Five good books, just because

I'm feeling random today, and I visited my bookshelves and picked five of my favorites and pulled them off to tell you about (in blog parlance, I think this means I just tagged myself). Here they are, in no particular order, and not my five all-time favorites, either, just five good books that I re-read frequently.

1. Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling. I'm not often found in the classics, English major notwithstanding, but this one is just so good. Young Harvey Cheyne is such a brat, rich and super-spoiled, and does he ever get his come-uppance. On the Atlantic crossing with his mother, Harvey is swept overboard and picked up by a fishing boat. Not believing his tales of wealth and privilege, they refuse to cut short the season's work to take him back to shore, instead putting him to work in such a way as he has never been in his life. It's a slim read compared to some from the reading lists, and my copy (from high school) is covered with my underlinings and 'deep' notes (p84, should a man be wiser than his maker?).
2. Once a Hero, by Elizabeth Moon. Let me say, slightly tangentially, Arthur C. Clarke gave my favorite definition of the difference between sci-fi and fantasy: "Here is my working definition: Fantasy is something that couldn't happen in the real world (though often you wish it would); Science Fiction is something that really COULD happen (though often you'd be sorry if it did)." That makes this series Science fiction, and it's good. This is actually a spin-off of another: EM takes a minor character from a battle at the end of Winning Colors and makes her the main character here, and it's excellent. Esmay got the lucky shot that turned the tide of the battle ... but it was all non-regulation, and you don't think she was just going to get a pat on the head, do you? If you want, you can start with Hunting Party, Sporting Chance, and Winning Colors, and they're good, too, but you don't need to (I didn't) to understand what's going on in this one. And if you've ever wished your futuristic sci-fi had horses and hunting, well, wish granted!
   
3. Brat Farrar, by Josephine Tey. If you like veddy veddy English books, if you like books that are well-imagined and well-put-together, and layered upon layered, you'll like Josephine Tey. Brat Farrar is a young man who impersonates a man who went missing as a child, and disrupts the family who has grown used to his absence, including his twin, who is about to inherit. What happened all those years ago when Patrick disappeared? Hmm, and more horses. My subconscious seems to have been at work today.
4. Mairelon the Magician, by Patricia C. Wrede. This one would be Fantasy, by Clarke's definition: magic, set in Regency England. Kim is a girl who dresses as a boy, Mairelon is a gentleman who dresses as a market performer ... no one is who they seem, and danger is afoot!
5. Four Days' Wonder, by A.A.Milne. If you only know Milne for Winnie the Pooh, you are missing so much. Start with his autobiography, and learn how he wrote for Punch, wrote plays, novels, mysteries, short stories ... he did a little of everything, only writing the poetry and children's stuff after his son was born. Then start searching things out. My favorite of his was Two People (which I still love), until I found this. It's the enchanting story of Jenny, who simply has to run away after she accidentally disturbs the crime scene (only it wasn't really a crime)(and it could have happened to anyone) where her aunt Jane died, and how could she explain? She flees with the help of her good friend Nancy, and encounters Derek, who is in the wine-trade (only she feels that since he couldn't just be the man who sold the bottles, he must be more of "a sort of gentleman-fruit-farmer"), and more of that sort. The scene where Jenny shoots Derek's brother is priceless. It's out of print, of course, but try your library or pick up a used copy, if you like light piffle it is Well Worth Your Time.
   

So there you go, that's five. Do with it what you will. Having spent half the day in shopping that was only about half-successful, I'm going to go try to get something done with my evening. I have a mighty list of things to get done this weekend! Whatever your weekend calls for, whether it is lots of something or lots of nothing, I wish you well with it.

P.S. I got the Mother's Day button into the sidebar, with only a little cursing. Thanks for the guidance, Annalea, I couldn't have done it without you!