(no subject)

So Vivian sat and sweltered and worried. By the time the train chuffed its crowded hot fighting screaming crying laughing way into a station at last, it was early evening, and Vivian had thought of every single thing that could possibly go wrong except the one that actually did.

-Vivian Smith rides with the other evacuee children from WW2 London in 1939, in A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones

What does go wrong? Well, I'll tell you. Time travellers kidnap her.

This sci-fantasy book was written by DWJ back in 1987 and holds up pretty well.

Just a few details without spoiling a pretty complicated plot:

Two of the main characters are mixed race.
The POV character is a girl.
It has these delicious food items called 'butter pies' that I really wish I could try.

In other news, before I read A Tale of Time City, I read The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie (also known as The Tuesday Club Murders) which is a series of thirteen short stories which were the first appearance of Miss Marple!

I loved 'em. I'm actually not one for short story collections (I'm not really sure why, it could be anything from the sort of content they normally have, to some sort of school trauma) but I devoured The Thirteen Problems. I found them really charming, especially the second to last.

So of the two books I just read, I recommend both*. My next book will be Murder on the Orient Express, also by Agatha Christie.

*Minor warning about A Tale of Time City, one of the characters uses racial-ish insults in regards to the eye shapes of the three main characters, including himself in one scene. It was a 'what?' moment.