Madam, want to talk about author Mary Stewart? discussion

Why do I love Mary's writing? Let me count the ways:

"Sometimes, when you're deep in the countryside, you meet three girls, walking along the hill tracks in the dusk, spinning. They each have a spindle, and on to these they are spinning their wool, milk-white, like the moonlight. In fact, it is the moonlight, the moon itself, which is why they don't carry a distaff. They're not Fates, or anything terrible; they don't affect the lives of men; all they have to do is to see that the world gets its hours of darkness, and they do this by spinning the moon down out of the sky. Night after night, you can see the moon getting less and less, the ball of light waning, while it grown on the spindles of the maidens. Then, at length, the moon is gone, and the world has darkness, and rest.....

...on the darkest night, the maidens take their spindles down to the sea, to wash their wool. And the wool slips from the spindles into the water, and unravels in long ripples of light from the shore to the horizon, and there is the moon again, rising above the sea....Only when all the wool is washed, and wound again into a white ball in the sky, can the moon-spinners start their work once more...."

Wow.

Oh no! I don't have time for a reread of Mary Stewart right now. I have so many books checked out! But I feel myself being sucked into the vortex. must read... must read... must

Jan wrote: "Oh no! I don't have time for a reread of Mary Stewart right now. I have so many books checked out! But I feel myself being sucked into the vortex. must read... must read... must"

Lol, I know that feeling.

The Moon Spinners just jumped into the must have now category! I may need to pick up a copy today if I can mangae it! What a lovely tale that tells and what a book The Moon Spinners was and obviously still is. Stewart is good -- to say the least.

Misfit -- I put that whole quote into the Mary Stewart quotes and added it to my own quotes. Thank you for posting it.

Dottie, thanks for doing that. I've got about 100 pages to go, I'm quite enjoying it. Her descriptions of Crete and flora and fauna are just spectacular. It's like being there.

I remember truly loving the book when I first read it. I believe I didn't read it until after seeing the film even though I had been reading Mary Stewart books before that. I think it was one of those cases where I loved both book and film though I have no idea how true to the book the film was at this point. I loved Hayley Mills in nearly anything I ever saw her in and Mary Stewart went on my favoirties authors list very quickly once I'd encountered her work.

I just finished this. Wow, what nail biting finish. I'm going to have to see the film now and see how close they are.

My book still hasn't arrived but you all are making me more and more anxious for its' arrival.

guys, I will join you later on since I need more time in order to get MS books

Grrr, picked up a copy of the DVD today and it's so scratched up I can't get it to run. Will have to try to see if I can get it to work at the office and watch on lunch break. Otherwise it's plan B....

Dottie wrote: "I remember truly loving the book when I first read it. I believe I didn't read it until after seeing the film even though I had been reading Mary Stewart books before that. I think it was one of ..." I felt exactly the same way! I was such a Hayley Mills fan that I didn't really care that the movie was so different from the book, which I loved. Isn't a book always better than a movie version? I remember how impressed I was when my then-future husband told me that he had a friend who had been at school with Hayley's brother!
Still want to go to Greece, thanks in large part to Mary!!!!

I think we all want to go to Greece because of Mary.

I actually did come across a book that was not as good as the movie - Somewhere in Time. Meh.

Misfit wrote: "I actually did come across a book that was not as good as the movie - Somewhere in Time. Meh."


Here's another: The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. Movie WAY better then book (I'm glad I read the book, but I think this is one instance where the movie adaptation added elements that were better then the book version. I don't often say that :^)

I actually had that book out from the library a while ago. I think I managed 2-3 pages and bailed.....

Misfit wrote: "I think we all want to go to Greece because of Mary.."

Yep, same here. and france too.

Annie wrote: "Misfit wrote: "I think we all want to go to Greece because of Mary.."

Yep, same here. and france too.

"

Oooh, those Alps in Nine Coaches...

Found an omnibus volume of four Stewart novels including The Moonspinners so will soon be diving into some wonderful re-readings! Hooray.

Misfit was right on target as to the nail-biting ending. the descriptions are still as evocative as they were when I first read this one. I have three more ahead -- these rereadigns are perfect for my scattered state of mind lately!

I re-read the Moon Spinners earlier this year and loved it as much as I did the first time I read it - so very exciting! This past weekend I got the film from the library and enjoyed it as well, even though it's very different from the book. (Love Hayley Mills, and Eli Wallach is an excellent villain.)

Yes, I agree. I love this book and even though the movie is not the same, I always see Hayley Mills as the heroine every time I read it.

Well, just started The Moon-spinners today and tapped into this old thread. Looks as though it's not broken into chapter threads so will need to finish the book before I comment. It's been more than a couple of years since I read it and I'm not remembering the story so don't want to spoil it for myself. But just read the last comment above… About Haley Mills… And I totally agree that when I read the book I always see her as Nichola. I just recently watched the film so that is actually more fresh in my mind than the book.

Teaqueen wrote: "Well, just started The Moon-spinners today and tapped into this old thread. Looks as though it's not broken into chapter threads so will need to finish the book before I comment. It's been more tha..."

Teaqueen, this is sort of a stray thread. If you look under the Buddy Reads threads, you'll find the threads for Moon-Spinners that are broken into chapters. There's also a lot more discussion in those threads. They're probably back a few pages, buried in the older discussions, but I know they're there!

ETA: Here's a link to the page: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Oh, excellent!! Thanks so much!

Thank you Tadiana!