Well, no matter what the rest of the reading year brings, I’ll always have had this January!
A very decent selection of interesting books, this month, and I managed to write up posts on all of them, too.
Here they are, all my January 2018 books, arranged very best to less so on my personal-reading-pleasure scale-of-ten.
10 ~ Saint Jack by Paul Theroux ~ 1973. Theroux’s portrait of an ex-American pimp in Singapore re-examining his life-to-date hit all the right buttons. Sardonic but never vicious – an occasional undertone in later works – Theroux’s unlikely (and possibly unreliable) narrator speaks from the heart. Darkish, with lashings of sly humour.
9.5 ~ Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw ~ 1968. A beautifully balanced bildungsroman, as the daughter of celebrities seeks anonymity and recreates herself with unexpected consequences. Contains a mystery and something of a love story.
9 ~ The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen ~ 1935. A Henry Jamesian micro-saga of love, denial, betrayal and many secrets.
9 ~ The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart ~ 1971. Magic flowers and a very clever cat add much excitement to Mary’s dreaded summer-away-from-home. A grand book to share with a child, and any fan of Mary Stewart’s adult-aimed thrillers will be gently entertained.
9 ~ The Foolish Gentlewoman by Margery Sharp ~ 1948. What happens when a wealthy, well-intentioned, but simplistic-minded widow takes a sermon’s message literally.
8.5 ~ The Little Girls by Elizabeth Bowen ~ 1964. An intricately twisted tale of schoolgirl friends reconvening four decades onward, much concerned with time capsules, and what is chosen to be saved.
8 ~ The Camomile by Catherine Carswell ~ 1922. A young writer follows the call of her muse, to the bafflement of her family and fiancé.
8 ~ Twelve Girls in the Garden by Shane Martin ~ 1957. Artists-in-crime are investigated by an elderly archeologist turned tenacious sleuth.
8 ~ No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod ~ 1999. From Scotland to Cape Breton: an extended family cherishes its roots and returns again and again to the symbolic places from whence they came.
8 ~ The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham ~ 1957. A peaceful English village is chosen to nurture a clutch of alien offspring in a science fiction ode to noble Brits staying true to their tradition while in danger of losing it all.
7.5 ~ Tamarac by Margaret Hutchison ~ 1957. A straightforward and familiar sort of story: young woman meets adversity head on, and mostly prevails. Autobiographically set in the British Columbia Kootenay region.
7.5 ~ Old Herbaceous by Reginald Arkell ~ 1950. A deeply nostalgic look back at the life of a manor house gardener, from Victoria’s time and onward.
7.5 ~ Robinson by Muriel Spark ~ 1958. A plane crash, an isolated volcanic island, high tensions, religion, and a trail of blood. (But it’s really quite a lot about being Catholic.)
7 ~ Out of the Deeps a.k.a. The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham ~ 1953. Aliens from a gas giant planet infiltrate Earth’s ocean’s with predictably disastrous repercussions.
7 ~ The Owl Service by Alan Garner ~ 1967. Three teenagers in Wales are caught up in a come-to-life tragic legend regarding a woman made of flowers and her alternate form.
7 ~ The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin ~ 1972. Perfect wives are made in Stepford… A feminist horror story with a chillingly un-human conclusion.
6.5 ~ The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw ~ 1996. A changeling tale featuring a hybrid human-faerie child and her personal struggle with self-determination and the growing of a moral conscience.
6 ~ Trouble With Lichen by John Wyndham ~ 1960. A rare lichen, a brilliant scientist, a secret scheme to bring womankind to her full potential. John Wyndham spins an intriguing tale sadly bereft of some basic logic.
6 ~ The Victorian Album by Evelyn Berckman ~ 1973. Awakening and mimicking a tragic past; a contemporary gothic tale with a supernatural twist.
5 ~ Mother by Kathleen Norris ~ 1911. A young woman from a large, poor family is whisked away to a dream job and a life of luxury, but she eventually sees the light and returns to kneel at the feet of saintly Mother.
Leaves & Pages 
Wow what a great reading month. I have that edition of The Little Girls its so pretty. You’ve also very much put The Camomile on my radar.
Well done. I reached Jan 31 with only 6 completed reads (though several are still on the go and a few abandoned.
And, I’m sorry to say, I abandoned The Foolish Gentlewoman. I really wanted to like it, but I found I couldn’t like any of the people. None.
Oh, dear! Sorry to hear this. Well, sometimes that happens, doesn’t it? Don’t get rid of the book – it might “take” on a future try. Maybe?
Have you read much Margery Sharp? She seems to be something of an acquired taste for some – and some just don’t ever “click” with her, either.
For what it’s worth, the characters are (I believe) meant to be annoying, and as the story progresses we get more and more insights onto why they are that way, so we end up at least understanding their quirks, if not agreeing with their actions.
I recently let go of a large clerical responsibility I had undertaken for the last 13 years with a volunteer organization I belong to, which has freed me up some wonderful evening reading time in the winter months, and as you can see, I have taken advantage of it! (Now I’m filling the president’s role there – hopefully just as a a stop gap while we find another wanting to take on the “ruling” role – and it’s all about delegation of duties to others, which is an interesting change of focus. More responsibility but less actual “work”, it’s turning out to be. I’m torn; I enjoyed the work part as a whole, though regretted the time it gobbled up. I’m not so keen on being “boss”; I’m more of a behind-the-scenes type person at heart, and this thing involves being present at events, much handshaking, and occasional speeches. I’ve had to buy suitable new “dress up” clothes… 😉 )
I haven’t read her at all before, but I’ve had two other Margery Sharps appear on my shelves. (where do they come from? Are they magically replacing the books that mysteriously vanish?) so I can take a go at Cluny Brown and Britannia Mews. Some time.
Well, if I can encourage you, let me say that all of Margery Sharp’s books are very different from each other, so if one doesn’t click another might. Cluny Brown is a lot of fun; Britannia Mews is a little more serious in tone. Of your three I would say Cluny Brownis my favourite.
I actually LOVE these little snapshots! I know you did the longer reviews, but these are nice too…my daughter like The Moorchild, albeit she thought it was a bit weird. 🙂
It was interesting to line these all up and sum them up; sometimes those snippet reviews say all that needs to be said! Yes, I have to agree with your daughter – The Moorchild is a bit weird, but in general quite likeable. 🙂