CBR3 Book 83: "Chime" by Franny Billingsley (Read-a-thon 2011)

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Date begun: October 22nd, 2011
Date finished: October 22nd, 2011

This is the first book I read during this year's Read-a-thon, and I first heard about it and discovered Franny Billingsley's books through Raych, a fellow Cannonballer (whose reviews and blog I now follow slavishly).

Briony Larkin has a big secret. Briony is a witch. It's her fault that her stepmother died three months ago, and it's her fault that her twin sister Rose isn't quite right. Briony can see and talk to the Old Ones (spirits in the swamp around the village), and she mustn't let anyone know that she's a witch, or the town council will try her and hang her. She must above all, remember to hate herself, and not let anyone close, and she must always take extra good care of Rose, or her secret may be revealed.

Staying aloof and lonely proves more difficult when Elric Claybourne, and his father, a city engineer come to town. Elric has been thrown out of university, and will stay in the house of Briony's father. He's charming and handsome and oh so friendly, and doesn't seem to understand that Briony can't and doesn't want to have any friends. Rose has a terrible cough, and Boggy Mun (the leader of the Old Ones) say that she could die from the swamp cough, like so many of the town's children before her, unless Briony manages to successfully stop Mr Claybourne and the other engineers from draining the swamp and building a train line through it. How can she explain to the town council what the Boggy Mun has said, without revealing her secrets and risking her life?

Chime is the second Franny Billingsley book I've read this month, and I'm so glad I discovered her. The cover of the book is awful, and makes it look like some sort of turn of the century Gossip Girl rip off, which it so isn't! Like The Folk Keeper, Chime has a strong yet lonely heroine, who needs to learn to accept help and friendship from others to discover how awesome she is, and that she deserves happiness, joy and affection. While with a slight supernatural twist, Chime is mostly a historical novel, where the heroine has to go discover her true worth, and is rewarded with love as well. The budding relationship between Briony and Elric is very sweet, but I especially loved the depiction of Briony's relationship with her twin sister (who clearly has Asperger's syndrome), and both her deep affection for her and need to protect her and wanting her troublesome sibling to just drop dead. This is a wonderful book, who everyone should read, and I plan to buy any other book by Billingsley immediately upon release.

CBR3 Book 80: "The Folk Keeper" by Franny Billingsley

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Page count: 176 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Date begun: September 30th, 2011
Date finished: October 10th, 2011

Corinna Stonewall is prickly, aloof, stubborn and vindictive, her hair grows two inches every night, and she has many secrets. Raised in an unkind environment in a children's home, she cut off her hair, pretended to be a boy and learned the skill of the Folk Keeper, someone who keeps the cave-dwelling, fierce and destructive goblin like creatures from souring the milk, harming farm animals and making food rot. Only boys can be Folk Keepers, so Corinna has to pretend to be Corin to gain the power and independence she so desperately craves.

One day, the dying Lord Merton comes to the children's home, wanting her to take over the Folk Keeper duties at his estate at Cliffsend. At the estate by the sea, Corinna is irresistibly drawn to the ocean, makes friends for the first time, and finally discovers who she is, and why she's never really fit in anywhere else.

The Folk Keeper is not a very long book, and the whole thing is written as Corinna's journal, chronicling first her duties as Folk Keeper in a little town and revealing her miserable childhood and the reasons for her abrasive personality, and later her discoveries at Cliffsend, and the slow changes her new life brings out in her. Corinna is a wonderful character, even in the beginning of the book, and she is so strong and self-reliant that as the book progresses and she learns that she can occasionally trust and rely on others, and her personality gradually softens and her life becomes happier, you cheer for her.

There is a romantic element to the book, but the most important aspect is a young, lonely girls process of self discovery and finding a place of acceptance and belonging. It's recommended audience is from 10 upwards, and I wish I'd had wonderful fantasy stories like this when I grew up.

Hours twelve, thirteen and thirteen and a half

Off to bed now, I think, having just finished Unclaimed. That's three for three I've read today that I enjoyed. Reviews to follow tomorrow.

If all goes according to my plan, I'll be getting up in time to read for at least another hour and a half tomorrow, as the Read-a-thon won't officially end until 2pm.

Pages read in the last 2,5 hours: 273
Pages read in total: 1203
Books completed so far:
Chime by Franny Billingsley
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Unclaimed by Courtney Milan

Hours eight and nine

My, I have been doing a lot of reading. It feels wonderful, especially after not having had a lot of time to read in the last few months. Finally finished Snuff, with a few minutes to spare before the new hour.

Pages read in the last two hours: 159
Pages read in total: 774
Books finished: 2
Chime by Franny Billingsley
Snuff by Terry Pratchett

Just starting: Unclaimed by Courtney Milan

Read-a-thon: First three hours

So the third hour of Read-a-thon is almost over. I must, in all honesty confess, that I did my first three hours of reading from 10am to 1pm (or 10 to 13, for those who understand that sort of thing), because I had to go to the gym today and do my zumba class. Yeah, if you'd told Malin of a year ago that she'd actually schedule reading around EXERCISE she would have laughed disbelievingly at you. But Malin of this year is a new and healthier person. Besides, my Saturday zumba class is the only exercise I've ever found that I actually find fun, so I wasn't going to give up on it, but I also didn't want to miss out on 3 hours of reading. The three hours, obviously, to get to the gym, do an hour of exercise, shower, run to the shops to stock up on snacks, and make dip.

I've finished my first book, the delightful Chime by Franny Billingsley. I absolutely loved it. Full review of all the books I read today will follow, along with a few books I've read in the weeks previously. Yes, I'm behind on my blogging. That's nothing new.

I'm just about to start Snuff by Terry Pratchett.

Pages read so far: 368 pages
Books completed so far: 1