Book 85: "The Ivory and the Horn" by Charles de Lint

I was quickly drawn into this book when I found that the first two stories followed on from stories in "Dreams Underfoot", which I read a while ago. There's always something magical just around the corner in Newford, and characters you've met before keep reappearing. I think that if you read too many of Charles de Lint's stories too close together you could find them slightly cloying, and the amount of repetition can be a little annoying, but if you spread them out they are wonderful reads for anyone who wishes that they had a little more magic in their life.

Book 86: "The Stone Book Quartet" by Alan Garner

Four stories of a family of craftsmen in rural Cheshire, from the middle of the nineteenth century to World War II. From the stonemason passing on a secret hidden deep in a cave to his daughter, to his great-grandson finding his name carved on the capstone at the top of the church steeple and beyond, the stonemasons and smiths keep the secrets of their crafts, passing them on to their successors.