Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Bedtime Stories – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia August 2023 It is a well-known fact in my circle, that R. A. Spratt habitually makes me snort-laugh. So I really had to prepare myself (and The Kid) for random outbursts of bizarre guffawing as I enjoyed my way through this gargantuan offering. There is something to please everyone here. Although, for me, Read more

  • Mistress Masham’s Repose – T. H. White

    So this is rather a different review, as it’s not for a new release. It is, in fact, for a book that was first published in 1946 by the wonderful T. H. White. I had, of course, read The Once and Future King series. In fact, I first read the The Sword in the Stone, Read more

  • The Daring Tale of Gloria the Great – Jacqueline Harvey. Illustrated by Kate Isobel Scott.

    Penguin Australia August 2023 I say it often, I miss my chookies (and there have been quite a few at numerous times over the years). Chooks have such personalities, and some of mine definitely did. Just such a hen is Gloria – indomitable, resilient and tenacious. She is her own chicken in every sense. In Read more

  • Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer – Garth Nix

    Allen & Unwin August 2023 ISBN:9781761068393 Publisher: A&U Children’s Imprint: A & U Children RRP: $32.99 Ummm…….well……..where to start? Don’t get me wrong – I love this! In fact, I love all Garth’s writing, and always have. I had never read any of these stories before so I’m still getting my thoughts sorted, and this Read more

  • When Grandma Burnt her Bra – Samantha Tidy and Aśka

    Exisle Publishing/EK Books September 2023 ISBN: 9781922539465 $24.99 The 60s revolution was certainly an eye-opener for many, and some of us are old enough to remember it (to which my groaning knees will attest!). That being so, this was terrifically good fun to read as a feisty Grandma, still with a finely-tuned social conscience, recounts her Read more

  • Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky – Rebecca Lim

    Allen & Unwin August 2023 ISBN: 9781761180224 Publisher: A&U Children’s Imprint: A & U Children RRP: $23.99 Like many others, I have read both fictional and factual accounts of the extreme hardship and brutality of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward, an ill-conceived scheme to bring China to an ideal Communist Utopia. It resulted in the Read more

Archived Reviews