Toddled Dredge

I have a special place in my heart for Anne Fadiman’s essays. Several years ago my husband bought me her first collection Ex Libris, and spent my birthday reading “Marrying Libraries” aloud to me under a rose arbor in a favorite park.
When I saw her new book at the library, I had to read [...]

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The famous author of the James Bond spy novels also wrote one children’s novel, a story about an unusual car rescued and restored by an eccentric family.
Caractacus Potts is an impecunious inventor who finally has a success with a new kind of candy. With the profits from his invention, he and his wife and [...]

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Mitford wrote Pigeon Pie in 1939 and it was published a year later. This short, satirical spy novel describes the unexpected adventure of Sophia, an upper-class Englishwoman who spends her days idly amusing herself until the looming war draws her into action. I did not warm up to this book immediately; I was [...]

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Felix Salten was a Hungarian Jew whose family moved to Austria shortly after he was born, when Austria offered Jews full citizenship. He wrote several stories featuring animals as main characters, and his books were banned by the Nazis in 1936.
I began reading Bambi for my Disney Reading Challenge. Based on the movie, [...]

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Julia Sauer’s Fog Magic would probably not be published today. There are no bad guys or obvious conflict. The adults are all people worthy of trust. The magical experiences of the book are never explained. Even the heroine’s adventures away from her parents are accepted and subtly encouraged by them.
Most of [...]

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