Charming but a bit boring. ( )

An old favourite. As a child, I spent hours drawing with different pencils in the hope that I would find THE one. I always tried never to make the mistakes Marianne did. I think it is time to read it again. ( )

A quite unusual book. The author's voice was pleasantly neutral, and so little happened that I trouble gauging the period--there were a few moments where I was startled to realise it must have been a much older book than I'd guessed from the tone. It's both gentle, and disturbingly creepy.

What I appreciate most is that in a "dream" book, the dreams often feel of no consequence since one knows they aren't real (setting aside the fact that Alice in Wonderland is generally thought to consist of 99% dream, and is engrossing as heck). In this story, though the author keeps her cards close to her chest, it's very easy to intepret this as the dreams being real and having consequences.

Don't look for explanations, there are none, and none are needed. It's like the best Doctor Who episodes, but before the Doctor starts crowing about how smart he is and how he's figured it out, and unravels the mystery—it's like the unsettling bits beforehand, where you wonder "what on earth's going on?"

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

A very strange and powerful read.

Where was this book when I was 9 or 10? Man, I would have adored it and read it over and over and over. Marianne is bedridden with what sound like mononucleosis to the modern ear, and she finds herself whiling away the long hours drawing with a magic pencil and visiting her drawings in her dreams. There's a boy with polio involved, and several missteps and a nearly perfect ending. This one was delicious. Thanks, Constance! ( )