But I’m not big on bookish merchandise. If I’m going to spend money on bookish stuff, I’ll spend it on actual books, thank you! But since it’s spring, and it’s starting to get nice out, I decided to look at gardens. Even though I’m not a gardener (I don’t have the patience for it) I do love a story set in a garden. So here are some favorites:
This is a classic garden. Mary goes to live with her uncle on the gloomy Yorkshire moors, but discovers a hidden, abandoned garden. By nurturing it back to life, Mary restores health, both physical and mental, to herself and everyone around her.
Tom is staying with his aunt and uncle who live in the city with nowhere to play outdoors. But when the clock strikes 13 each night (yes, you read that right) Tom sneaks out of bed and goes to play in a garden that appears only then.
I remember when I read this, it reminded me of The Secret Garden in a number of ways. That may have been intentional, because The Secret Garden author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, even makes a cameo appearance here.
Claire Waverly has a magical garden behind their North Carolina home, that is the work of generations of Waverly women. The fruits and flowers enhance the lives of those who know how to use them well.
These can be read as a duology or as stand alones. The first is about John Tradescant, a royal gardener in the early 17th century. The second follows his son, who travels to Virginia. Father and son have little in common other than a love of making things grow.
Eva Ward returns to her Cornwall to spread her sister’s ashes. She discovers that she can slip into the estate’s past. The rose garden serves as a kind of anchor for her travels.
This is a book I read a lot time ago and liked a lot. It also had some Secret Garden vibes. Gardening once again is a metaphor for the life and health of the characters. I’d like to reread this at some point soon.
This book consists of Marco Polo and Kublai Khan sitting in Khan’s garden, while Marco Polo describes all of his travels and the places that he’s been.
March 8: Books With Your Favorite Trope/Theme (Submitted by Raincheckandread.com and Sara Beth @ Life, Love, Writing)
I did something like this a while back but I figured that doing another could be fun. So here are some tropes/themes I love and some books that use them.
December 14: Books on My Winter 2021 To-read List (or summer if you’re in the southern hemisphere)
But since I’m trying not to make new TBRs until I’ve read through my old ones, I decided to look at books I got as gifts this time of year. Just so you know, my birthday was a few weeks ago, so some of these may have been birthday presents, which tend to blend in with the winter holidays for me.
1. There’s No Such Thing As A Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein by Susan Sussman – Like many non-Christian children I felt left out of the holiday season as a kid. This is a book that my parents gave me for Chanukah as a child. It looks at how children of all different backgrounds can help each other celebrate what’s special to them. As Sandy’s grandfather explains to her: “We honor our friends, when we share what is special in our lives with them.” As a child and an adult, I’ve been so fortunate to be able to celebrate my own traditions and background with others, and to help others celebrate theirs.
2. Sweet Valley Twins and Friends Super Chiller: The Christmas Ghost by Francine Pascal– For some reason when I read this as a kid it terrified me. I’d seen various incarnations of A Christmas Carol (Mickey’s Christmas Carol, A Muppet’s Christmas Carol, etc. ) and been relatively OK with them, but for some reasons the ghosts in this contemporary retelling really freaked me out. I think it had something to do with the contemporary suburban setting seeming a bit too familiar. Also I usually didn’t see those movies around the holiday season. I’d gotten this as part of a set for a birthday present, so I started reading it just as the holiday season was starting up. So that also felt very immediate.
3. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis– I got a box set of these as a gift one year in my childhood. I can’t remember who gave them to me, so if you happen to be reading this now, I’m sorry, but I did love the books, so thank you so much for giving them to me! I remember reading this over the school vacation one winter. Though in retrospect, it’s unlikely I could have read them all in a ten-ish day period as a kid… But however long it took me to read them, it’s a happy memory!
4. Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen– My cousin gave me this when I was about twelve or thirteen after finding out that I liked acting and theater. Even though I didn’t become an actor, it taught me more about what acting actually is than anything else I’ve read. Interestingly, I think it also made me a better writer. Some of the exercises that Hagen suggests for actors getting to know their characters also apply to writers who want to understand their characters better. Over the years I’ve thought a lot about how similar acting and writing are in some ways. I think this book underscores my point.
5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid– This was a gift from my aunt a few years ago. It was everywhere at the time. I was seeing it on goodreads, bookstagram, blogs, etc. So I was glad to have a chance to read it for myself. I really enjoyed it.
6. The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody– I’m putting these on here as being representative of all the wonderful books gifted to me over the years by my Aussie book buddy. She’s given me so many others too though, for various birthdays and holidays. But I do think I got the first of this series around this time of year.
7. Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne’s House of Dreams by LM Montgomery– I think this may have been a birthday gift from a friend of mine. It was the first time I “met” Anne Shirley, who has become a lifelong friend (or “kindred spirit” as Anne would say). I couldn’t find a link to the actual edition she gave me. While it’s a beautiful, illustrated, hardcover volume, it includes Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea and Anne’s House of Dreams, which always struck me as odd. Why not just include the first 3 books in the series? I’m still glad to have it though, because as I said, it’s beautiful, it’s survived many years, and was my first introduction to Anne and LM Montgomery.
8. A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett – I’m counting these as one since someone gave me both of them at the same time. Each one is a lovely illustrated edition (linked). Both of them remain favorites to this day. They’re beautiful, sad and ultimately hopeful. I’ve since sought out some of Burnett’s work for older readers too.
9. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume – Just a note that I really don’t like this cover. It implies that God and Margaret have a texting relationship, which they don’t. I’m fine with elements of the book (like references to technology) being updated, but don’t make the whole book look like something it’s not! But I did like the book. I got it sometime before puberty, and it lead to some elevated expectations that were dashed (menstruation turned out to be way less fun than this book implied!) but I still have fond memories of it.
10. The Dancing Floor by Barbara Michaels – Michaels was one of the first “grown up” authors that I started reading regularly. I was probably somewhere in the 11-14 age range, and I told my grandmother that I wanted this as a gift. I was very proud to reveal that I’d graduated to adult reading.
I found this kind of tough, because most of these I like as standalones, even if I want to know what happened next. Some I left off, because even if they had open endings, I don’t think they’d work with a sequel. I did something like this a while back, but on that one I included books that ended a series that I wished weren’t the end. I also counted sequels by other authors. So I decided to make a new list with actual standalones. Sequels by other authors don’t count on this list. I tried to be fairly general in my comments and not include specific spoilers, but just be warned…:
1. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell- OK this actually does have a sequel that was authorized by the author’s estate, but for the most part, it’s not great. Also based on the rules I made up for this list, sequels by other authors don’t count. I would have liked Scarlett’s next chapter as imagined by Mitchell herself. But it’s also not like I felt that the original book left me in the middle of nowhere. It just left me wanting to know more.
2. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern– I was once again torn between this and The Night Circus for this list. Both have such vivid settings that could be explored further, and neither ties things up in a bow, so there could conceivably be more to the story. I finally decided to go with this one for this list because the setting (literally) lends itself to millions of stories. Also, I put The Night Circus on my first list.
3. A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux- I was torn between this book and Deveraux’s other romance with elements of time travel, Remembrance. I just went with this one because it was the first that popped into my mind. In both cases, Deveraux twists the expected “happily ever after” a bit. Not that they don’t have happy endings (it is the romance genre after all!) but not in the ways the reader would expect, so more questions begin to emerge.
4. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel- This one ends on a hopeful note. It’s a post-apocalyptical novel, so there isn’t much hope through most of it. When it emerges at the end, my biggest question was, “how do people deal with this?” It’s a big change from the status quo for the characters, learning to exist in a world where things may improve. I wanted to know how they handled it!
5. The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente- This is a strange book. It’s supposedly intended for a middle grade audience, but plot deals with the Bronte siblings falling into the fantasy world that they wrote about in their juvenilia. I’m not sure how many middle graders are familiar with the Brontes, let alone their lesser know juvenile works! But I enjoyed it nonetheless. Knowing biographical information about the real life version of characters made me wonder how their book versions would handle some of what I knew was facing them. I was also interested in their evolution from the children depicted in the book to brilliant writers. But a sequel with that stuff would probably take it even farther out of middle grade territory.
6. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett- I’m fine with where it ended, but I’ve always been curious about what the future holds for Mary, Dickon and Colin. Another author did write a sequel but I’m not counting sequels by other authors for this list.
7. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman– I’m kind of curious what happens to Bod when ventures out into the (non-graveyard based) world. How do his daily interactions with the living go? What becomes of him as an adult? Does he find a job? Get married? Live “normal” life? Or does he do something different?
8. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke– I have a conflicted relationship with this book (mostly because I found it way too long!) but it does leave off with a lot of unanswered questions.
9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen– Let me just preface this by saying that I’m totally fine with this not having a (official) sequel (there are many, many sequels and spin offs and fanfic by other authors!) But I’ve always wondered what became of Kitty and Mary after their sisters got married. I mean, the fact that Lizzie and Jane married money means that they won’t be homeless when their father dies (presumably they could stay with one of them!) but what did they do with their lives? Did they ever marry? Did they do something else? If so, what?
March 9: Spring Cleaning Freebie (for example, books you’re planning to get rid of for whatever reason, book’s you’d like to clean off your TBR by either reading them or deciding you’re not interested, books that feel fresh and clean to you after winter is over, etc.)
For this one I decided to stay simple and go with books that feel like/ remind me of springtime. Themes of nature, rebirth, renewal, hope, and second chances abound!
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim– It’s a miserable February when two English ladies see an advertisement “To Those Who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine.” They end up spending their April with two other ladies. The only thing these four have in common really is dissatisfaction with their everyday lives. The month they spend in a medieval castle in Portafino, Italy, is transformative for all.
2. The Lake House by Kate Morton– This is actually not my favorite Kate Morton book, but it does strike me as the most spring-y. Alice lives on her family’s estate in Cornwall. Her baby brother, Theo vanishes without a trace one night after a party, and the family, torn apart, abandons the lake house. Decades later, the house is discovered by Sadie, a young detective with the London police force, who is staying in Cornwall with her grandfather. Her investigation into what happened long ago connects her with Alice, and some shocking revelations. I think the themes of healing and second chances make this one feel like springtime.
3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett- This childhood favorite is all about rebirth, renewal, second chances, and of course, gardens! Mary is raised in India and sent to her uncle’s gloomy English manor after she’s orphaned by a cholera outbreak. As she tries to crave a new life for herself on the moors, she discovers and abandoned garden. In making the garden grow, she helps herself and others grow as well. She brings healing, and new life, to a grieving household.
4. Earthly Joys and Virgin Earth by Phillipa Gregory- Technically these two books make up the Tradescant duology, but they’re both pretty stand alone, so they can be read in either order. The first book is about John Tradescant, royal gardener in 17th century England. The second book follows his son, who immigrates to America (which was then colonies). The only thing that the father and son, and the two books, have in common is their name, and their strong connection to nature.
5. Arcadia by Lauren Groff- In upstate New York, in the 1970s, a few idealists found a commune on the grounds of a decaying mansion (Arcadia House). They vow to work together and live off the land. The books follows the utopian dream through it’s demise. This may seem almost: anti-spring! After all the living off nature idea falls apart. But the people change. They grow. They realize they have to face the wider world outside, and they emerge when they’re ready to take it on. To me that seems like a springtime theme.
6. Persuasion by Jane Austen- This is actually one of my least favorite Austen books (which still makes it better that about 90% of other books!), but it’s themes of first loves and second chances make it great for spring. It’s about a couple that falls in love and is separated by fate. Years later, they meet again. Older, wiser, and still in love. Is it too late for them? After all, they’ve both grown and changed… Of course not! Spring is the season of second chances.
7. Spring by Ali Smith-Spring is the third novel in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet. All of the novels have connections but they’re all stand alone and can be read in any order. All are about contemporary Britain, but also in a larger sense about the attitudes of the western world. This book has a focus on immigration and refugee crises. While the depiction of detention centers is sometimes hard to take, there is also a sense of optimism and hope that we can learn and change, that feels spring-y.
8. Flush: A Biography by Virginia Woolf– This imagined biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s loyal canine friend is a story of love, companionship and renewal. It’s also a story of transformation, change and growth. We see Flush go from stifled lap dog to cosmopolitan dog about town.
9. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter- This book opens on the Italian coast in 1962. A chance at romance between an innkeeper and an aspiring actress is cut off. But 50 years later it might get a second chance thanks to some Hollywood hustlers. This could have been a cynical Hollywood satire, but Walter gives the story a sweetness that is accompanied by wit.
10. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed- Cheryl Strayed is in sort of a personal, metaphorical winter at the beginning of this memoir. And much of the content takes her though actual snowpack! But she emerged from the winter, stronger, wiser, and most of all, hopeful: a metaphorical spring ends the winter.
November 3: Non-Bookish Hobbies (Let’s get to know each other! What do you do that does not involve books or reading?)
I’m so nervous about the election today, but doing this post was a welcome distraction this week!
Most people who know me, know these things about me: 1. I am a bookworm. A book devourer. I consume books. 2. I love musicals. I love music as a storytelling device. So naturally, I love it when some of my favorite books become musicals. Here are some books that have become musicals over the years. Some you probably know, but others you may not. You could say that geeking out over musicals it one of my non-bookish (but sometimes still bookish) hobbies.
I actually haven’t seen this one live, but I’ve come to love it via the Original Broadway Cast Recording which features some of my all time favorite performers including Audra MacDonald, Marin Mazzie (who we recently lost too soon) and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
This musical chopped down the Wilkie Collins’ novel pretty significantly, but that’s necessary. There’s no way to get everything in the book into a two and a half hour production! The show was pretty short live on Broadway and in London, but the cast recording is available to anyone curious.
I’d say that most people know this or at least know of this. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical takes some liberties with the original novel by Gaston Leroux but for the most part, they work. The show is one of the biggest hits in the world, with productions running worldwide. It’s had a Hollywood version, and the 25th Anniversary staging is also available to watch. However, not everyone knows that the novel also has other musical adaptations by Maurice Yeston and Arthur Kopit, Ken Rice, and David Staller.
This had a brief Broadway run in 2000, but I never had the opportunity to see it. I discovered it thanks to the cast recording and some youtube videos. If you’re a fan of the novel and you like musicals check it out.
Lucy Simon’s musical adaptation of The Secret Garden expands the story a bit, depicting flashbacks of Archibold’s romance with Lily, but not in any way that feels untrue or disrespectful to the source material. I really liked how the ghosts at Miselthwaite are an active part of the show.
Once again, this is one that really needs no introduction. It’s played all over the world. It was a major Hollywood film. There are even three separate concert stagings available to home viewers (I’m partial to the 10th Anniversary, but there’s also the 25th and the more recent Staged Concert. Yes, Hugo’s novel was adapted significantly to be able to take place onstage in a three-hour span. But as far as adaptations go, I felt that it was pretty well done, especially considering the size of the source material.
This one is weird because I hated the literary source material. I found it badly written and treacly. I saw the show because I was a fan of the composer/lyricist, Jason Robert Brown, as well as the two leads, Kelli O’Hara and Stephan Pasquale. I was surprised to see that Marsha Norman wrote a script that took the basic premise of the novel; a four-day affair between a fifties housewife and a traveling photographer, and did something very different with it. It didn’t last long on Broadway, but the cast recording is available.
This is based on Elizabeth Spencer’s novella of the same name (which I also love), but in this case, the music, the performances, the sets and costumes, and production all came together to enhance the beauty of the material. The show was filmed live and broadcast on PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center. Though there’s no official DVD release of which I’m aware, the video may be on the internet somewhere. There’s also a cast recording available.
This isn’t for everyone. I’ll say that straight out. It’s a dark story of love and obsession. It’s not a romance we’re comfortable with, and one of the primary players is Fosca, a character who doesn’t quite qualify as a heroine, but she isn’t an anti-heroine or a villain either. Though I could see different people responding to her character in different ways. But it’s also really beautiful in an unexpected way. I would suggest that people looking at this leave their cynicism at the door. Luckily the original Broadway production is available on DVD.
I’m actually not the biggest fan of this one. It’s a fun show, with some catchy tunes that provides an enjoyable few hours of theater. I just don’t think it’s more than that. But then I wasn’t the biggest fan of the novel either. It’s actually very different from the show. Some significant chances were made to the story in adapting it for the stage.
This Rodgers and Hammerstein Classic is based on the book of interrelated short stories but James Michener, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948, The musical combined several of these stories, and won the Pulitzer for Drama in 1950. There’s a Hollywood film, a made for TV version with Glenn Close and Harry Connick Jr, and a 2005 staged concert starring Reba McEntire and Alec Baldwin. A Broadway revival was broadcast on PBS but not released on DVD. It may still be available on the internet somewhere.
May 5: Things I’d Have at My Bookish Party (choose 10 things: items, accessories, foods, people (real or fictional), decorations, activities, etc.)
This week’s topic didn’t grab me, so I went in my own direction again. It’s finally starting to feel like spring in my neck of the woods, and even though I think of myself as a “winter person,” behind my mask and beneath my gloves I’m starting to celebrate. So I’m sharing ten books that feel like spring to me:
1.The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett- I think that this book is perfect for spring, because we follow this orphan who comes to England from India. She’s bereaved and isolated, but she finds the secret garden. As she brings it back to life, her own health and spirits are also rejuvenated. It’s about renewal and rebirth.
2. Spring by Ali Smith– This is part of Smith’s seasonal quartet. Each book is stand alone, but has subtle links to the others. This one focuses on characters that seem very separate: Richard is an elderly director who is grieving after the loss of his friend and Brit works at a migrant detention center until she meets Florence, a young girl travelling to what she hopes will be a better life. It examines current events in Britain, which in this case probably aren’t too different from the US, but it also weaves together the characters and ideas to create a larger picture. The characters’ relationships and their values are highlighted and questioned against these larger issues.
3. A Room With A View by EM Forester– Miss Lucy Honeychurch, A Proper English Young Lady, is destined for a Respectable Marriage, until she takes a vacation in Tuscany. She meets George Emerson, who is travelling with his father, and “In the company of this common man the world was beautiful and direct. For the first time she felt the influence of Spring.” When she returns to Italy respectability tries to take over her life once again, but Lucy has already become open to a different kind of life.
4. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim– Yes, I know it’s May, but this book still applies. It’s about four Englishwomen with little in common other than the fact that they need a break from their daily lives. They decide to rent a castle in Italy for the month of April. The new location restores them and brings them new perspective in different ways. When the men in their lives join them (sometimes by invitation, sometimes not) the transformation can’t help but overcome them as well.
5. Flush: A Biography by Virginia Woolf-This book is an imagined biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s dog, Flush. From a dog’s eye view, we get a chance to see Elizabeth as a young invalid who spends most of her time indoors. She manages to meet Robert Browning (initially a fan of her work) and they fall in love. He whisks her (and Flush, naturally) off to Italy (I’ve never been to Italy but I get the sense that it’s the place to be in springtime!). We see Elizabeth transform through Flush’s perspective, and we see Flush transform as well: he goes a lapdog to a dog about town.
6. Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson– On the first day of spring in 1911, Susanna Weber, who runs a dress salon in the titular square in Vienna, starts to keep a diary. In it she records the lives of and stories of herself and her neighbors. Other than being literally set in spring, this book feels springy to me because it’s about life: good, bad, and occasionally ugly.
7.Anne of Avonlea by LM Montogmery- Read just about any LM Montgomery book and you’re almost sure to find a beautifully written description of spring. I suppose that I chose this particular book because it’s about growth- Anne’s growth and that of her friends. They’re in the spring of their lives here. It reminds us “That is one good thing about this world…there are always sure to be more springs.”
8.Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed– When Cheryl Strayed started to hike the Pacific Crest Trail she had lost her mother and her family dissolved, her own actions had brought about the end of her marriage to a man she still loved, and she was lost in a mire of substance abuse. She was in an emotional winter. While she treks through miles of snowpack and hot desert, she grows and changes. She emerges from her journey renewed and reborn, in a personal spring.
9. Emma by Jane Austen- For some reason I always associate this book with picnics. I can recall one important picnic scene, but in my head it seems like Emma and friends are always going on a picnic. But I also think of Emma as a springtime character. She embarks on several (disastrous but well-intentioned) attempts at matchmaking only to realize how in the dark she really is. Finally she comes through a bit wiser and the world opens up around her. Her mind opens up. She’s in a metaphorical spring.
10.Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen– The Waverly family is endowed with usual “gifts” that make them outsiders in their small time home of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has special powers. Claire is a caterer who brings a magical touch to her dishes with these plants, but her sister, Sydney fled town as soon as she was old enough to go. When Sydney returns, daughter in tow Claire’s quiet life it turned upside down. Sydney and her daughter tear down the boundaries that Claire had put up around her heart, leaving her wide open.
November 27: Platonic Relationships In Books (friendships, parent/child, siblings, family, etc.)
For this one I decided to go with friendships. Sometimes the friendships in question are between siblings, but there’s always a strong basis in affection as opposed to just familial bonds. It’s also OK if two characters within a group are in a romantic relationships as long as the group itself is held together by platonic bonds.
1. The March Sisters in Little Women– Yes they’re sisters. And that holds them together even when they grow apart in other ways. But the March’s bond is built on a foundation of confiding in one another, having shared memories and experiences and being there to support one another when things go wrong. All those are things that exist among groups of friends, whether or not they share the same blood.
2. Anne Shirley and Diana Barry in the Anne series by LM Mongomery- Anne and Diana are kindred spirits, bosom friends pretty much from day one. You can only get drunk on cherry cordial with a bestie. When you share something sweet with a bosom friend it tastes even sweeter because you shared it. A best friend like this stands by you even when you’re not using your best judgement, and helps to pick up the pieces when you fall. Yes, I’ve read some contemporary criticism that claims this was more than platonic friendship. But on a purely textual level they’re simply BFFs through thick and thin.
3. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling- I was probably one of the few readers who was relieved to see Hermione end up with Ron, without even a hint of a romance with Harry. As Harry tells Ron in The Deathly Hallows “She’s like my sister.” These three befriended each other early in the series and proved that together they were a formidable trio. Yes, Ron and Hermione hooked up eventually but they were friends first and since there was nothing going on at any point between Harry and Hermione or Harry and Ron, they qualify for the list.
4. The narrator and Owen Meany in A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving- The unnamed narrator has nothing but love for his best friend Owen Meany and their friendship survives a turbulent childhood in which Owen accidentally kills the narrator’s mother (oops!). Owen weights less than 100 lbs and is less than five feet tall when he’s fully grown. He has a screechy, strangled voice. He’s also kind, honest, selfless, and rebellious. He comes into the narrator’s life early on and his influence is felt to the point where the rest of the narrator’s life is lived as a prayer for this childhood friend.
5. Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm in A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara- These four friends met in college. Over the next few decades there are fallings out and other friendships that come into and out of their lives, but these four are there for one another through it all. In this case the biggest threats to the group don’t really come from the action of the novel, but from the character’s haunted pasts. Once again there’s some romance in the group, as Jude and Willem eventually become a couple, but their relationship started as friendship only and existed as friendship for two decades before becoming romantic. Since there are no other couples within the group at any point, it qualifies for my list.
6. Caroline Helstone and Shirley Keeldar in Shirley by Charlotte Bronte- Caroline’s father died and her mother abandoned her, and she was raised by an uncle. Shirley is also an orphan, but she’s wealthy, and cheerful and full of ideas. The become good friends and get involved in a labor dispute at the local mill. They also learn some family secrets and become romantically involved with two brothers. There’s confusion and revelations in the plot, but even at a point when it seems like Caroline and Shirley are being set up to be romantic rivals, they maintain a friendship. In fact while the book deals with a number of topics I consider the primary plot to be a story of friendship.
7. Mary, Dickon, and Colin from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett- As a child the fact that the garden was a metaphor for the friendship that blooms between these three characters, went totally over my head. Fortunately I reread it later on. Well, actually now that I think of it, the garden is a metaphor for several things in that book, but one of them is the friendship forms among these three very different children from vastly different backgrounds.
8. George and Lenny in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck- George and Lenny are two migrant workers during the Great Depression who dream of a little bit of land and a home to call their own. Lenny is a large man with a child’s mind and George is his protector. But when Lenny’s love of soft things leads to tragedy, George shows the kind of loyalty that the best of friends share, in the most terrible way possible.
9. Jane and Prudence in Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym- Jane is a forty one year old Vicar’s wife, with a daughter, who lives a very proper parish life. Prudence is a twenty nine year old spinster who lives in London and is fiercely independent. Jane was Prudence’s tutor at Oxford and despite their different lives, they’ve maintained a friendship. Jane decides that local widower, Fabian, would be a perfect match for Prudence, but Prudence is interested in her (married) boss. Neither character is particularly likable but as I finished reading the book I felt like I would miss them and their friendship.
10. Julie, Ethan, Jonah, Cathy, Ash and Goodman in The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer- Julie, Ethan, Jonah, Cathy, Ash, and her brother Goodman meet at a summer camp for the arts in the 1970’s and dub themselves “The Interestings.” Over the next few decades the group comes together and breaks apart in various ways. Their dynamics change and change again. Ethan and Ash marry but that’s really the only romantic relationship within the group.
April 10: Books I Loved but Will Never Re-Read (submitted by Brandyn @ Goingforgoldilocks)
I couldn’t think of much that fit this weeks topic so I changed it a bit. Rather than look at books I liked but wouldn’t want to reread, I’m going to talk about books that I liked but only (fully) appreciated upon rereading them years later. As a teacher I reread a lot of children’s books and often get a very different impression of them, as an adult.
1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein– As a kid, this story made me so sad. The boy takes everything from the tree, and the tree just gives it happily. But I had to teach it to my class as an adult, and so I reread and realized that it’s a metaphor for the relationship between a parent and a child. The tree loves the boy unconditionally. The boy loves the tree but feels the need to leave the tree and make a life for himself elsewhere. However, he returns at various points for support/guidance/branches. The tree always gives it, in the same way a parent loves and supports a grown child.
2. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams– This is another book that totally went over my head as a little kid. I mean I appreciated the story about how the boy’s love for the rabbit makes it real. But a lot of it is really about what it means to grow up and grow old, and how that affects our relationships. I think that if I were to pick it up again thirty years from now, I’d probably spot other things that I didn’t get rereading it recently.
3. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney– I happened across this essay about this book a few weeks ago and vaguely remembered the book from my childhood. I reread it and discovered a beautiful story about what “a life well lived” really means. Of course, the answer is different for different people, but for the titular character, it means having a sense of wonder and leaving something beautiful behind.
4. Charlotte’s Web by EB White- I liked this book a lot as a kid. In the end, I think I saw Charlotte’s children (whom Wilber befriends) as his way of replacing her. I don’t think there was much judgment on my part for that. But as an adult, having experienced both friendship and grief, I give a lot more weight to this sentence: “Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” I understand now, in a way that I didn’t as a child, that we can find new love in our hearts but we can’t replace the people we’ve lost.
5. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett- This was a favorite of mine as a kid, but as an adult, I definitely see Uncle Archibold and his actions differently. I think for a while I saw him as almost villainous as a kid. I saw the ending as his reformation. Now, reading it, I see that he was a character torn up by grief over the loss of his wife, and trying desperately to protect his child in the only way that he knew how.
6. Peter Pan by JM Barrie– I loved Peter Pan as a kid. He had it all, his own magical land where he could be a kid forever and play with mermaids and fairies and other children. What else could a child want? But even as I kid I sensed some sadness in him and now I understand it’s because he wouldn’t grow up. Children, even if they don’t like the idea of growing up, are essentially future-oriented. Without a future, Peter lives in an eternal present. And while he has a lot of playmates, he lacks a family. “There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window. He had ecstasies innumerable that other children can never know; but he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be for ever barred.”
7. Amelia Bedelia by Peggie Parish- I remember that this used to crack me up as a kid. I would laugh so hard that my stomach would hurt. Recently, I used this book to teach my class about puns and idioms. I realized that even though the humor still holds up, it’s also an illustration of the fact that people communicate in different ways (even when they’re technically speaking the same language) and understand things differently. It’s a good lesson to remember.
8. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown– Yes, hear me out on this one! When was the last time you took a moment to appreciate the moon? Or the clocks in your room? Or the socks? As a kid, I remember reading this with my dad before bedtime and then saying goodnight to the things in my room. I still think there’s something to be said for looking at the ordinary things in your life, the things you don’t really notice, and just acknowledging them.
9. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle- As a kid, I definitely enjoyed the story about a girl traveling through space and time to rescue her dad, alongside her brother and her secret crush. But rereading recently allowed me to see that there was so much more to it. At one point a character says “Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.” I don’t think I had any idea what that statement meant when I first read it. But now it seems like the perfect thing to tell a heroine who doesn’t fit into what the world expects of her, or what she expects of herself. And that’s not even getting into some of the scientific, religious, and philosophical themes in the book!
10. Cinderella– As a kid, I was familiar with many different versions of Cinderella from around the world because I would compare and contrast them. I loved that all of them had some form of magic and that Cinderella got her victory over her tormenters and lived happily ever after. As a teen (and developing feminist) I scorned Cinderella as the heroine who needs her fairy godmother to wave her magic wand to produce a prince who could provide a happy ending. But as an adult, I see it differently. Cinderella is a heroine who survives years of abuse at the hands of her family without losing her characteristic kindness and good heart. I think she deserves some credit there. What she really wanted wasn’t a prince at all: it was a night off and a chance to go to a party. It was only after she met the prince and fell in love, that she became interested in anything more than that.
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Fran Laniado- Author 