book, I shall keep on going back to, and I am so happy I was encouraged to try again.

It actually prompted me to read another children's book, one which I adored, but sadly lost my first copy, but amazingly found another copy in my adult years! The book is "The Forest of Boland Light Railway", written by BB, also known as Denys Watkins-Pitchford, who was an English naturalist and artist, who not only wrote his books, but also drew the illustrations, which are gorgeous! So, this book is about a clever gnome who invents the steam engine to help the other gnomes get to and from the mines where they work, and have day trips. There is so much detail about the flowers and the lives of these little people. It is magical, and I am so happy that I have come back to it again. (it is now out of print, which is why I don't have a link for it - you can get it, but it is very expensive). Keep an eye out though.

If you can't get that one, you can still get some of BB's other books, so I also read "The Little Grey Men", which was about two gnomes who decide to sail up the river to look for their brother who never came home after sailing away on an adventure. In both of these books, the names of the gnomes are brilliant: Cloudberry, Dodder, Sneezewort....so creative! With the help of their animal and bird friends, they sail off in a paddle boat of their own ingenious creation, and have lots of adventures. It gets a little bit dark in places, but it all ends up right in the end. This book is easily available, and a really wonderful, and creative read. I am just reading an Agatha Christie at the moment, and then I have the sequel to this book lined up to follow! I am loving my evenings reading in front of the fire, with my cat sitting on my lap!

Discovering Japanese crime fiction and other new authors

The Honjin Murders

Happy New Year! We live down a lovely farm track, a mile out of town. We regularly walk up to town and this short walk should only take 10 minutes, but often takes significantly longer because we chat with friends we meet who are making the same walk, or as they say in Italy "fare la passagiata". Recently we made friends with a lovely man and his dog who is a book lover like us, and from him we have learned about new authors. I had mentioned that I had discovered Japanese novels, and he told me about Japanese crime fiction. The next time I went into a bookshop, I discovered the Honjin Murders, written in 1973, by Seishi Yokomizo. It was brilliant, a really great locked-room mystery, with such an good twist at the end, and a Columbo-style detective. I love discovering new authors, and am really delighted with our informal walking book group.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Another book I have recently read is The Kamogawa Food Detectives, and again, I loved it. I do not know how they come up with their creative ideas. This one is about a secret restaurant, where people go to eat, but also to discover a recipe that they had previously experienced and want to recreate. It is not all about the food, but also about the experience that person had when they originally tasted it. This is about a father-daughter duo, with the daughter, conducting the original interview with the person looking for the recipe, and the chef taking that knowledge to rediscover the recipe, exactly as the requesting person wants it.

The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells

The last book I am going to post about is The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells. I was conflicted with this one. I really enjoyed it, but the author is from North Cornwall, and I am really proud of my adopted county, so I expected it to be more Cornish. However, it reminded me of books set in America, particularly those of Alice Hoffman. It talked about pancakes, which is not very Cornish. It did mention a couple of places in Cornwall, but it just didn't feel right. I would have preferred more Cornish context. Saying that, the plot was really good, with great descriptions of the location. It is about a woman who returns to the town where she used to live, after inheriting a house from her grandmother. There was conflict between her grandmother and her great aunt, because of a book of spells and the power of the mountains. The woman falls in love with a mysterious man, who her great aunt fears will break her heart by disappearing. It is a very magical story, and I think I am curious to read more.

So, that's it for now. Wishing you all a Happy New Year! Thank you for reading!