Review: Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a re-read for me.

What a different world we live in now. It seems so unusual to trust children with managing their lives and affairs, with only the fairly remote, but still watchful eyes of adults. Nowadays, if children camp out, they are generally under the watchful eyes of parents or camp counselors; their food preparation in camp is completely supervised; even their activities and "free" time are carefully regulated. Perhaps this is only true where I have lived - and camped, but it seems strange, at any rate.

And the degree to which the children and some of the adults take part in the shared fantasies is also interesting. Perhaps the interest in Harry Potter is similar, but that is one of the few books that has captured people as much as Robinson Crusoe. Or maybe Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit count, too.

The pace and sensationalism of the book are also different from many of the books I have read lately. Long passages about sailing details; descriptions of knowledge needed for sailing; details about fending for themselves in the camp site. It is a slower view of life.

I enjoyed it.

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Review: The Cuckoo's Calling

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am not a big fan of mysteries, so, in the end, I mostly just skimmed this one. I don't particularly like looking for clues and trying to fit all of the details into a likely picture of what happened. On the other hand, for some odd reason, I did really like Cormoran Strike and Robin. It is interesting to me that they as characters were more intriguing than the mystery itself.

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