Bryony's Blog

The best books are the ones you don't want to end.  I can think of a few books like this that I read, and then reread, as a child.  'The Magic Faraway Tree' was one and 'The Adventures of the Wishing Chair' is another.  Luckily, there were three books in 'The Faraway' series and two in 'The Wishing Chair', but I am sure I probably wished there were more.  Considering how much I loved these books, and I know there is a whole fan club out there dedicated to them, it really is no surprise to see that someone has decided to continue both the stories.  Silky, the beautiful fairy with lovely silken hair, now appears in a series of her own entitled 'Enchanted World' and Jack, Jessica and Wishler have replaced Peter, Molly and Chinky in 'The New Adventures of The Wishing Chair'.  Although I can well understand why someone would want to continue the stories as I imagine they loved them as much as I did, there is also something really objectio

I recently paid a visit to Ndola Public Library, a rather shabby looking establishment on Independence Way (no irony lost there).   I expected to find little in the way of books   - perhaps a few paperbacks in much need of repair, or maybe even no books at all.   I wouldn’t have been surprised if it hadn’t been turned into one of the ubiquitous Internet cafes I see round town, or a cell phone shop, full of beautiful, but blank, shop assistants who’d stare at me in confused amazement if I’d ask where the books were.                   Instead, I entered a place of complete and utter quiet.   The atmosphere was one of studious occupation:   all the tables were taken with people doing research and the shelves were full of books.   A closer look revealed them to all be of the hardback variety with red or brown covers and gold or black lettering on the spines.   I felt as though I had stepped back in time into a library of the early 1960s.   Even the public library in Bulawayo is much more u