Have you read...can you recommend...

[elengil]

Isn't Aisling the "spirit" of Ireland, too?

[Alatar]

No, Aisling is Irish for "dream" or "vision".

[elengil]

No, Aisling is Irish for "dream" or "vision".

Ah, thanks

[RoseMorninStar]

Has anyone read the most recent Hunger Games (a prequel) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

[Impenitent]

I enjoyed the extract of Aisling, Alatar. Not available via my US Amazon account, so I'll have to order a hard copy via traditional channels.

Haven't read any Hunger Games - nor watched the movies.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

[Jude]

Are there any Alison Weir fans here? I'm thinking of getting this book: Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Has anyone read it?

I think it's a revision of an earlier book, rewritten after Richard's body was discovered a few years ago.

[elengil]

Have you read... can you remember the title???

So Sweetie and I were talking last night and got onto the topic of various books which reminded me of a book I read in middle school only I can't remember the title or the character names or anything, I don't even remember the plot arch, just some of the details. It was almost certainly a YA novel, but I don't know when it was published. I forged a permission slip from my parents to read it. LOL

It was a girl who was orphaned, or partially orphaned (I don't remember if the male character later in the book was supposed to be her long-absent father or not) who was sent to live with an older woman (who may or may not have been a relation, but I'm thinking was). The older woman practiced witchcraft but not like Harry Potter witchcraft, like old school deep earth kind of stuff.

The few details I remember are of the girl's guardian having to learn how to take care of a child (teen or pre-teen), such as being reminded by another that growing kids need more to eat. The girl weaving a cloak for herself, and seeing several rows previous she had made a mistake in the design but not wanting to redo it, but that becomes a weak point in the cloaks protectiveness that later comes into play. And a ritual of some sort with other witches where the girl is smeared in mud and has some kind of vision or journey.

I don't remember how the book ends, but I seem to think part of the ending events was the male character who may or may not have been her father tries to take her back.

Does this ring any bells for anyone?

[RoseMorninStar]

Do you recall any of the names used in the book?

[elengil]

Do you recall any of the names used in the book?

Not a one. This was 30 years ago. Oh, I do remember it seemed to be set in perhaps the 18 or early 1900s? Not medieval, definitely not modern, it seemed solidly kind of in the Anne of Green Gables era. I think the potential father was on sailing ships?

[RoseMorninStar]

Maybe check this list out to see if anything rings a bell: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/141 ... th_Witches

[elengil]

No. And unfortunately most of them seem to be very different in terms of how they are approaching the character of witches.
I almost hesitated to mention the witch part because it's really not accurate to what we think of as witches in literature today. I can't think of a better term, though. But I've read through a few lists of YA lit with witches and haven't seen anything.

[RoseMorninStar]

Maybe Wiccan or healer would be a more appropriate term?

[Alatar]

Sounds like it might be Marion Zimmer Bradley?

[elengil]

Sounds like it might be Marion Zimmer Bradley?

I scanned a list of her books but none of them seem like the right one.

[elengil]

FOUND IT!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/540489.Wise_Child

Man, I was starting to think maybe I wouldn't recognize the title if I saw it but nope, the second I saw it that was it, and that was definitely the same cover, even!

[Jude]

If you liked that book, I'm pretty sure you would love Diana Wynne Jones. In fact, when you posted that summary, my first thought was that it was one of her books, but I was wrong. But it sounds like it could have come from one of her books.

[Inanna]

FOUND IT!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/540489.Wise_Child

Man, I was starting to think maybe I wouldn't recognize the title if I saw it but nope, the second I saw it that was it, and that was definitely the same cover, even!

Annndddd you get the Librarian-Book-Finding award. *hands banana*

[elengil]

[Frelga]

Elengil


My neighbor is a high school English teacher, and he's under my window, apparently leading a class discussion of essays about a book. It sounds interesting but I can't figure out what book it is. There may be an angel who appears to a farmer? Something about this makes the farmer? laugh? I'm pretty sure it's not the story of Abraham and Sarah but it could be a retelling, I suppose.

[elengil]

No, see, I found the book because I personally recognized the cover and title once I saw it even though I could not have described it prior. It also helped that I could look through a list of books based on the YA genre. Not because I'm good at finding other people's books based on their descriptions.

Can you slip a note under your neighbor's door and ask what the book is? Maybe drop a few more eaves outside his window?