Find by Audience Age:
Find by Vintage
Find by Genre:
Tag Archives: better than the movie
Mansfield Park: A mature but, for us, challenging novel by Jane Austen
Of all Jane Austen’s heroines, Fanny Price of Mansfield Park is surely the least appealing, the most ‘foreign’ to our age. Unlike Emma’s assertiveness and Lizzy’s humour, Fanny’s combination of self-effacement and moral conviction are at odds with modern core … Continue reading
Posted in 18th Century, British, Classic, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel, Novel of Manners, Young Adult
Tagged adoption, adultery, better than the movie, character-driven, childhood, clergymen, divorce, family, fiction, integrity, Jane Austen, marriage, morality, navy, observant, self-control, upbringings
Leave a comment
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a YA fantasy book. I knew it was a winner as soon as I saw that it has chapter titles like “In which Howl expresses his feelings with Green Slime”. It follows … Continue reading
Posted in 13 years and up, 20th Century YA, British, Fantasy, Young Adult
Tagged 20th Century, adventure, better than the movie, British, coming-of-age, convoluted plot, Diana Wynne Jones, fantasy, fiction, humour, John Donne, magic, mild romance, seven league boots, whimsical, Wizard Howl, YA classic, young adult
Leave a comment
Don’t judge this book by its Disney: The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith is so much richer than the movie! The story is basically the same, telling of two married people and two married dalmatians attempting to rescue their puppies from a woman who wants a dalmatian … Continue reading
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a book that my parents read to each other while I was in utero and which has been a regular feature of my life ever since. I have enjoyed it in primary … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics, Fantasy
Tagged 20th Century, 7 and up, action, allegory, animals, better than the movie, British, C.S. Lewis, children's classic, Christianity, fantasy, fiction, food and fighting, good out loud, home front, humour, Narnia, The Inklings, wartime, WWII
Leave a comment
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a delightful book set just after WWII and featuring an unlikely group of people who learn to love reading under the Nazi occupation of the British Channel Isles. It is an … Continue reading
Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie
My sister gave me Peter Pan and Wendy by J.M. Barrie, illustrated by Robert Ingpen, for my 20th birthday and warned me that although I might not be excited to receive it, she had got it for me anyway. K’s … Continue reading