Confirmation of the Tastes of Years Gone By

Well it's been a while again... but with this pop back in, I have new material to review! True, I have been busier than I ever with my LO (that's a common abbreviation on mommy sites :)) but what with nursing and pumping, I do have time which is well-filled by reading.  Reading what? Some old favorites.  Well-loved, but I still don't (or maybe because of that don't) feel like posting full reviews.  So right here, you're getting three shorties :)

First, Friday's Child.  S.b. has a nice collection of GHs and I picked this one up - haven't read it in a while, though not in longer while than most other GHs.  It's always been a favorite of mine (well top ten) but I think it was (at least for a while) *the* favorite for Huvi.  She loves the humor, and I do think Sherry's band of bachelor pals are very amusing - their knowingness in some areas and cluelessness in others, their calm confidence in sometimes absurd notions.  So there's that, and then there's romance, which is as well done as any Heyer, and nicely original, again, as any Heyer :) That's always been my feeling on this book, and it did not disappoint upon this reread.

So after one successful Heyer, I was eager for another.  Picked up Devil's Cub, also a long-time favorite, but in quite as a different mode.  Devil's Cub is not a Regency, and thus lacks the classic Heyer Regency feel, which reflects the casualness and light elegance of the era (at least the era according to GH :)) It's Georgian, and dramatic.  This is not something I noticed on my first reading, but I did pick up on it a while ago - and while I think I prefer the Regency tone, it doesn't mean I don't still love Devil's Cub.  Yes, it may be a litttle overdramatic at times (a' la Scarlet Pimpernel, see that review) but still, solid, solid, romance.  GH does not disappoint!

When I finished Devil's Cub, it was a Shabbos, and I felt slightly guilty about picking up another secular book... so I went off in another direction, reaching even farther back into my reading past.  I have a habit (not so much anymore, it used to be more frequent) of quoting "Rabbi Wein stories" - this leads people to assume I am a Rabbi Wein aficionado, when in fact, my stories all come from one anthology of Rabbi Wein shorts not even written by him - Vintage Wein, by James Brown.  I'm not sure to whom the credit goes (both, I'm sure, actually) but the stories are short and very much to the point - poignant, pungent, moving and amusing.  I have read this book so often that even though I haven't picked it up in years, I don't think there was one unfamiliar story in it.  And it's still a great read, I breezed right through it - glad to be reminded of all those Rabbi Wein tidbits I can bring up in conversation :)

So that was that, three old favorites, all still 5/5!