"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!!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Mine, all mine!

Have you ever borrowed a book from the library or a friend, or read an e-copy, and loved the book so much you just had to buy a physical copy for your shelves?

I definitely have done this!  If I love a book, that means I'll want to reread it, and that means I want a copy on my shelves so I can reread it at any moment.  

So, here are ten books and/or series I've done that with, for this week's Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl.  All titles are linked to my reviews :-)

(All pictures are mine from my Instagram account)

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery (PG)

Corral Nocturne by Elisabeth Grace Foley (G)

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (G)

Girl in Disguise by Greer MacAllister (PG-13)

Laertes by Carly Stevens (PG-16)

The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey (PG)

The Mycroft and Sherlock books by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse 

• Mycroft Holmes (PG-13)
• Mycroft and Sherlock (PG-13)
• Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage (PG-13)

The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo (G)

The Two Blue Doors trilogy by Hillary Manton Lodge 

• A Table by the Window (PG)
• Reservations for Two (PG-13)
• Together at the Table (PG-13)

The Tudor Throne series by Charity Bishop

• The Usurper's Throne (PG-16)
• The Welsh Gambit (PG-13)
• The King's Players (PG-13)
• The Secret in the Tower (PG-16)
• The Queen's Falconer (PG-16)
• The Last Fire-Eater (PG-13)
• Isabella's Daughter (PG-13)

Have you read any of these?  Did you do a TTT this week?  Do share!

"Great Expectations" (Manga Classics) by Charles Dickens (original story), Crystal S. Chan (story adaptation), and Nokman Poon (art)

I read the full Great Expectations twenty-some years ago because I was all excited that the BBC made a movie version starring Ioan Gruffudd in 1999.  My family didn't have cable, so I didn't get to watch that version, but I did buy the book and read it.  And didn't like it much, to be honest.  So much so that I STILL haven't seen the version starring Ioan Gruffudd even though he's one of my favorite actors to this day.

I will not deny that I got this Manga Classics version hoping that I would like it enough that it would prompt me to actually, finally watch that BBC movie.  And I think it did the trick!  I read this whole thing in one afternoon, and I think I really have a good grasp of the story now, so I'm eager to watch the 1999 movie.  It feels like a good sort of story to experience in the fall, doesn't it?

Like all the other Manga Classics I've been reading over the past few months, this book really brings out the story in an understandable and enjoyable way.  The art by Nokman Poon was alternately charming and creepy, as befits the story.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a couple old-fashioned cuss words, lots of creepy spiderwebs and stuff for the Miss Havisham scenes, and some violent parts involving escaped convicts.  Like the other Manga Classics, it's intended for middle school on up.

This is my 44th book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.

"Bowdrie" by Louis L'Amour

Bowdrie is a collection of short stories about Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie.  He's a sensible, intelligent, quick-witted Ranger who spends these eight short stories hunting down killers, thieves, and other bad guys in an calm and quiet way.  Several of the stories also have a surprise partway through where you think you know what mystery or crime Bowdrie is trying to solve, but then the narrative shifts and you discover he's after somebody else.  Which was pretty nifty.

You may remember that I absolutely loved L'Amour's book Borden Chantry because it was a western murder mystery.  My friend Eva recommended I try out these short stories because I liked that so much, and I'm really glad she did!  In fact, I just ordered a copy of L'Amour's novel Bowdrie's Law because I need more.  

Of the eight stories here, my favorites were "Too Tough to Brand," "The Killer from the Pecos," and "Bowdrie Follows a Cold Trail," but not one of these stories was a dud, and I will happily reread this collection in the future.

Particularly Good Bits:

The ways of dishonest men were never as clever as they assumed, and the solving of a crime was usually just a painstaking job of establishing motives and putting together odds and ends of information ("A Job for a Ranger," p. 28)

It was early afternoon, but the town was already up and sinning when Chick Bowdrie left his roan at the Almagre livery stable ("The Killer from the Pecos," p. 127).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for western violence and a smattering of traditional cuss words.

This has been my 43rd book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.

"From These Dark Depths" by Vanessa Rasanen

Let me preface this review by saying that the middle section of a trilogy is nearly always my least-favorite part.  I will almost always love parts 1 and 3 of a trilogy, and part 2 will make me gnash my teeth.  The Two Towers?  My least-favorite LOTR section, both book and movie.  The Empire Strikes Back?  My least-favorite original Star Wars movie.  And so on.  I really like the recent trend toward duologies instead of trilogies because then we don't have that pesky middle section where I spend the whole thing knowing that I'm not going to have the resolution I desire.  I spend most middle sections of trilogies just patiently getting things over with so that I can get on to the good stuff in part three.

From These Dark Depths is no exception to that.  Vanessa Rasanen warned readers it would end with a cliffhanger, so I was prepared for that.  Which actually means I simply had "cliffhanger ahead' hanging over my head the whole time I read the book.  Which is probably why I didn't read it very quickly or sink very deeply into it.

It's a good adventure, much like the first book, On These Black Sands.  Some very nice action sequences, and lots of good character development.  Way more angsty prevaricating about "should I love this person or not" than I am usually a fan of, though.  When the author labeled this a "romantasy," she wasn't kidding, and the truth is... I am really not this book's audience.  I don't read much romance OR much fantasy.  And that's probably why I liked it okay, and I can appreciate the world-building and other writing elements for the craftsmanship, but it just wasn't a book I loved.

Particularly Good Bits:

When he woke up, she would disappear, but the feelings wouldn't.  He'd be left with this yearning to be near her and to know her, to care for her, and to live life beside her.  A yearning for something that could never be, could never work (p. 26).

She frowned.  How dare her thoughts be so logical when all she wanted to do was sulk? (p. 180).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16.  Definitely not something I would be comfortable letting a young teen read.  There's a more-detailed-than-I-prefer love scene, plus quite a few instances of dialog with innuendo, and also instances of characters lusting after other characters.  There's also a nasty keelhauling scene that involves torture, and the sirens eat people alive.  Sometimes bit by bit.  And there's a fair bit of bad language.

This has been the 42nd book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.

"Rose Petals and Snowflakes" by Kendra E. Ardnek

In retrospect, it kind of surprises me that I haven't read any Jane Austen + fairy tale retellings before.  The whole concept works so well!  Rose Petals and Snowflakes melds Austen's Sense and Sensibility with "Snow White and Rose Red," and it is completely charming.  I gobbled this up in two days!  And now I'm handing it off to my kids, all of whom love fantasy books, and all of whom are familiar with Sense and Sensibility, so I know they'll appreciate it fully.

Princess sisters Elinrose and Snowmari have a problem: their father, the king, is dying, and their older half-brother is lost in an enchanted forest.  Well, maybe not so much lost in as captured by, since the forest is semi-sentient and ruled by a powerful and mean enchantress.  Elinrose, being a sensible and capable sort of person, heads off to find and rescue their brother.  In the process, she meets a charming young man named Earnest and a talking bear called Bear.  And she gets her brother back, plus a new sister-in-law that no one quite knows how to react to.  And then, things get complicated.

Yes, more complicated than having to rescue your half-brother from an enchanted forest.  Like waking up in a cottage with your mother, sister, and niece without knowing how you got there, befriending fairies and talking bears, and your sister falling in love with a fickle wood spirit named Willow.  

I absolutely loved how elements from Sense and Sensibility got woven together in this, recognizable but not always used in exactly the same ways.  Like, if you're familiar with S&S, you know who Lucy Steele is and how absolutely infuriating and sickening she is.  The version of her in this has a legit reason beyond her control for certain secrets involving her past, and she's not conniving or horrible, and I completely loved that change.  

I can't wait to dive into the next Austen Fairy Tale book, Crown and Cinder, and book three (Emmazel) should be coming out in a few weeks, so I'll definitely be buying that as well!

(Mine from my Instagram account.)

Particularly Good Bits:

If she would never love again, then she would love with every beat of her heart while she could (p. 87).

     Snowmari gave the best smile she had the energy for.  "You need to stop chasing problems that aren't yours to solve."

     "I do.  You're right.  The resolve didn't leave Elinrose's voice.  "But I am never going to stop fighting the battles that are mine, and I suspect that I should have taken this one up weeks ago and saved you a great deal of pain" (p. 146).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for some mild fantasy violence.  No bad language, no smut, no gore.  I'm handing this to my ten-year-old, who has been eagerly awaiting her chance at it.

This is a contribution to the Austen in August celebration hosted all month by Roof Beam Reader.  It's also 41st book I've read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.

"Hamlet" (Manga Classics) by William Shakespeare (original story), Crystal S. Chan (story adaptation), and Julien Choy (art)

There are two options to read this play in the Manga Classics series.  One is to read it in the original language, and the other is to read it in a more modern adaptation.  I chose the original language edition, so that's what I'm reviewing here.

This book is breathtaking.  The art is just gorgeous -- crisp and moody, atmospheric and alluring.  And the story is "staged" very nicely, suiting the actions to the words in ways that made the story come to life.  

Like the other Manga Classics I've read this summer, I handed this off to my kids when I was done with it.  All three of them have read the Usborne graphic novel of Hamlet, so they knew the basics of the story already, and who the characters were.  My 14-yr-old son and 12-yr-old daughter both read this whole manga, and they did ask me a lot of questions about archaic words, but they did not have trouble understanding the story.  My 12-yr-old daughter read part of it and decided it was too creepy and weird, so she stopped reading.  I agree with her that the Ghost is quite creepy -- he's supposed to be, but I understand why she would object.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for containing the original curse words, accusations of marital infidelity, and violence.  It's not filled with gore, but the deaths at the end do involve some blood spatter.  Which is black and white, and cartoony, but still might not be acceptable for some readers.

This is the 40th book I've read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.