Title: Miss Hargreaves
Author:
Frank Baker
Genre: Fiction
About the book…
Written in 1940 by
Frank Baker, Miss Hargreaves tells a
story of imagination becoming reality.
Norman Huntley has a problem with making
things up “on the Spur of the Moment” and it is on such an occasion Miss Hargreaves
is invented. Little do he and his friend know when the joke is carried out so
far as to write her a letter that they have invited her to show up on their
doorstep and turn their town upside-down.
What I think…
I came across
this book by accident and am so happy I did!
The plot while a slightly uneven
at times, in my opinion, is filled with unexpected twists that keep it from
being entirely predictable. This is further added to by the colorful array of characters
who are as equally unpredictable with their odd mannerisms. From harp playing a
parrot to sleep, boating in the middle of the night, being a disguised clergy,
and making up fantastic tales of travel, among other things, there really is no
end to what expect of Baker’s characters.
Miss
Hargreaves also offers up the thought of how one would react to and handle
a person created of their own mind showing up in person.
To sum it all up…
Miss Hargreaves is a good book to read
if you’re looking for just a touch of fantasy, a dose of eccentricity, and a
whole lot of zaniness. ♥
Very short post, since I'm fairly tired at the moment...
At some point early on in the summer I came
across Simplicity pattern 2168 on another blog (wish I could remember
whose), instantly took a liking to it, and promptly went about purchasing it. It
sat in my train case for about a month until I decided to use some fabric I had
originally intended for another dress.
 |
| House dress or Housecoat |
Overall, it was a very quick dress to make, but
somehow it ended up taking a month after the dress was completely put together for
me to finish the buttonholes and hem. However, yesterday I had enough time to
get the hem up and today I was able to wear it!
♥ ♥ ♥
Title: A Necklace of Raindrops and Other
Stories
Author: Joan Aiken
Genre: Children’s
fiction, Short Story
About the book…
Written by Joan Aiken in the
1968, this book consists of eight short, yet whimsical, stories meant for
younger readers.
What I think…
This is the fifth collection of stories
I have read by Joan Aiken (not to mention a few of her full length books) and
although it is intended for a young age group, I was not at all disappointed.
All
the stories have a fairy tale quality to them ranging in subject matter from a
necklace made of raindrops (as indicated by the title), a giant cat, characters
that come out of books, an angry landlord, and a magical quilt. As with her other
collections, one story stood out to me far more than the others. In this case, it
is the charming “There’s Some Sky in This Pie” which is about a woman who
accidentally rolls a piece of the sky into her pie dough resulting in a pie
that once baked starts to fly away.
The illustrations in this
edition are by Kevin Hawkes and have a resemblance to those of Garth Williams
(of Charlotte’s Web, The Rescuers, etc…). While lovely, I do
wish that I would have paid attention to the fact that the original
illustrations were by Jan Pienkowski, as his work is particularly beautiful and
there is an edition available with them.
To sum it all up…
This is
a wonderful little collection of children’s stories by Joan Aiken that thoroughly
captures her imaginative storytelling skills. If you don’t mind reading
children’s books, this is one I would highly recommend. ♥
This past week, Wednesday to be exact,
marked the second year anniversary of this blog!
Originally, I had intended
this to serve solely as a place to practice and improve upon my creative
non-fiction writing; however, within the past year this has proven to no longer
be the case. It has since expanded to include sewing adventures, book reviews, vintage
themed posts (frequently associated with sewing), and the occasional tutorial (with
more to hopefully appear in the coming year), which I must admit to being ever
so glad about!
Through blogging I have made some delightful friends and I
appreciate each and everyone one of you wonderful readers! Thank you for reading my blog and here’s hoping
for still more years of blogging to come!♥
