Harry Silver ferryies a woman and to men to the not-a-planet of Maracanda where things are not always what one would expect. LATER: Whats with the typos?
I did not have high hopes for a teen book about bridge, but I trusted the author, read it, and liked it VERY much! The possibly overwhelming stuff about bridge is marked with a whale symbol so you can skip over it. An excellent idea! I almost want to try playing bridge, now. Almost!
Author goes to juvenile detention facility for mostly murderers, teaches a writing class. Non-fiction. I liked the talking-parts, but not the student writing parts. It's just me, I guess.
Shelly House is over a hundred years old. Once a mansion, now divided into apartments, or "flats", as the Brits will call them. A motley assortment of people live there, mostly not getting along very well. An assault occurs, suspects are listed, but everything is cleared up by the end. Except the death of Marge!
Quote:
The siren had stopped but the blue light was still revolving, its fluorescent rays so dazzling that she was forced to close her eyes. -- "Fluorescent"??
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Tomasz had found her [Princess] in the end -- But what about Marge??
Quote:
"But you no longer have a car." -- Finally!! But is Marge dead??
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"Hello, Dotty." -- Well, that brings back some memories for me.
Quote:
"Are you doing dauphinoise potatoes with the stew?" -- Didn't someone just mention those potatoes to me? Ha ha!
A Mobile Library Mystery. I wasn't much interested in this book, except for the library stuff, but as things proceeded to an end I found myself pleased with the ending. Rather witty in parts. I shall have to find the next book.
One of my favorite books, I actually PURCHASED after reading twice from the library so I could share it with others. Barbara and her husband bicycle around the world. Read--several times and more to come.
Ruthie makes a new friend at school. They become best friends, then Mitzi and her family are sent away because it's World War II and they are Japanese-American. A really good story, I liked it very much.
Lucinda is a ten-year-old living in "orphanage" with her aunts while her parents are in Italy for a year because of her mother's health issues. Lucinda is quite outgoing, and reminded me much of Anne Shirley. She loves to meet people, and is totally unconscious of "class". I thought this would be a "nice" story, but there were two deaths that came as quite a shock. Awarded the Newbery in 1937.
Words I Had To Look Up:
story of Diamond (pg. 21) -- the quote in the book is from At The Back Of The North Wind, by George MacDonald, a children's book published in 1871. Anton Seidl (pg. 92) -- Hugarian-born conductor who became conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1891. He died in 1898. Robert Ingersoll (pg. 92) -- Lucinda notes that Aunt Emily said he didn't believe in God. Lucinda wonders "a great deal" why, but never finds out. A very interesting Wikipedia article I perused said he was a great orator and spoke on many topics, including agnosticism. guimp (pg. 142) -- A narrow flat braid used for trimming. Also spelled gimp. Cornelius Nepos (pg. 131) -- A Roman biographer. gertrude (pg. 178) -- A type of clothing for infants. More information is online in The Care Of The Baby, by J. P. Crozer Griffith, published 1900.
Smoke Quote:
The princess brought out a lacquered box, and out of this some cigarettes. She lighted one, lay back on the cushions, and smoked. Lucinda had never seen, had never dreamed it even possible that a woman could smoke. It only made the whole ending of that day appear more unbelievable. (pg. 100)
I'm sure I read H. Beam Piper's book back in the 60s, but I don't remember it. I'll have to find it! This one was pretty good, I liked it much more than Redshirts, even though I didn't weep at this one.
A 75 year old man joins the Colonial Defense Force, gets a new body. I was in tears by the top of the third page. I really enjoyed this book, very Heinelinesque, couldn't put it down. EDIT 20016: This time around I cried a lot more.