{"id":6385,"date":"2024-02-01T13:20:31","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T03:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=6385"},"modified":"2024-02-02T10:03:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T00:03:02","slug":"read-and-reviewed-and-also-just-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=6385","title":{"rendered":"READ AND REVIEWED, AND ALSO JUST READ"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m trying to track my reading this year – like Kate Constable<\/a> does – so I can present some stats at the beginning of 2025. Maybe no pie charts, but who knows? So here’s my ‘read and reviewed, and also just read’ list for January.<\/p>\n

Children’s Books
\nThe Fair to Middling<\/em> by Arthur Calder Marshall
\nThe Painted Garden<\/em> by Noel Streatfeild
\nThe Rescuers<\/em> by Margery Sharp
\nWitch Week<\/em> by Diana Wynne Jones
\nFive Children and It<\/em> by E. Nesbit<\/p>\n

Adult Fiction
\nThe Secret Hours <\/em>by Mick Herron
\nIllegal Action<\/em> and Secret Asset<\/em> by Stella Rimington
\nStone Yard Devotional<\/em> by Charlotte Wood<\/p>\n

Non-fiction
\nShirley Hazzard: A Writing Life<\/em> by Brigitta Olubas
\nA Spy Among Friends<\/em> by Ben Macintyre
\nQueen of Spies: Daphne Park, Britain’s Cold War Spy Master<\/em> by Paddy Hayes<\/p>\n

And my top picks were…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThe Rescuers<\/em> was my favourite of all the children’s books I read this month. OK, it was my favourite book<\/em>. It is so witty and sophisticated, full of jokes for adults to enjoy without taking away from the ripping yarn of Bernard, Nils and Miss Bianca braving the castle, the jailer and the jailer’s terrifying cat (see picture) to rescue an imprisoned poet.
\nAnd the illustrations, by Garth Williams, are superb.
\nI’d never read Witch Week<\/em> before, and while I did enjoy it, I found all the talk of witch burnings rather confronting. Bone-fires! Inquisitors! I actually had a Wynne-Jones inspired nightmare.<\/p>\n

I’m not reading much literary fiction at present, but Stone Yard Devotional<\/em> might get me back on track, making me remember how a novel can enlarge my world, make me think and feel deeply and illuminate areas of my own life. And as for non-fiction, A Spy Among Friends<\/em> was as much a thriller as any…well, thriller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m trying to track my reading this year – like Kate Constable does – so I can present some stats at the beginning of 2025. Maybe no pie charts, but who knows? So here’s my ‘read and reviewed, and also … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6385"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6414,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6385\/revisions\/6414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}