"Magic for Marigold" by L. M. Montgomery

I read Magic for Marigold for our final Mother-Daughter Book Club meeting of the school year.  It was my first time reading this particular L. M. Montgomery book, and a first time for nearly everyone else in the book club, too, which was really fun.

Marigold is born into the type of large and eccentric family Montgomery excelled at writing.  Her father dies before she is born, and her mother names her daughter after the woman doctor who saves her newborn's life.  Marigold grows up in her family's large old home, with her grandmother and her great-grandmother and an aunt, as well as her mother.  And a bounty of aunts and uncles and the occasional cousin scattered across Prince Edward Island to give advice on how Marigold should be raised.

Marigold is not as dreamy and fanciful as, say, Anne Shirley or Emily Starr, probably because she grows up in a loving home with her own mother still alive.  She isn't as mousy as Jane Stuart, either, probably because her grandmothers are not tyrants and her mother is not an absolute milksop.  And maybe that's part of why I didn't love Marigold as much as Anne or Jane -- because she isn't as extreme.  She's sweet and kind and whimsical, and I did find that endearing, but she didn't lodge herself in my heart.

(from my Bookstagram account)

I also found the book as a whole whimsical and fun, but not a pure delight.  I blame that on how often things just go disappointingly wrong and unpleasant for poor Marigold.  Instead of mishaps coming out all right repeatedly, events that start out well go sour.  Over and over.  I got to feeling very sorry for Marigold over that, for sure.

Is this an unpleasant book?  Not in the slightest!  If you're an L. M. Montgomery fan, you're going to have fun with it.  Even if you aren't, you probably will find plenty to enjoy if you like gentle books about children growing up in bygone days.

Particularly Good Bits:

"If you don't believe things you'll never have any fun.  The more things you can believe the more interesting life is, as you say yourself.  Too much incredulity makes it a poor thing" (p. 86).

"I can't help liking things and I'm glad I do," said Marigold in a sudden accession of common sense.  "It makes life so much more int'resting" (p. 261).

"Keep your dream, little Marigold, as long as you can.  A dream is an immortal thing.  Time cannot kill it or age wither it.  You may tire of reality but never of dreams" (p. 319).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  It's good and wholesome and uplifting stuff, no doubt about it.

This has been my fourth book read and reviewed for my fifth Classics Club list!

"The Golden Road" by L. M. Montgomery

My kids and I enjoyed The Story Girl so very much when I read it aloud to them last year that we decided to read the sequel together this year.  Happily, I still remembered all the voices I had given the characters, even though I had read a couple of other books aloud to them in between.

This was a lot of fun, and we laughed a great deal over the little magazine that the kids put together periodically, simply called Our Magazine.  We all looked forward to those chapters because they were sure to set us howling with laughter.  But there were poignant things here too, like the repeated foreshadowing that one character would not live long past childhood.  Happily, none of them died during the story, but you knew that one of them was going to in the next few years.

The ending is also bittersweet, as the gang of friends breaks up and goes their separate ways.

We need more children's books like this where it's just a lot of fun adventures had by a group of kids who are friends.  Nothing truly awful happens to them, or anything unbelievable.  They just get into and out of a bit of mischief here and there, have some adventures, have quarrels and make up, and so on.  I love slice-of-life books like this, and you never know, I might write one someday.

Particularly Good Bits: "Nothing is ever lost to us as long as we remember it" (p. 257).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Good, clean, wholesome fun.

This has been my 46th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.  Getting so close to finishing off another set of fifty classics!!!

"The Adventures of Elizabeth in Ruegen" by Elizabeth von Arnim

This is the third and final "Elizabeth" book from which Elizabeth von Arnim took her pen name.  I love Elizabeth and her German Garden the most, and then I think I like the sequels The Solitary Summer and The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen about equally -- not quite so well as the first book, but it was still lots and lots of fun!

Elizabeth decides she wants to take a little vacation by herself to the quaint and charming island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea.  She would like to walk all the way around the island, but none of her friends are willing to undertake walking all the way around a fairly large island, and her husband says that wouldn't be practical OR proper, so instead, she takes a cart and driver and her faithful maidservant Gertrud and determines to drive all the way around the island.

Like in the previous two books, people and circumstances conspire to prevent her from wholly and completely accomplishing her goal.  Elizabeth perseveres.  She sometimes loses her natural good spirits just a little, but recovers them before long.  And her writing made me laugh aloud repeatedly, just as I hoped it would.

I liked the first part best, when it's just Elizabeth and Gertrud and the driver, and the only things that spoil Elizabeth's plans are things like hotels having no vacancies.  Once she met up with her odd cousin Charlotte, things turned almost a little screwball here and there, with the mishaps and misunderstandings piling up a bit too quickly for my taste.  Also, there were a lot fewer passages describing and appreciating the beauty of the world around her, which are something I absolutely love in von Arnim's books.

Overall, I'll totally read it again, but not as often as Elizabeth and Her German Garden.

Particularly Good Bits:

If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside (p. 3).

Admirable virtue of silence, most precious, because most rare, jewel in the crown of female excellences (p. 5).

Every instant of happiness is a priceless possession for ever (p. 20).

As soon as there are no trains to catch a journey becomes magnificently simple (p. 35).

Why not take the beauty and be grateful? (p. 36).

What had I been doing with my life?  Looking back into it in search of an answer it seemed very spacious, and sunny, and quiet.  There were children in it, and there was a garden, and a spouse in whose eyes I was precious; but I had not done anything.  And if I could point to no pamphlets or lectures, neither need I point to a furrow between my eyebrows (p. 42).

You need not, after all, let your vision be blocked entirely by the person with whom you chance to live; however vast his intellectual bulk may be, you can look round him and see that the stars and the sky are still there, and you need not run away from him to do that (p. 44).

I know no surer way of shaking off the dreary crust formed about the soul by the trying to do one's duty or the patient enduring of having somebody else's duty done to one, than going out alone, either at the bright beginning of the day, when the earth is still unsoiled by the feet of the strenuous and only God is abroad; or in the evening, when the hush has come, out to the blessed stars, and looking up at them wonder at the meanness of the day just pat, at the worthlessness of the things one has struggled for, at the folly of having been so angry, and so restless, and so much afraid.  Nothing focusses life more exactly than a little while alone at night with the stars (p. 59).

...the forest was so exquisite that way, the afternoon so serene, so mellow with lovely light, that I could not look round me without being happy. Oh blessed state, when mere quiet weather, trees and grass, sea and clouds, can make you forget that life has anything in it but rapture, can make you drink in heaven with every breath!  How long will it last, this joy of living, this splendid ecstasy of the soul?  I am more afraid of losing this, of losing even a little of this, of having so much as the edge of its radiance dimmed, than of parting with any other earthly possession.  And I think of Wordsworth, its divine singer, who yet lost it so soon and could no longer see the splendour in the grass, the glory in in the flower, and I ask myself with a sinking heart if it faded so quickly for him who saw it and sang it by God's grace to such perfection, how long, oh how long does the common soul, half blind, half dead, half dumb, keep its little, precious share? (p. 72).

How good it is to look sometimes across great spaces, to lift one's eyes from narrowness, to feel the large silence that rests on lonely hills!  Motionless we stood before this sudden unrolling of the beauty of God's earth.  The place seemed full of a serene and mighty Presence (p. 109).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG.  Completely clean in every way.

This is my 43rd book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"What You are Looking for is in the Library" by Michiko Aoyama (translated by Alison Watts)

This may be the most unique book I read this year.  And I never would have heard of it if not for Joel G's review on I Would Rather be Reading.  Thank you again, Joel, for bringing it to my attention!

What You are Looking for... is a collection of stories about people living in Japan who are all seeking something.  Tomoka is looking for a more fulfilling job.  Ryo is trying to find a way to make his childhood dream come true.  Natsumi is searching for a better way to balance motherhood and her career.  Hiroya feels like his life has no purpose or goal.  Masao needs to figure out who he is now that he has retired.  One by one, they end up at a neighborhood library, where a memorable librarian gives them unusual book recommendations that help them find their way to what they're seeking.  And she also gives them each a little felted talisman, because the librarian likes felting.

Each story unfolds at a leisurely pace, but there's nothing wasted here.  Like a haiku, details can be sparse, but that means what we do see is carefully chosen for maximum meaning.  The stories build on each other a little bit, with a side character from one showing up in another, and so on.  They are interconnected marginally, not closely.  

Reading this book was a slow and gentle pleasure, like sipping hot tea or savoring very dark chocolate.  If you love character studies, the movie Love Actually (2003), or learning about other cultures, you might enjoy this too.

Particularly Good Bits:

There are so many things to do, but I won't make the excuse that I have no time anymore.  Instead, I will think about what I can do with the time I have.  One day is going to become tomorrow (p. 117).

It's weird how ideas keep springing into my head now, as if a stopper has been removed.  Yet when I had all the time in the world, I never had a single idea.  I didn't even feel like drawing (p. 235).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some occasional bad language.  No smut or violence.

"The Story Girl" by L. M. Montgomery

I think my kids enjoyed this book even more than I did when I read it aloud to them this summer.  That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, because I definitely did!  But I think they loved it even more.  Sometimes, with read-alouds, I am the one to say, "Hey, want me to read a bit?" but with this one, it was more often one of the kids saying, "Do you have time to read to us?"  Which was really delightful.

This is all about a group of kids on Prince Edward Island.  It's narrated by a guy named Beverly as an adult, looking back to a delightful summer from his childhood when he and his brother spent several months with an aunt and uncle and had fun with their cousins and friends.  The kids have all sorts of adventures together, get into mischief, learn some lessons, solve some problems for one another and others, and spend a lot of time listening to the Story Girl tell stories.

The title character's real name is Sara Stanley, but everyone calls her the Story Girl because she is so wonderful at telling stories.  She's fourteen and is blessed with both a vivid imagination and gift for storytelling.  She's the center of the group of kids -- not the leader, but the one their adventures always end up revolving around.  

This is one of those "slice of life" books I love that has a string of adventures and escapades and incidents in the lives of its characters, rather than one all-encompassing plot.  L. M. Montgomery excelled at both kinds of books, which is pretty amazing! 

Particularly Good Bits:

It is always safe to dream of spring.  For it is sure to come, and if it be not just as we have pictured it, it will be infinitely sweeter (p. 320).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Good, clean, wholesome fun!

This is my 28th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list, and my 21st read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"Emily of New Moon" by L. M. Montgomery

One of the things I love about L. M. Montgomery's writing is how vividly she remembers what things feel and seem when you are a child.  I also have very clear recollections of my childhood, particularly of my inner self as a child, and so much of what she writes rings so true.  When Emily cries, "I am important to myself" (p. 25), I wanted to cheer because that is how I felt too when I was in single digits and being dismissed by adults.  And, when "Elizabeth Murray had learned an important lesson -- that there was not one law of fairness for children and another for grown-ups" (p. 375), I set down my book and clapped.  I was very sensitive to injustice, slights, and being treated condescendingly when I was a kid, and I try really hard not to treat kids that way now that I'm an adult.

Anyway, I read all three Emily books twenty years ago, when I was in my early twenties, and thought they were okay.  I don't know if I loved Emily of New Moon when I read it just now, but I definitely liked it a lot more than I did before.  I chuckled often, smiled oftener, and am eager to read the next book in the trilogy.

Emily Starr's father dies, and she is taken in by some of her mother's relatives.  Cousin Jimmy and Aunt Laura are kind and loving to her, but Aunt Elizabeth bosses both of them and is less welcoming to Emily.  Still, they give Emily a home at New Moon farm on Prince Edward Island, and if Aunt Elizabeth is not kind, she is at least honorable.

Emily makes friends with some kids and some adults.  She starts out a lonesome, grief-stricken, pale child with a good deal of grit and spirit hidden under her puny exterior.  She blossoms into a loveable, healthy, friendly girl over the course of the book.  Always imaginative, Emily is determined to become a published author, and she spends a lot of time writing poetry, stories, and letters to her dead parents.  

And, while terribly ill with a fever, Emily solves long-ago mystery.  Her subconscious pieces together clues about a woman who disappeared and figures out what really happened to her, and brings joy and comfort to her best friend as a result.  This is presented a little bit mystically, but I know how powerful a person's subconscious and imagination can be, and I find it wholly believable that a person could put together a few seemingly disparate facts and reach the logical and correct conclusion without consciously trying to do so.

I really loved Emily's concept of "the flash."  I also have moments of such clear and unadulterated joy that they seem like ecstatic glimpses of a different world.  Mine usually are brought about by bits of music, silhouettes, or something wonderful happening against all expectation -- they can all transport me with a jolt of ecstasy.  I don't have a name for it like Emily does, but I think the concept is the same.

Particularly Good Bits:

And always when the flash came to her, Emily felt that life was a wonderful, mysterious thing of persistent beauty (p. 8).

Aunt Elizabeth was one of those people who never understand anything unless it is told them in plain language and hammered into their heads.  And then they understand it only with their brains and not with their hearts (p. 54-55).

"Poets are so scarce in Blair Water folks don't understand them, and most people worry so much, they think you're not right if you don't worry" (p. 80).

Spring is such a happyfying time isn't it, father" (p. 215).

She was filled to her fingertips with a rapture of living (p. 269).

Outgrowing things we love is never a pleasant process (p. 361).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for grief, mild mistreatment of a child, gossip about a woman leaving her husband for another man, and oblique descriptions of a sad and lonely death.

This is my 13th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list, and my second for the Classic Children's Literature Party.

"A Tangled Web" by L. M. Montgomery

I'm going to enjoy this book a lot more the next time I read it.  This time, I was so terribly worried about how some of the storylines were going to turn out that I simply had to finish it as fast as possible, which was not exactly relaxing.  Next time, I will be secure in the knowledge of whose storylines turn out happily (and nearly all of them do), and I can just laugh at all the sarcasm and acidic wit, and at all the completely ridiculous human foibles they're aimed at.

Two huge old Canadian families, the Darks and the Penhallows, have intermarried so often over the past several generations that they're basically all one giant clan now.  Old Aunt Becky, the clan matriarch, is expected to announce who will inherit a specific heirloom, an ugly old jug painted with hideous nonsense that is one of the funniest MacGuffins I have ever encountered.  Everyone in the clan wants the antique jug, and thinks they have a right to it, even though it's really not a desirable object in and of itself.  It has a tragic family history, and because everyone knows everyone else wants it, everyone just keeps wanting it.

Well, Aunt Becky does NOT announce who she's leaving the jug to.  She sets up a year of suspense and intrigue for the whole clan by leaving instructions on who is to keep it for the next year, along with a sealed letter saying whom she will bequeath it to.  And then she dies like two weeks later, and all the Darks and Penhallows spend a year trying to be as circumspect and respectable and worthy of that jug as they possibly can.  Because they all think that the letter might say that the person who has been temporarily entrusted with the jug should decide himself who gets it.

(Mine from my Instagram account.)

That's really just the backdrop for the book, though.  The story mainly revolves around three couples: Gay Penhallow and Noel Gibson, Donna Dark and Peter Penhallow, and Joscelyn and Hugh Dark.  Gay and Noel are freshly engaged, but Gay discovers that her engagement may not lead to marriage after all.  Donna and Peter's families have hated each other for decades, but then Donna and Peter experience a jolt of love-at-first-sight and have to try to figure out a way to get together.  Joscelyn and Hugh have been married for ten years, but parted ways in bitterness a few hours after their wedding and have been living separate lives all this time.

The title makes me think of the old Sir Walter Scott quotation, "Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive."  Which I'm sure it's meant to.  What's interesting is that most of the deception practiced in this book is self-deception.  Gay had deceived herself into getting engaged to a shallow man just because he's handsome and charming.  Donna is a widow who deceived herself into thinking she should never love another man because her first husband died young during WWI.  Joscelyn deceived herself for ten years that she loves a man other than Hugh that she only saw once, but thinks she is bound to forever because of what she felt in that one meeting.  And all the other members of the clan deceive themselves over a whole lot of random things -- including whether or not they are worthy of inheriting the jug.

I laughed aloud quite a lot over this book.  Montgomery reveals a sharp and biting wit similar to Jane Austen's as she lays bare the ridiculous things people are capable of thinking and doing.  I suspect I will laugh more next time I read it, as I said, because I won't be so worried about what will happen to everyone!

Particularly Good Bits:

And, as Uncle Pippin said, while the truth was all right, in its place, there was no sense in pouring out great gobs of it around where it wasn't wanted (p. 2).

Margaret thought she would not mind growing old if she could be left to do it in peace.  It was hard to grow old gracefully when you were always being laughed at because you were not young (p. 86).

"I like any gate," said Roger whimsically.  "A gate is a luring thing--a promise.  There may be something wonderful beyond and you are not shut out" (p. 134).

One couldn't be altogether hopeless in spring (p. 234).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a surprising number of mild curse words and one use of the N-word in regards to a statue someone has painted brown.  

I'm contributing this review to We Love L. M. Montgomery Week, which I'm hosting right now on my other blog!  Click here to see all the fun LMM posts people are contributing -- and you can join in yourself, too!  I've got a couple of games coming up, plus I'm hosting a giveaway.  One of the giveaway prizes is a copy of this book!

This has been my 9th book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023, and my 9th book read for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell

What a lovely, gentle book!  I've seen both seasons of the 2007-10 BBC series based on this, so I felt like I knew the characters already a bit, and that only added to my delight.  I chuckled aloud many times over the foibles of the people in this book, and then the last two chapters brought tears to my eyes.  Happy tears, as I tend to cry over joyful things more than sad ones.

A young woman named Mary Smith visits the small English town of Cranford repeatedly over the course of several years.  Through her, we get to know the people of the town reasonably well.  Most of them are women, and most of the women are aging and a bit poor.  Some become quite poor over the course of the story.  But they all behave, dress, and talk in the most genteel way they can manage -- sometimes that becomes ridiculous and laughable, and sometimes that becomes endearing.

The whole point, obviously, is to poke a little fun at societal conventions and those who adhere strictly to them, as well as to make plain the very narrow world women were forced to inhabit in the mid-1800s.  It's at once a bit satirical, a bit ironic, and very sympathetic.

Particularly Good Bits:

Although the ladies of Cranford know all each other's proceedings, they are exceedingly indifferent to each other's opinions (p. 5).

"Ah!" he said, "we farmers ought not to have much time for reading; yet somehow one can't help it" (p. 42).

"I only hope it is not improper; so many pleasant things are!" (p. 43)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G for being good, wholesome, lovely, and genuinely charming.

This has been my fourth book read for my fourth Classics Club list, and also my 51st book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.

"These Happy Golden Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

As a kid, this tied with The Long Winter for my least-favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder book.  It's all about growing up, and I really don't like stories about growing up.  I still don't, and I loathed them as a kid.

I actually quite enjoyed this book this time, though.  Watching Laura slowly come to understand why Almanzo Wilder wanted to court her, and slowly start to value him the way he valued her -- that was delightful.  And seeing Laura mature from a fifteen-year-old who couldn't imagine ever wanting to leave her parents' home permanently to an eighteen-year-old who was ready to start her own home was just a joy.

I totally forgot about the scary chapter "A Knife in the Dark," though.  I wonder if my mom skipped that when she read it aloud to us?  I almost think she must have.  I did read these on my own at least once, as a teen, but I really didn't remember that chapter at all.

Particularly Good Bits:

"The end of one thing is only the beginning of another" (p. 237).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Good, clean, and uplifting.  EDIT: except that one chapter with the knife incident, as George pointed out in the comments.  That's at least PG.

This is my 49th book read and reviewed for my third Classics Club list!  I'm nearly to book 50 again!!!

"Anne of Green Gables" (Manga Classics) by L. M. Montgomery (original story), Crystal S. Chan (story adaptation), and Kuma Chan (art)

I am enchanted by this manga version of Anne of Green Gables. So enchanted that I can't wait to read more in the Manga Classics series!  And this one has definitely found a home on our shelves.

Obviously, this is an abridgement of the original text.  There are a few chapters that only get one or two pages in this, Crystal S. Chan sets forth all the really key parts in loving detail.  Anne driving through the White Way of Delight for the first time?  Check.  Anne flying into a rage when Mrs. Rachel Lynde twits her about her looks?  Check.  Anne breaking a slate over Gilbert's head?  Check.  And so on.

Kuma Chan's artwork is completely adorable.  Every few pages, I would just stop and marvel at the sweetness and cuteness.  It is every bit as charming as it ought to be.

Now that I've read it myself, I've passed it on to my kids, and my ten-year-old read the whole thing in a little over an hour this afternoon.  She also completely loved it, and she is begging me to get some Manga Classics that retell Jane Austen books.  So look for more reviews of this series to come, because you know I have a great fondness for Jane Austen!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  G.  Absolutely clean and wholesome.

This has been my 24th book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.

"What Katy Did" by Susan Coolidge

What DID Katy do?  Oh, Katy does a lot of things.  Katy and her little siblings play, and sing, and read, and make messes, and get in trouble, and get hurt, and get well again, and rip their clothes, and get scolded... in other words, Katy and her siblings have childhoods.  Full and rich childhoods.

I can't believe I'd never read this book before.  I would have loved it as a kid!  It's got exactly the sort of chummy flavor I've long valued, like the Anne books and the Ramona books.  I would have spent a lot of time imagining I was friends with Katy, like I did with Anne and Ramona, when I was a kid.  Oh well, at least I've read it now!  And I have both sequels waiting on my TBR shelves!

I've seen people compare this to Anne of Green Gables a lot, as if Katy is a sort of proto-Anne, but I think she's a proto-Pollyanna.  In fact, there's quite a lot of Pollyanna in this book, including Katy suffering a terrible accident and having to learn a lot from it about how to handle life.  She struggles with that a great deal, but realistically, and the author doesn't offer either the character or the audience any pat answers on how to endure hardship.  She shows that it takes a lot of patience, learning, and willingness to try over and over.  I was impressed.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  It's totally appropriate for all ages.  

This is my 43rd book read and reviewed for my third Classics Club list -- getting close to that goal of fifty!  It's also my 23rd book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.

"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

It's been decades since I read this book last.  I read it multiple times when I was a kid and in my teens, but haven't had time for it since.  Until now!  I nabbed one of the gorgeous hardcover copies from Barnes & Noble when they were having a sale and decided it would be a perfect book to read aloud to my kids.

And we definitely enjoyed it!  I had fun trying to do the Yorkshire accents (which I'm sure I butchered atrociously) and they had fun watching Mary and Colin turn from selfish brats into nice people.  Because I love gardening and my kids get to help me in our flower and vegetable gardens, they could relate really well to a lot of what happened in this book.

But I had either forgotten or just not paid attention to the mystical ideas of Magic in this book.  We had some good discussions about how Magic does not make flowers grow or people get well, and how misguided these poor kids were because the adults in their lives weren't teaching them the truth about God.  There's also an emphasis on the power of positive thinking, basically, and some pretty humanistic stuff about people becoming good by trying to be good.  I was a bit disappointed by all that, to be honest, as I hadn't remembered it at all.

Still, it's a lovely story of selfish people learning to care for things and people beyond themselves, and I do still enjoy it.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.

This is my 48th book read and reviewed for my second Classics Club list.

"The Railway Children" by E. Nesbit

I loved this book when I was a kid.  Guess what?  I still love it now!  I read it out loud to my three kiddos this month, and they just ate it up.  I read them the Usborne Illustrated Original edition pictured here, and the illustrations by Ji-Hyuk Kim are GORGEOUS.  Especially everything involving the trains.

Three children and their mother have to leave their London home to go live in a small cottage in the English countryside because their father... has had some trouble befall him.  Trouble you don't learn about for a long, long time because the children don't know what it is either.

They live not far from a railway and make friends with the people who work at the local station as well as some of the engineers and passengers.  And they have many adventures involving the train and its environs, including one thrilling day when they actually save a train from being wrecked.  It's an utterly charming book, and I'm not surprised that my kids loved it too.

(From my Instagram account)

Particularly Good Bits:

Grown-up people, even Mothers, often make remarks that don't seem to mean anything in particular, just for the sake of saying something, seemingly (p. 52).

There was a pleasant party of barge people around the fire.  You might not have thought it pleasant, but they did; for they were all friends or acquaintances, and they liked the same sort of things, and talked the same sort of talk.  This is the real secret of pleasant society (p. 215).

However nice the person who is teaching you may be, lessons are lessons all the world over, and at their best are worse fun than peeling potatoes or lighting a fire (p. 351-2).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  G, for it is good, clean, sweet, lovely, and wholesome.

This is my 46th book read and reviewed for my second go-'round with the Classics Club.  Almost to my goal of 50!

"Sixteen Brides" by Stephanie Grace Whitson (again)

This is such a delightful book.  I loved it the first time I read it, and I loved again this time through.

Don't be worried by the thought of sixteen main characters to follow.  Whitson does not put her readers (or herself) through that sort of Tolstoy-esque torment.  Although there are indeed sixteen women travelling to Nebraska to claim homesteads, the story focuses on only five of them.

Most of these ladies are widows.  All are unmarried.  One widow brings along her adolescent son.  None of them are seeking husbands, but are instead hoping to begin new lives by proving up on homesteads.  However, unbeknownst to them, the man who has organized their trip to Nebraska has actually promised unmarried men at their journey's end a trainload of prospective brides.

Some of the women are absolutely horrified when they learn this.  Some are not.  Some see finding a husband quickly once they reach Nebraska to be a sensible choice.  Some refuse to entertain the thought.  Some of the ladies fall in love.  Some do not.  By the end of the book, there have been a few weddings, and there are more on the horizon, but we are not treated (subjected?) to sixteen wedding ceremonies.  

So if you're worried that this book is a collection of sixteen love stories, don't worry!  It's more about the characters learning and growing as people and as Christians than it is about romance, though there definitely are a couple of romances that get fleshed out.  

On the other hand, if you're expecting sixteen love stories in this book, it's best you know right now that that's not exactly what you'll get.

Here's something that amuses me:  the first time I reviewed this book, I said that if I belonged to a book club, I would insist on reading it with my club.  Well, I now belong to a book club, and guess what we read for our May meeting?  This book!  :-D

(Mine from my Instagram account)

Particularly Good Bits:

No one was coming to rescue her.  it was time she rescued herself (p. 11).

"I think a woman should be who she is, not what others expect her to be.  And if she wants to go to a dance looking for a man, she should go and not feel like she has to explain herself.  And if she wants to have her own farm, she should do that and not feel like she has to explain that, either" (p. 72).

"...God answers our prayers with what we need, not necessarily what we ask for" (p. 162).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:

PG-13 for violence including an attempted rape that is non-graphic but does use that word.

"Homer Price" by Robert McCloskey

If you're thinking to yourself, "Wow, Hamlette has been reading an awful lot of YA/Middle-grade/Junior fiction lately, hasn't she?" you are not wrong.  I have been.  It's because I'm teaching two lit classes twice a month for our homeschool co-op, and I'm revisiting a lot of really wonderful books in the process.  And I am loving it!  Though I'm not loving how it cuts into my unstructured "I read what I want" pattern of reading.  But whatever, I'm still reading things as the mood strikes me, just more slowly.

Anyway.  Homer Price.  I loved this book (and its sequel, Centerburg Tales) as a kid, and I love it now.  It's like The Andy Griffith Show, but told from Opie's perspective.  (That's one of my top fave shows, so this is high praise, folks.)  Homer Price, his family, his friends, and all the townsfolk go about their small-town, middle-America, middle-century lives with joy and curiousity and good humor.  I would love to live there.

Homer gets into a jam now and then, like when his pet skunk tangles with four armed robbers, or when he "fixes" his uncle's doughnut-making machine and then it won't stop making doughnuts, but he always uses his quick wits and friendly nature to come through just fine.  McCloskey's storytelling is simple, direct, and laced with humor.  I chuckled aloud a couple of times, but I remember laughing heartily over it as a kid.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  G.  Good, clean, wholesome fun.

This is my thirtieth book read and reviewed for my second go-round with the Classics Club!

"The Four-Story Mistake" by Elizabeth Enright

I know I read this as a kid, but I really didn't remember much of it, except that they had a cupola on their house.  I was kinda obsessed with cupolas as a kid, mostly thanks to the Samantha books from American Girl.  Truth be told, I'd still like one. 

Anyway, this is an utterly charming book.  I chose it for my 3rd-6th graders to read for our homeschool co-op this month, so of course, I had to reread it myself.  And I'm so happy I did.  I read one of the later Melendy books, Spiderweb for Two, a few years ago, and found it delightful too.

In this one, Mr. Melendy sells their home in the city and moves his four children, their housekeeper Cuffy, and the furnace man Willy out to a great big house in the countryside.  It has three actual stories and a cupola on top to be the fourth story, and it is full of surprises and secrets and joy. 

The four kids spend the book having all sorts of adventures.  This takes place during WWII, and they spend a good deal of time and energy thinking up ways to earn money to buy war stamps and war bonds.  They put on a play, one person finds a treasure, two of them get jobs... this is a slice-of-life story at its finest.  And I love that sort of book that just has people living out their ordinary lives in an interesting way.

Particularly Good Bits:

None of them wanted to leave their house.  None of them, that is, except seven-year-old Oliver who always greeted the future as a friend and never gave a hang about anything in the past (p. 6).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  G.  Good, clean, wholesome fun.

This is my 27th book read and reviewed for my second time around with the Classics Club.

"Marilla of Green Gables" by Sarah McCoy

Today is Lucy Maud Montgomery's birthday!  To celebrate, I'm reviewing a book that's based on her Anne of Green Gables series, Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy.  As you would expect, this is a prequel to the Anne books, creating a deeper backstory for Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert than is provided in Anne's stories.

I really liked the first two-thirds of this book.  Reading the imaginings about Marilla's life as a quiet, reserved girl who knows loss at a young age, who makes friends with the extroverted Rachel White, and who gradually falls in love with John Blythe was just a joy.  The last third was less delightful for me, and I'm not sure if that's because it was sadder (I don't think I need to say "spoiler alert" about the fact that she does NOT marry John Blythe) or because it got sort of exciting and suspenseful all of a sudden, and the tone didn't quite fit the rest of the book.  So I'm kind of adopting the first two-thirds into my personal head-canon for the Anne universe, and the last third I'll just... gradually forget.

This book is beautifully written, and I do recommend it to fans of the Anne books.  There are a lot of sweet little nuances, moments where you can say, "Oh, THIS is why she's so attached to that amythest brooch!" or "Aww, no wonder she encouraged Anne to go make friends with Diana -- she knows what it is to need a friend."  Also, the Pyes and the Blythes and the Andrewses and so many other familiar names appear, which was charming and fun.

(Mine from Instagram)

Particularly Good Bits:


"I like doing," said Marilla (p. 22).

"Greatness can be found anywhere.  It doesn't need grandeur.  There's greatness in the ordinary.  Maybe even more than elsewhere" (p. 34).

She was just as she was.  It didn't bother her to be plain (p. 56).

Marilla frowned.  His words rang of fatalism, and despite her no-nonsense nature, she was covertly a hopeful spirit (p. 161).

Silence had always been a Cuthbert comfort (p. 191).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  a soft PG-13 for discussions of death in childbirth, a few minor curse words, a suspenseful part involving men with guns, and some kissing scenes.

"Wonder" by R. J. Palacio

There's a reason this book is super famous and got a movie made of it.  That reason is that it tells a very compelling story about characters you begin to care about quickly.

I am sometimes resistant about very popular, famous books that "everybody is reading now."  I get skeptical and suspicious.  Not sure why -- part of my stubbornly individualistic personality or something.  So it took me a few years to finally read this.  But I'm glad I overcame my inner resistance and read it because it's a very sweet, funny, heart-warming story.  I got tears in my eyes several times, and a few of those spilled down my cheeks at the very end.

Auggie has a rare genetic disorder that caused him to be born with severe facial abnormalities.  Other than that, he's "normal" -- not "developmentally disabled" or physically incapacitated in any way.  He just doesn't look like other people.  His mother has homeschooled him all his life, but when he's ready to enter 5th grade, his parents decide to try enrolling him in a local private school.  Joy and struggles and triumphs and setbacks result.

I loved that this was told from multiple points of view.  Auggie himself was almost a little too perfect to work as a constant narrator, so I was glad that chunks of the story were told by other characters.  It really helped the whole story be more well-rounded and believable.

My son is 11 and in 5th grade, and we homeschool.  So part of the reason this book hit home for me was just imagining if he was Auggie and he faced those same obstacles.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for some instances of taking God's name in vain, a scary/tense scene, and discussions of physical problems that might be hard for little kids to handle or understand.

"The Harvest Raise" by Katie Schuermann

I've liked this trilogy more and more with each book!  All the characters I got to know during the first book, I love by now.  Be they irascible, sweet, scatter-brained, quirky, solemn, or conflicted, they're my fictional friends now.  I love the resolution so many characters get in this book, Arlene Scheinberg in particular.  I actually disliked her back in House of Living Stones, became grudgingly fond of her in The Choir Immortal, and now admire and cherish her.  That's a good character arc, folks.

This book takes place several years after the previous two.  Pastor and Emily Duke have children now, and Emily is learning that being a pastor's wife is not easy.  My own dad just retired from the ministry this summer, and a lot of the things Emily Duke encounters during this story reminded me of my mom's life.  Many members of the congregation love and support her, but there are some who think they're entitled to know everything about the pastor's private life, to tell them how many kids they should have, and to try to tell them how to manage their household.  Some mean well, some don't, and... that's exactly what a pastor's family deals with.  All the time.

From the first book, I've loved Blaine, the punk-looking pianist and college student who struggled with anger and self-worth because his dad divorced his mom and entered a homosexual relationship.  I love the direction Blaine's life is taking by this book, though I won't spoil what that is, just in case someone here hasn't read this series yet, or at least this book.  But I do want to talk about how interesting I found it that he's asexual.  Although asexual characters have been cropping up in fiction lately, I've never encountered one in Christian fiction before.  I really liked how Schuermann tied Blaine's non-interest in romantic or sexual relationships to the Biblical teachings that encourage and applaud celibate lifestyles for those who are not inclined to marry.  Schuermann handled it beautifully, showing it to be a blessing just as valid and God-pleasing as marriage.  In our sex-obsessed society, we need more books with characters who reflect the men and women throughout history who have not felt led to marry because they do not burn with physical passion.

Overall, I'm sad that this series has ended because I would like more adventures with the people of Bradbury, but I also love the way that it ended, so I'm content.  After all, I can reread these three books whenever I want to hang out with all of my fictional friends there again :-)

(From my Instagram account.)

Particularly Good Bits:

It was the very essence of Church Stress, this constant bearing of people's scorn.  The world mocked and spit upon Christ Himself.  It most certainly would do the same to His servants (p. 155).

He had remembered.  She closed her eyes and sat, comforted, in the warm embrace of Blaine's knowing.  It got lonely in her memories sometimes.  She reached out a grieving hand to him, and he met it with his own (p. 334).

She hadn't realized Lutherans could be so chatty.  Their Sunday morning stoicism was feigned, apparently, for the moment they picked up a phone, they confabulataed like spirited Pentecostals (p. 373).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for subject matter like abortion, drug use, physical abuse, and some scary tornado-related scenes.

This is my 12th book read and reviewed for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018!  That means I've reached my original goal!  I'll have to see about setting my sights on a higher goal, since it's only August.