The Little White Horse / Elizabeth Goudge

 

5 out of 5 stars 

Book 7 of the 2026 Read Your Hoard Challenge

I've had this book in my personal collection for decades, but hadn't read it for decades. It was one of my favourite books as a tween and I read it many times back then. I've been meaning to revisit it for ages and finally took the plunge.

I was once again enchanted from the first pages as I renewed my acquaintance with Maria Merryweather and her guardian, Miss Heliotrope. I was thrilled as she first spotted the little white horse of the title from the carriage that was bringing her to the village of Silverydew.

As a much older adult, I see assumptions made in the book that don't really fit me now. Maria is an aristocrat and it is assumed that she is princess of her domain. There is the overwhelming message that those of blue blood should be in charge (and that they are naturally good at it). Maria is very much a Mary Sue character, facing very few real challenges which are very easily overcome. Mind you, this is a tale for children, not for critical adults.

I was a horse-crazy girl as well as a bookworm and I read every book that I could get my hands on that might feature a horse of any kind. This book reminded me about that girl and her joy in both pursuits. My rating of 5 stars reflects my continued love of this childhood favourite.

Once Upon a River / Diane Setterfield

 

4 out of 5 stars 

This book was a good surprise to me. My mystery book club has a tendency to choose books that bore me, but this one is much more elegant than our usual choices. It's difficult to decide <i>exactly</i> when it takes place, but the general era is provided by the means of transportation: horses, trains, and boats (Victorian era). It's boats that grab most of the attention, as the river referenced in the title is to all intents and purposes a major character in the book.

Like a river, the action is a little meandering. Yet it all eventually comes together, tributaries combining to give us clues to the mystery. The “big" mystery is the little girl at the centre of the tale. Rescued, seemingly drowned, from the river by a seriously injured man. Restored to life in a mysterious way. Claimed or desired by many. Her existence is at the core of the plot.

This novel doesn't really conform to what I expect from the mystery genre. Appropriately, it is more like a tale told in a tavern. And that is exactly what happens to it—it is told and retold and tinkered with in the inn known as the Swan. This inn is where the action begins and the major players return to it repeatedly. Nevertheless, there are mysterious happenings during the tale. Setterfield ladles out the details slowly but steadily, letting the reader anticipate where things are headed. If you're like me, some of your assumptions are correct and others are proven false.

No police or detectives in sight, no one searching for forensic clues, this is a gentler kind of mystery. There is tragedy, there is violence, but the overall impression I received was that of gentleness and goodness conquering those negatives. All done in lovely writing. 

Aliens on the Moon / Thomas King

 

4 out of 5 stars 

This is quintessential Thomas King. Aliens have landed on the moon, but lots of people just plug away at their boring little lives. Richard lives rent and utility free in his sister's condo, but he spends his time complaining about the things he doesn't have, avoiding getting a job, and trying to figure out how to snag a rich girlfriend. His sister, in the meantime, is running a “retirement community” Autumn Leaves and trying to figure out how to get her Amazon account unlocked when there's no number to call. Until she is visited by a customer service representative who informs her that she hasn't been buying enough. Now she is on probation and will get locked out again if she doesn't “meet expectations.”

Other characters include a resident of Autumn Leaves who makes an escape back to her house while on an organized shopping trip. Her son, who is experiencing difficulties with his new car's unreliable battery. If you don't drive it every day, it automatically drains. The car salesman is hating the game of golf and being hated by both his wife and his mistress. There are lots of characters, but they all eventually connect in some fashion.

The characters are King's stock in trade. Richard, when not trying to sell himself to a rich woman, is trying to render himself invisible. He speaks as little as possible. He is analogous to Jeremiah in Sufferance, who doesn't speak for the whole book, despite being the main character. Jeremiah, however, has made a job for himself, creating grave markers at a residential school, while Richard actively avoids doing anything useful.

King also loves to lampoon capitalism. The Amazon situation is a case in point. Darby decides to solve her problem by ordering every month and then returning it all, ad infinitum. Brilliant! Likewise, Autumn Leaves is a miserable place to live because the amenities are constantly being eroded to provide more profits for shareholders.

All the time, people blame all kinds of things on the aliens. Who aren't even on Earth. Who haven't even been visible. Because no one is keen on taking responsibility for the bad times or choices in their lives. This book is not for those who need a tight plot or a neat outcome. King is just writing a commentary on modern life and isn't concerned with those details. I liked it a lot, but I adore Thomas King's writing.

The Queen Who Came in From the Cold / S.J. Bennett

 

4.25 out of 5 stars 

If you are a fan of espionage fiction, this is your jam! It begins on the Royal train, where Princess Margaret is accompanied by a most unsuitable lady in waiting. This woman drinks far too much, seems dumber than a sack of hammers, and has brought an extremely disagreeable chihuahua along. Of course it is this unreliable witness who is looking out of a train window at just the moment that a couple of men are disposing of a body. It takes some time to get her story sorted out, but the Queen knows just who to ask to narrow down the location. 

Her Majesty and her assistant private secretary, Joan, undertake an investigation, culminating in a Russian defection which intersects with the Queen's Royal Tour of Italy aboard the royal yacht. As I learned in an earlier volume, Joan is romantically involved with the head of MI5. Bennett writes a tense, propulsive plot, worthy of Ian Fleming or John Le Carre (both of whom are mentioned as authors of books being read by a courtier and Prince Phillip).

At first it is a moral quandary—the Queen cannot be seen to assist in a defection nor can the royal yacht be used to achieve it. But Her Majesty is a very moral woman and she cannot enjoy her tour while knowing that two people will be killed because it doesn't suit her to help them. Her worry as the events play out is palpable. 

An enjoyable entry in this imaginative series.  

The Science of Weird Shit / Chris French

 

3.5 out of 5 stars

I chose this book in an attempt to understand a quirk of my own psychology, namely my reluctance to read novels featuring ghostly phenomena after dark. I read considerable amounts of paranormal fiction. In fact, I delight in characters who are vampires, werewolves, or powerful witches. I can read these without fear because I truly don't believe that they are real, but ghost books freak me out! What's the difference? I've come to the conclusion that it is the result of several very vivid dreams about dead relatives that have shaken my skepticism, leaving me feeling like these people actually visited me. I didn't find the dreams scary, but I guess the prospect of meeting ghosts who don't have my best interests at heart is the source of my fear.

As the author points out, belief in the paranormal involves emotions. Rational evaluation requires leaving the majority of emotion out of the equation. This is not always possible for me (and, I imagine, for many other people). Important people in my life have been killed in tragic ways and I cannot separate my experience from my thoughts about them, leaving me vulnerable to really wanting to believe in life after death. I sometimes think that my prefrontal cortex is a skeptic, but my amygdala is a believer. It's a source of dissonance. I think I will have to continue reading ghost stories only during sunshine hours.

I appreciated the author's final pages, where he describes the zetetic outlook: a suspension of judgement and a willingness to explore these concepts. I would like to explore this mindset. In the end, I agree with Mary Roach, who writes at the end of her book Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, “The debunkers are probably right, but they're no fun to visit a graveyard with.”

The Princess Bride / William Goldman

 

4 out of 5 stars 

I bought this book from a school catalogue back in the 1970s and owned it for a few years. I enjoyed it a lot back then, but gave it away at some point. The last time I read it was in 2013, as part of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project and I must have been in a cranky mood, because I remember wondering why I had liked it so much during school.

This time around, I chose to read this novel because of another novel. In Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, Kate's favourite book is The Princess Bride. Curran reads it while they are courting and some key phrases become catch phrases for the couple. Curran often responds to Kate with “As you wish" and they both call things “Inconceivable.” I started to wonder what was wrong with me during my last experience of this book.

This time around I rediscovered my pleasure in the story. Once again, I was able to smile along with Buttercup, Westley, Humperdink, Vezzini, Inigo Montoya, and Fezzik. It felt good to renew my acquaintance with them all.

You Can Scream / Rebecca Zanetti

 

3.3 out of 5 stars 

Who needs enemies when you have a sister….pardon me, half-sister….like Abigail Cane. Laurel Snow may be an FBI Special Agent, but that doesn't give her permission to lock up her psychopathic half-sister. Abigail has killed their father and is facing prosecution. Laurel is unsure why Abigail did it, but she is keeping her distance.

The trouble is that Abigail is weirdly fascinated with her sister and has a way of manipulating her way into Laurel's life. On the steps of the court house after Abigail's first appearance, a sniper attempts to kill her and is foiled by a bullet-proof vest. But was he aiming for Abigail or Laurel? Laurel's boyfriend, Huck, isn't taking any chances—he is determined to keep Laurel safe.

Zanetti writes a tense, fast paced thriller. This is not my usual genre, but I've been reading this series for 5 volumes now and will read more when they are published. Laurel is an interesting character, not neurotypical and struggling to understand the emotions of those around her. At least she seems to have sorted out her own feelings by the end of this outing.