What struck me this month was the excellent quality of the books I made it through. One was definitely sub-par, but all the others had features that recommend themselves for different reasons.
Book Descriptions, Why I Picked Them, and My Impressions
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The American precursor version of "Anne of Green Gables", this book describes the life of Rebecca in Maine as she is brought up by spinster aunts and completes her education. She has many adventures and fits a mold that results in a memorable and endearing tale (please refer to the blog post "Americana Heroine").
Why I picked it up: When I looked under my bed to better rearrange the books I keep there (there are never enough bookshelves), I recalled that I had bought this book from the public library's used book shop area because it was a classic title I recognized. I can't recall the exact reason why I chose this one over the score sitting in my "To-Read" pile on an actual shelf, but it received my attention first.
My Impressions: This book is better than the "Anne of Green Gables" series. I know it's only my opinion, but I liked Rebecca so much better than Anne from the very beginning. Maybe it's because all the excitement is crammed into this one book. Perhaps I always felt like the dreamy, artsy Anne was just a little too much for me (and that's a comment coming from a dreamy, somewhat imaginative person with similar leanings). In any case, this book felt extremely similar to that series, but her scrapes were never quite as uncomfortable as Anne's were for me, which probably made it more enjoyable. I appreciate that the author was content to end the book with the door open to a relationship, rather than solidly establishing Rebecca and her beau as a couple. However, I must comment that there is a significant age gap between the two, which may come across as a little creepy to modern sensibilities. I recommend this book to anyone, especially girls and women who love the Anne series by L. M. Montgomery.
My Impressions: This book is better than the "Anne of Green Gables" series. I know it's only my opinion, but I liked Rebecca so much better than Anne from the very beginning. Maybe it's because all the excitement is crammed into this one book. Perhaps I always felt like the dreamy, artsy Anne was just a little too much for me (and that's a comment coming from a dreamy, somewhat imaginative person with similar leanings). In any case, this book felt extremely similar to that series, but her scrapes were never quite as uncomfortable as Anne's were for me, which probably made it more enjoyable. I appreciate that the author was content to end the book with the door open to a relationship, rather than solidly establishing Rebecca and her beau as a couple. However, I must comment that there is a significant age gap between the two, which may come across as a little creepy to modern sensibilities. I recommend this book to anyone, especially girls and women who love the Anne series by L. M. Montgomery.
Crusader King, by Susan Peek
This work of historical fiction is based on the real-life King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. It follows his short career as king and leper from the age of 13 until he died at 24. He battled political maneuvers, and treachery within his own court as well as disease and Muslim armies.
Why I picked it up: This book was part of a Tan $5 book deal and, recalling my rediscovery of Medieval-period historical fiction in the last year, it made sense that I should invest in yet another children's book of that niche.
My impressions: I was not a big fan of the book. The book was a quick read, King Baldwin IV having led an interesting life, but there was no overarching plot and the writing style left something to be desired. Some months ago, a friend pointed out to me that the dialogue in many historical fiction books are written in a way that makes them sound modern. "Crusader King" was such a book, and I admit it was one of the most dissatisfying elements of the book. I cannot say that I would recommend the book. There are no concerns on moral grounds, the book being thoroughly "Catholic" and the author making abundantly clear who were virtuous characters and who were not. However, reading about the ravaging effects of leprosy is unpleasant and could possibly frighten or disturb younger readers. If writing style is not a matter of interest, a more oblivious reader might enjoy this book more than I did.
The Enchanted Hour, by Meghan Cox Gurdon
Gurdon explores the benefits of reading aloud through research and personal anecdotes.
Why I picked it up: This book was recommended by a friend in a literary discussion group to which I belong and my parents gave it to me for Christmas. I had indulged in lots of fiction over the last few months, so I felt it was time to dive into something more non-fiction-y.
My impressions: This is an excellent book. Thanks to classes I took in grad school, I already knew a lot about the link between reading books, language exposure, and language development. However, it was delightful to look at reading from a perspective different from a professional one - I was able to thrill over affirming studies as the bibliophile that I am. This book also made me think. I know that I tend to steer away from books that I think will perturb me and figured that I would be very careful about letting any potential future children read questionable books. As parents are the first educators of their children, I still reserve that right, but this book challenged me to engage difficult texts rather than bowdlerize them or ban them outright, as I am more naturally inclined to do. I didn't agree with quite everything the author had to say, but we were in concurrence on many of her ideas. Reading this book makes me want to dive into my own passion project/pipe dream, that of finding the right relationship with entertainment as a Catholic-Christian. I'd recommend this book for any adult.
The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, by Allen French
Historical fiction piece in which an unlucky Icelandic family reclaims its land after many trials.
Why I picked it up: I saw this book at a local favorite bookstore of mine, Eighth Day Books, so I took a picture of it with the intention to read it later. I purchased the ebook version cheaply and decided it would work as a pleasant fictional escape after reading "The Enchanted Hour."
My impressions: The book was enjoyable and had the power to draw me into "another world." However, it was hard to get a sense of what this book really was - historical fiction? Yes, but it also had some mythic elements to it (slaying of ghosts, curses, etc.), which - considering the setting was a country that had only recently encountered and turned to Christianity, it made sense. Some basic Internet research about other books the author has written led me to think that perhaps this was a prose rendering of some Norse epic, but of that I am not sure. Rolf certainly came across as the "epic hero" type in both his personality and in his exploits, but I disagreed with some of the decisions he made at the end of the book. I like "The Red Keep," another book by the same author, better than this one, but "The Story of Rolf" was a pretty fun read that I'd recommend for high school students and older. Middle school and perhaps older elementary could read this book, but some of the vocabulary is archaic and the pagan elements warrant explanation by or discussion with an adult.
Holes, by Louis Sachar
In this children's fiction novel, a wrongly-convicted grade school student must work at Camp Green Lake for 18 months, digging holes as his punishment. He comes to realize that the greedy Warden of the camp is looking for something in those holes, but that is not the only difficulty he must navigate. He and another inmate, repulsed by the corruption and meanness of the adults around them, flee into the wilderness, but decide to come back to foil the plans of those same adults.
Why I picked it up: As an employee working at a temporarily-closed-due-to-Coronavirus-elementary school, I'm spending a lot of time making digital assignments. One way I do that is by working with assignments general education teachers have already assigned - it turns out that some of my students are reading this book. After coming across these assignments multiple times, I developed a hankering to read it again (I read it originally sometime around third grade).
My impressions: This book is a fun read and, even though some characters are mean or even cruel, I appreciated that the author didn't make them extremely dark. It felt like he never forgot that he was writing for children. The main thing I noticed was that there are so many internal connections between characters, locations, and events. I admit that sort of bugged me - at one point, I sarcastically wondered if there would be anyone left at the end of the book who wasn't related to at least one other character. All the same, the author wove together multiple stories well and kept them balanced - with the main storyline having the most time, and the others less. I'd feel fairly comfortable recommending this book to elementary age students, but there are some moments of swearing and dishonesty.
Beauteous Truth, by Joseph Pearce
This book is a collection of 75+ essays by Joseph Pearce, a Catholic scholar who loves all things Catholic Literary Revival (I'm not sure if that's an actual recognized era or just his term for the late 19th-early 20th century period when lots of British authors were converting to Catholicism and writing). He writes on a variety of topics spanning many literary subjects, works, and authors.
Why I picked it up: This was an impulse buy from my favorite small-business local book store. I am very interested in the connections between faith and literature, so when I saw this title paired with the name of an author I had read and listened to before, I knew I had to own it. I hadn't realized that it was a collection of essays - instead of a single academic work - when I picked it up, but it was a great investment (and probably much easier to read than a single rigorous study).
My impressions: Some of these essays gave me great food for thought (e.g., what is the interplay between an author's background, his intended meaning, and the reader's interpretation? Should there be a connection, or is literary criticism all subjective and dependent upon the reader's experience?). I discussed some of these ideas with a gal pal and made note of several of the essays I liked best. However, I found that some of Pearce's ideas are best when taken with a grain of salt (no, I don't think the evidence for Shakespeare being secretly Catholic is overwhelming; it is circumstantial at best, Mr. Pearce). I had to skip through two essays in which he offered interpretations on some pretty dark literary pieces (I am very sensitive and don't need those kinds of story summaries in my life). Fascinating though some of these essays are, I wouldn't call this work a "page-turner". It wasn't exactly dry, but I did feel like I had to push through some of it to get to the next book. To me, reading more academic works is like eating healthy food: it's good for me, but it's not nearly as toothsome as the sugary goodness of fiction. I recommend this book to any Pearce lovers out there, as well as "lifelong learners" and lovers of the writers of the Catholic Literary Revival.
The Light Princess, by George MacDonald
Old-fashioned fairy tale about a princess who lacks gravity - in more ways than one.
Why I picked it up: A fairy tale really hits the spot sometimes.
My impressions: This is my second time reading this book, and it was still just as excellent as the first time. My delight may not have been quite as high as in my first reading, but only because I like to think I've moved from the flightier "first love" to a steadier agape for this work. This is a quick read, but thoroughly enjoyable. It gripped my imagination and made me want to map out a movie or musical version of this story. Unfortunately, there's already a musical that was - ahem - "based on" or "inspired by" the original, but I found the score lacking and the story itself quite different from MacDonald's tale. This story deserves the full animated-movie-musical-turned-into-Broadway-musical treatment, in my humble opinion. I recommend this book to anyone. If possible, find a version with beautiful illustrations. The pictures in my copy are tolerable, but some are a little weirdly proportioned.
The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane, by Julie Nobel
12-year-old Emmy moves into a boarding school and discovers that her long-missing father attended school there years before. She and friends investigate a mysterious and dangerous secret society in the hopes of finding him.
Why I picked it up: This book was recommended on a Facebook group I follow and it was available on Kindle Unlimited.
My impressions: This book had the feel of the "Mysterious Benedict Society" series but held its own as a unique adventure. I greatly enjoyed reading this book and was sad to find out its sequel is not available for free yet. I recommend this book to middle-school age students - or younger, if they are at the reading and maturity level to handle it. Some parts might be creepy for young readers, and the protagonist has a sad, somewhat strained relationship with her self-absorbed mother. There are a few instances where Emmy either lies to or conceals information to deceive her mother. However, there are many kind and noble characters to contrast with those who are self-serving and threatening.
Bracket Play
Here, again, we have bracket play. It was hard to narrow down this time because I'd recommend most of these books for reading with few reservations.
The easiest decision was "The Light Princess" versus "Crusader King." I did not even have to think about it. "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" beat out "Holes" pretty quickly. "Holes" was a fine contender, but had nothing near the charm and delight of "Rebecca". It was a toss-up for both the "The Enchanted Hour"'-"Black Hollow" and "Beauteous Truth"-"Rolf" matchups, but I went with the more academic books because they both lent themselves to deeper thinking and they challenged me, whereas the children's books were just fun.
In Round 2, the children's books turned the tables and beat out Pearce and Clarkson. Inconsistent, perhaps, but even the treasures found in the academic works just couldn't beat out the wonder of incredible fiction. I would bet I'll be rereading the Round 2 winners in their entirety much sooner than the still-excellent losers.
In the final showdown, "The Light Princess" took the top ranking. The tale is short, but powerful in its ability to recharge my imagination and relax my spirit.*
*Interpret results with caution. Bias may be present due to blogger's rose-tinted experience of reading George MacDonald's works for the first time in college when she thought there were no more delightful books left to discover.
Books Attempted and Put Down
This month, I realized that my bracket is not a true reflection of every book I've read; there were several this month that I started but, for various reasons, did not finish. I hope to make this a regular section of my monthly bracket post because I think it will benefit me to record reasons why I did not finish a given book.
White Rose Black Forest, by Eoin Dempsey
This historical fiction novel set in WWII centers on a German woman and the injured Allied parachuter she finds in her vicinity, but it draws in the real-life "White Rose" group that resisted Nazi ideology.
Why I picked it up: This book was recommended to me by a friend and it was in Amazon's Kindle Unlimited selection. I made it about halfway through the book.
Why I put it down: The main character had been on her way to commit suicide and that idea came up several times in the following chapters, which is not a pleasant topic to bring up over and over. She also tells her life story in detail, and the details of growing up and living in Nazi Germany are, unsurprisingly, pretty grim. The book had some of the "page-turner" suspense that makes some books so exciting to read, but it was just too dark for me and I could tell this book really had the potential to mess with my mood. I reached a point where I concluded I could guess the rest of the story in a broad, generalized sort of way, so I had no regrets about not finishing it.
Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
This Newberry Medal-winning book explores relationships and loss from the perspective of a tween-aged girl whose mother died in a bus accident when she was doing some soul-searching.
Why I picked it up: This book was recommended on a Facebook page I follow and have gleaned successful book recommendations from previously. This title was included in Kindle Unlimited as well. Award-winning children's literature has proven ripe ground for new reads in the past (e.g., Sarah Plain and Tall). But now that I think of it, I've had some disappointments from that department, too (Trumpeter of Krakow).
Why I put it down: The writing flowed well and was not overtly artsy, which I appreciated. The beginning started off well, but as I got further into it and more references were made to the main character's mother and the as-yet-unexplained circumstances surrounding why she was not coming back home, I felt a gloomy sense of foreboding growing. I had made it about a third of the way through the book the day I started it, but when it reached a point where I wasn't enjoying it as much due to my forebodings, I decided to look up a synopsis of the book online. I'm glad I did, because it looked like there was going to be a good deal more hardship before there was any healing...and the ending didn't sound particularly happy, either. I was glad to part ways with the book at that point. Maybe some children who have experienced serious loss in their lives would really connect with this book, but it wasn't fun reading for this adult. It was not something I needed to read, so I moved on to the next book in line.
Caught Up In a Story, by Sarah Clarkson
Author Sarah Clarkson outlines the "whys" and "hows" of enriching children with a "storyformed" life.
Why I picked it up: I read "Book Girl" by the same author, in which work she mentioned this title. I liked her thoughts in "Book Girl," and being low-key obsessed with the impact of story on the human person, I added it to my "To-Read" list. I saw my Kindle Unlimited free trial was almost up (sigh), so I squeezed in this one right at the end.
Why I put it down: I wouldn't say I put this one down so much as skimmed through the majority of it. I definitely agreed with the author, but I wasn't learning anything new. This book elaborated her ideas on the subject, certainly, and she draws from her life experiences for evidence, but (ironically) I wanted more data. I think I wanted the same ease of reading with more academic rigor (I'm going to need sources if I ever write a dissertation on this topic), not a subjective case-study approach. I greatly appreciated the ends of the chapters because they contained titles of recommended reads, which I studied fastidiously before returning the book.
