Friday Favorites: Holiday reads

You know me -- during this season I love to listen to Christmas music, watch Hallmark Christmas movies, and read Christmas-themed fiction. I have four books to recommend, two of which were intended for children (tho they certainly have appeal for adults, as well).

The Children of Green Knowe (1954), by Lucy Boston. Young Tolly is sent to stay with his great-grandmother over Christmas and soon learns that the looming, castle-like house is haunted (!!!). But these child ghosts are long-dead family members, and over the course of the story Tolly learns what happened to them, and eventually must face a dark force that threatens the house. There are more Green Knowe books, and I love the fact that the house is based on a real medieval manor in Cambridgeshire owned and restored by Lucy Boston herself. (It's open to visitors by appointment!) I highly recommend the audiobook with its lovely voice performance from Simon Vance.

Charlotte Fairlie (1954), by D.E. Stevenson (also known as The Enchanted Isle). Ever since enjoying Miss Buncle's Book, I've sought out all the Stevenson books I can find, and this one, with its headmistress heroine who visits a pupil's family castle in remote Scotland, certainly seemed right up my alley! The book is very difficult to find in print, but luckily there is a satisfying and readily available audiobook from Audible.com. I suppose it's a bit of a cheat to include this one--the Christmas bit only comes in toward the end and seems a bit "tacked on"--but it's a beautiful season for bringing everyone together. The romantic impediment strains credulity, but I didn't care! I just enjoyed spending time with these people.

Christmas at High Rising (a collection of stories published in the 30s & 40s), by Angela Thirkell. Only two of the short stories in this collection have anything to do with Christmas, but I especially liked seeing Laura Morland and her son Tony during the holiday season. I also enjoyed the story from Thirkell's own childhood experience of celebrating Christmas at the house of her grandfather, Edward Burne-Jones! If you're interested in reading this anthology, I recommend first reading Thirkell's High Rising, which is linked below (and is set almost entirely during the Christmas/New Year season).

Box of Delights (1935), by John Masefield. Having left boarding school for the Christmas holiday, young Kay Harker comes into possession of a magic box, which he must use to thwart a gang with evil intentions. This story brought to mind many favorites: C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, Edward Eager's Magic series, and Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series. (I wonder if Masefield was as influenced by E. Nesbit as Lewis, Eager, and Cooper were?) The story has been adapted into several BBC radio shows over the years, and also has a 1984 BBC TV adaptation that I'd love to get my hands on (though I shudder to think of the special effects). It's available in a lovely New York Review Children's Litarature edition (see link above) or on audiobook. My favorite thing about Box of Delights is the character Maria, a very young girl who talks tough and acts even tougher, and no one in the book ever asks her to behave like a lady or any of that rot--so refreshing in a book written so long ago! All in all, the story is not quite as magical as those of Lewis, Eager, or Cooper, but it is unique and charming, and from it I finally learned how to make a posset: fill a bowl with hot milk, an egg, a spoonful of treacle, a grating of nutmeg, "and you stir 'em well up, and you get into bed and then you take 'em down hot." Supposed to revive the weary!

Previously featured Christmas reads:
High Rising, by Angela Thirkell
Winter Solstice, by Rosamund Pilcher

How about you? Any Christmas reads to recommend?

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

Horror movies for Halloween -- 2015 edition!

Every year around this time I like to recap the past year's spooky movie viewing. Perhaps you'll find something here to enjoy during your Halloween weekend festivities? Please share your own recommendations in the comments!

[All plot blurbs and metacritic scores are from imdb.com.]


It Follows (2014)
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after getting involved in a sexual encounter.
This indie film seemed to be the darling of many critics -- Entertainment Weekly reminded me of it over and over in the months following its release. I don't think I had unreasonably high expectations, but I was let down. Perhaps I just didn't appreciate the concept of a sexually transmitted ghost/demon. I didn't connect to the characters, so the horror wasn't as effective it could have been. But I have to give it credit for being different. (Available for purchase/rental from various vendors)
Watch the trailer. (Metascore: 83/100)


Crimson Peak (2015)
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.
A gorgeous film dripping with Gothic iconography, Crimson Peak is disturbing, certainly, but a bit too "on the nose" to be scary. I wish del Torro had focused less on ghostly special effects and more on the horror of what we can't see. Still, it's quite a spectacle and, in my opinion, deserves a second viewing. (In theaters now.)
Watch the trailer. (Metascore: 67/100)


Housebound (2014)
Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder whether she's inherited her overactive imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who's less than happy about the new living arrangement.
This film from New Zealand is quirky and character-driven, with plenty of humor to balance the horror. It takes risks, and perhaps not all of them pay off, but I appreciate the attempt. (Netflix streaming, also available for purchase/rental from various vendors]
Watch the trailer. (Metascore: 76/100)


The Ring (2002)
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it.
People have recommended this film to me for years, and now I see why. It's not without its flaws, but the performances are strong (I love Naomi Watts!), and the horror lingers long after the film is over. I particularly enjoyed the film-within-a-film component -- I love stories that involve the close study of clues in a film strip, photograph, or sound clip. STRONG warning for animal horror/violence. (Available for purchase/rental from various vendors.)
Watch the trailer. (Metascore: 57/100 -- surprising since this is considered a horror classic?)


The Babadook (2014)
A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.
Anyone wishing to study tension in film should take a look at this Australian/Canadian offering -- at times the tension and dread are almost unbearable. Essie Davis (Miss Fisher!) is brilliant as a single mom struggling with grief and her son's seemingly overactive imagination. One of the best horror films I've seen. [Netflix streaming, also available for purchase/rental from various vendors)
Watch the trailer. (Metascore: 86/100)

Recaps from previous years:
2014 recommendations: Mama, Stoker, and Lake Mungo
2013 recommendations: The Changeling, El Orfanato (The Orphanage), Below, and Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters)
2012 recommendations: The Pact and The Awakening. Also (each a separate post) Dead of Night, The Uninvited, The Innocents, and The Haunting.

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

England 2015 postcards -- Lyme Regis

Yes, I'm very much behind. This trip was two weeks ago! Above you see a view of the beach at Lyme Regis, taken from the Langmoor and Lister gardens. I took this on our first night, when the weather was mild and lovely, and the town seemed to glow with magic. The next day it poured for hours and hours, so we did some shopping, museum visiting, and lots of resting. Saturday was a gorgeous day of hiking through the Undercliff and fossil hunting on Charmouth Beach. A great trip overall, with lots of good follow-up research for a story I'm writing (inspired by last year's trip to Lyme). Yay!

Several days after our return, I dropped my phone and completely wrecked the display. Fortunately, most of my photos had automatically backed up to Flickr, and phone replacement should be covered by our maintenance plan. It's been quite an adjustment. Aside from the disruption to communication, I just like having my phone with me at all times for taking photos. That said, I have enjoyed experiencing Oxfordshire without the phone--it certainly helps one to live in the moment.

This weekend we will pack up for our Monday morning flight home. I love it here, and it's been a great summer, but it's time to get back to my house, my kitty, and my work!

[Cross-posted to Livejournal]

July Tea and a Book

Tea and a Book is back!

(I have to admit, however, that this installment is a bit of a cheat. You'll see what I mean later.)

My favorite read of the summer (so far) is Kimberly Brusker Bradley's The War that Saved My Life.


The story features many of my favorite things: WWII England, child evacuees, cozy villages, horses, and more. The very accessible first-person narration is quite gripping, and the horrors of abuse and war are offset by the protagonist's horsey adventures (yay!) and blossoming friendships with people in her new community. I absolutely devoured this book! I'm sure I'll read it many more times.

Here's the official blurb:

Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.

So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?

Earlier this week Steve and I enjoyed a day trip to London to visit the Imperial War Museum. My favorite bit was the permanent exhibit entitled The Family in Wartime, partly because it brought back memories of The War that Saved My Life. (click photos to enlarge)


Evacuation propaganda posters.


I took this (terrible) shot while Steve and I were sitting in an Anderson bomb shelter -- Ada, Jamie, and Susan spend some tense moments in one of these!

After our all too brief visit, we made our way to Piccadilly for tea at Fortnum & Mason. And now you see the "cheat" part of this post -- I did not make my own tea, and I do not have any recipes to share. There's no reference to F&M in The War that Saved My Life, but I'd like to believe it would have been one of Susan Smith's favorite places to shop before the war, perhaps with her dear Becky.


The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon had a nice "relaxed posh" feel to it. The young man who brought our tea tray recommended that we put a drop of strawberry jam and lemon curd on our scones and mix it all together. This sounded blasphemous to me, but we figured it was only polite to try. Absolutely scrumptious. So there's a tip for you, gentle reader!

[Cross-posted to Livejournal]

England 2015 postcards -- The Lake District

Catching up on postcards today with some shots from our July 16-19 trip!

Before I talk about the photos, I should mention that we first went to the Lake District many years ago -- to Bowness, in fact, near Windermere -- and it was one of the HOTTEST weekends I've ever experienced in England. This was in the days before smart phones with weather apps, so I packed for cool weather. Argh! It was so sunny that at one point my arms broke out in a heat rash and I felt quite ill. The nights, as you might imagine, were miserably sticky and hot.

THIS visit, to the northern part of the district, was much more to my liking. The skies were gloomy (but nicely dramatic in photographs) and the air was damp and cool. Rain was forecast for the entire weekend, but aside from a few minor sprinkles we only saw it the mornings before breakfast. For me it was perfect hiking weather, and we ended up covering a lot of territory!

Now for the photos -- above you see a shot of Keswick from Hope Park. Steve and I were both so impressed with the town. Certainly there were lots of tourists around, but the place did not feel the least bit overcrowded. Keswick is bigger than I would have predicted -- you'll find just about everything you could ever need -- and yet it manages to stay quaint and charming.


On Friday we decided to walk the perimeter of Derwentwater, which we'd been told was around 13 miles. No problem! It took a good portion of the day, especially because we stopped often and took afternoon tea at a hotel on the opposite side of the lake. I love this shot of the northeast side of the lake with gloomy sky above and Meadowsweet below.


Saturday morning we hiked to the top of Latrigg Fell, which offers gorgeous views of Keswick and the lake.


Then later that day we walked up to the top of Castlehead Wood and took a selfie, ha!

I have many more photos at my Lake District Flickr Album -- I hope you'll take a look!

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]