My latest books. Currently reading A tree grows in Brooklyn and Water for Elephants. I just finished the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for girls and I absolutely loved it. I couldn't put it down. However I would definitely not recommend it to younger readers due to its explicit and mature content.

I kept comparing it to Violet Needham's stories--not so much the writing, but many of the themes are alike. Megan Turner was able to capture a sense of tension similar to that found in the Stormy Petrel series. The reluctant ruler theme (Emerald Crown, Changeling of Monte Lucia), the Ruritanian feel, the inclusion of a pantheon of gods (though VN stayed with the classical Greek/Roman ones, whereas MT made up her own).

...wait, Ruritanian? Prisoner of Zenda is up there on my all time favorites list, so I think I need to find at least one of these books ASAP.

EDIT: It looks like a road trip to Toronto is sometime in my future as that's the closest library with copies of Violet Needham's work, despite it being recently republished.

I read Something Wicked This Way Comes about four years ago, and I remember practically nothing about it. Unless it's the one with the lightning rod and the circus?

What? Violet Needham has been republished? How unexpected! And how great! I read many of her books in the late 1950's & early 1960's. I still have my origional copy of the Woods of Windri and a few years ago I located a second-hand copy of the Changeling of Monte Lucio which was sent up to me from Wollongong.

There were two families called the Marvel and the Merivale families, weren't there? I never read the Emerald Crown, though I would have liked to.

That's what it looks like from the Amazon page... The Avenue but it also looks really limited since the only available copies are used. I've never heard of the publisher, so there's a small possibility it's some sort of print on demand. It's confusing!

Can you imagine, Mel? I have The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau and haven't read them yet. To think that I dare to write Ruritanian stories myself, when I haven't inspected the original source material. Really, I do have them on my must-read list.
Have you had the chance to read The Lost Prince by F H Burnett? It is slightly superlative and romanticized, but I still enjoyed it, and have reread it many times.

Too bad that we don't live closer. I suspect that it's too far for you to come to British Columbia just to read my set of VN

As to Violet Needham....Oh dear, where do I start? I have all but two of her books, and one of those two is in the mail (The Great House of Estraville) Girls Gone By has been reprinting most of her books--not exactly print on demand, but a small independent publisher. Clarissa and Ann specialize in Girls Own titles (thanks to GGBP, I was able to finish my Gwendoline Courtney collection ) I drool every time I look at their website, but I try to be very stern with myself and stick to very specific authors.

There's more about VN at the Violet Needham Society page. They have a lending library for members, but with the cost of postage being what it is...

Wagga, I'm always so excited to meet someone who has read the books I love. The Emerald Crown is such a good one; I can't decide whether I like it best, or whether The Black Riders wins out. Emerald Crown can be read as a standalone, but it is also the second of the Stormy Petrel series. The first five books in the series are really excellent; the last three are not as good, as I think her writing powers were beginning to wane as she neared 80. Windri and Changeling were earlier works too, and Changeling in particular pulls my heartstrings every time.

Did you happen to read Elsie Oxenham (The Abbey Series et al.) at any time? A bunch of her rarer titles are being republished by the EJO Appreciation Society. I try to buy them as they come out, because, just like Girls Gone By, they only do a limited print run of a few hundred or thousand copies. After a while the reprint prices go sky high, sometimes as high as the originals, and then I can't afford them.

You haven't read Prisoner of Zenda? My dear aileth, I am shocked. I recommend remedying that as soon as possible. (And then follow it up with The Heart of Princess Osra which is also set in Ruritania, but earlier.)

I have not read The Lost Prince but Google Books has it so I can start right away. Have you read The Goose Girl by Harold MacGrath? It's in the same genre and it's another one I enjoy immensely.

It probably is too far for me to come camp out in your library for a few days. But should I ever take a road trip to Alaska, I shall think of you. And I shall seriously consider buying directly from Girls Gone By. The hardest thing will be to decide which book(s) to purchase!

EDIT: So, I started Lost Prince last night, and I'm now at the sprained ankle incident.

Spoiler

I was not expecting her to be a spy! From the initial description I thought she was going to end up as Loirstan's wife... which, I'm not totally discounting at this point, since Marco continually refers to her as the Lovely Person, but it looks slightly less likely.

You don't mind if I still call you "BellanotfromTwilight", do ya?

Nope, not at all! I find it funny, too. I agree that Bradbury's prose sounds like poetry. He has a remarkable feel for the rhythm of words, and he puts things so beautifully. I could just... ugh... I could go on forever about him.
I will check Heinlein out; thanks for the recommendation! I've recently discovered that I enjoy writing sci fi, so I'm open to as much exposure to the genre as possible. (Though I do admit I like Bradbury's approach of just writing an idea without categorizing it, as he apparently never thought himself a sci-fi writer.)

Speaking of sci fi, my English professor recommended Asimov's Foundation series to me. I read a bit of the first one, and I found it an interesting read (especially in terms of dialogue), but unfortunately I had too much to read to commit 100% to the book. (Story of my life.) Right now, I've made myself not check out any new books so that I can finish the ones I've gotten since... since March.

You haven't read Prisoner of Zenda? My dear aileth, I am shocked. I recommend remedying that as soon as possible. (And then follow it up with The Heart of Princess Osra which is also set in Ruritania, but earlier.)

I have not read The Lost Prince but Google Books has it so I can start right away. Have you read The Goose Girl by Harold MacGrath? It's in the same genre and it's another one I enjoy immensely.

So, I started Lost Prince last night, and I'm now at the sprained ankle incident.

Oh, to be able to read it again for the first time. I almost wanted to write back and tell you all about it, but that would have spoilt it for you, wouldn't it? So I refrained and went and read Prisoner of Zenda instead. I was surprised about Rupert, to find that But I see that I was wrong. I will have to read Princess Osra once I have finished Rupert; hopefully it will have a nicer ending.

I wonder if I've seen Harold Macgrath's titles listed in the back of some other book. Some of them look familiar, but I'm pretty certain that I haven't ever read any. They look interesting--oh no, more to add to my list!

On a slightly different note, I was reading Paddington to young friends of mine in the last few days. I read them when I was a kid; it has been some time since I last picked them up, and I had forgotten how funny they were. There were a few times when I was laughing so hard I couldn't get on with the story, and my poor audience had to wait for me. Then when I could read it they laughed too, and set me off again.

I will have to read Princess Osra once I have finished Rupert; hopefully it will have a nicer ending.

Assuming I remember how everything goes down, Princess Osra has the ending you want.

I haven't finished Lost Prince yet...

Spoiler

taking the Buddhist bits in smaller chunks and anticipating the action to come...(The Rat is going to figure out the truth before Marco does, I bet )

I have this bad habit of hanging over peoples' shoulders, especially when they are reading something that I particularly enjoyed... You're allowed to tell me to go away

I've given up skipping ahead and checking the ending. Most of the time I can take a stab at what will happen, and if I guess wrong, am often pleasantly surprised when the conclusion was better than what I had guessed. Then there are authors like Wilkie Collins, who lead you by the nose--you're sure you know what's coming next. Then he pulls the carpet out from under you. Three times in The Woman in White! That was maddening.

I’m currently reading Baroness Orczky’s The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (1859). I prefer Orczky's plot (and 1981 adaptation), but Dickens' writing is better. Happy Bastille Day!

Ah, The Scarlet Pimpernel--another of my favorites! (I have yet to finish A Tale of Two Cities ...but it might be time to tackle another Dickens tome.) And if you like tales set in British India, 220, in addition to The Moonstone I recommend M. M. Kay's Shadow of the Moon. I forget which uprising it's set during and there are several character deaths, but it's good.

I'm not fond of skipping ahead to check the ending either. I prefer to read linearly, though guessing what comes next is always fun. And having someone to hang over your shoulder and listen to the guesses is fun too. (Collins pulled out the rug three times in Woman in White? Which times were that?)

You know what, I think I'm getting it confused with The Moonstone
Read both around the same time and get them mixed. Moonstone was the mystery one, right. See what I mean? They're both mysteries.

Now that I (hopefully) have the right title I might make more sense. You know who was guilty of the theft and then that person proves innocent, so you fix on someone else, and in turn that one is not guilty. I didn't accurately guess either the person or the method.

Oh, The Moonstone. Heh. Yes. I think there were at least three abrupt twists in the plot. It took me at least three read-throughs to even remember who-dun-it! (Not that The White Lady doesn't have twists, which is why I was curious as to what they might have been.)

I finished The Lost Prince today. The last chapter reminded me strongly of parts of Return of the King and C. S. Lewis' quote about how the king has landed in disguise.

Wagga, I'm always so excited to meet someone who has read the books I love. The Emerald Crown is such a good one; I can't decide whether I like it best, or whether The Black Riders wins out. Emerald Crown can be read as a standalone, but it is also the second of the Stormy Petrel series.

I'll see if I can get to it. You were talking about the Great House of Estraville. Isn't this also part of a series? I don't own any of Violet Needham's books apart from Woods of Windri, and its sequel. All I remember of her books is of a mystical sort of family where there appeared to be two branches, one happier than the other. In one of the books Herne the Hunter came into it somehow, the first reference to this horned character I ever saw. But I'm not sure which of her books this was. Most of her books were in our local public library where I lived before I finished high school.

The trouble I had with Prisoner of Zenda and with Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel was that both were read as part of my schoolwork. What is it with schoolwork that it sometimes kills interest in good books?

Speaking of sci fi, my English professor recommended Asimov's Foundation series to me. I read a bit of the first one, and I found it an interesting read (especially in terms of dialogue), but unfortunately I had too much to read to commit 100% to the book. (Story of my life.) Right now, I've made myself not check out any new books so that I can finish the ones I've gotten since... since March.

Speaking of Isaac Asimov, I have a book, or had, a most beloved book of which Isaac Asimov was the editor. It was called Mythic Beasts and was actually a lot of short stories by different authors, including one I first remember reading in primary school called The Griffin and the Minor Canon, written by Frank Stockton. I'm wondering if anyone has heard of this book? My favourite was one about the Kragen. (Kraken)