Fairy Tales: A Selection

Finally finished Fairy Tales: A Selection by Hans Christian Andersen. It takes me a long time to get through disjointed texts, books of tales or short stories. I much prefer a long, drawn out narrative with lots of characters to follow. This collection has sat on my bookshelf, unread, for many years. It contains many of Andersen's most familiar works, The Princess and the Pea, Thumblina, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, and The Little Match Girl. It was pleasant to read these in the original (if translated) text. However, I found the tales I was not familiar with truly bizarre and interesting. The Galoshes of Fortune was my favorite. It reminded me very much of the 1942 film Tales of Manhattan, where a tail coat passes from person to person, changing the destiny of each one.

Hitty: Her First Hundred Years

Finished Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field. It won the Newbery Medal in 1930. About a decade ago, when I used to read chapter books out loud to my daughter we started Hitty. We got about twenty pages in and were so bored we started calling it "Hitty: Her First Million Years." Needless to say we gave up and read something else. Because of that experience I was concerned when Hitty came up next in my chronological reading of the Newbery medalists. At times like this I hear the voice of Miss Baker, one of my middle school English teachers, saying "Always give a book at least 32 pages before you give up on it." Reading Hitty this time I was engrossed long before page 32.

Hitty is a doll, carved from strong Mountain Ash. She was made by a peddler for Phoebe Prebles, a little girl living in Maine in the 19th Century. Hitty's adventures begin almost immediately. She is picked up by a crow and brought back to a nest where she is pecked and crowded by young crows. She falls from the nest and is rescued by the Prebles. Phoebe's father is the Captain of a Whaler. He takes his family along on a voyage to the South Seas. They are shipwrecked on a small island. The people of the island are fascinated by Hitty and place her in a shrine where she is anointed and worshiped. Someone steals Hitty back and the family is rescued and taken to India. Phoebe is so tired. She is carried to lodgings and loses her grip on Hitty. Hitty falls into the gutter. She is later discovered there by a snake charmer. Hitty travels in a basket with a cobra from one end of India to the other. Adventures such as this go on and on.

There are times when Hitty is lost to the world in attics, barns, down beneath sofa cushions. She is always rediscovered, rehabilitated, and brought back in a different role, sometimes simply as a plaything, other times as a museum piece. She remarks on the changes that she sees over the years, new inventions, innovations, changes in styles and manners. She at one point is given a little desk, quill pen and ink and so begins to write, these, her memoirs.

This book was exciting and fantastical. An interesting historical ride. There are moments where one cringes over ethnic and racial stereotypes, but taken within the context of when they were happening, they are sadly the tone of the times. Hitty herself is a bit of a snob.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

When I read about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in the Times Book Review last summer I knew this was the book for me. Last week in Logan Airport I was sans book and popped into the Border's there to grab something, anything, to get me through the flight back to Detroit. There it was, now in paperback, so I snapped it up.

This is a book populated by deeply human characters, ones you glom onto almost from the first meeting. They are odd and each wounded in one way or another, and so endearing that you don't want to finish the book at all because, then they will be gone.

The book is written in letters, to and from the main character as well as letters among others in the story. This makes it very easy to pick up and put down here and there and thus breeze right through.

Set in 1946, the main character Juliet receives a letter from a person who lives on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands that was occupied by the Nazis during World War II and which was cut off from the rest of the world for several years as a result. The story of life during the occupation unfolds in these letters, at times charming and humorous, at others shocking and heart wrenching. Juliet eventually travels to Guernsey to meet all the folks who have been writing to her to possibly write a book about their experiences. Living among the people of Guernsey changes her life drastically. This was an excellent read.

Blackberry Wine

Finished Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat. Like Chocolat this novel is laced with magic and mystical happenings. It is told in two times and places, Pog Hill, England, 1977 and Lansquenet sur Tannes, France, 1999. Jay MacIntosh wrote a brilliant first novel fourteen years ago, but has been writing pulpy sci fi ever since. He is jaded and discontented with his life. One day on an impulse he takes his savings and buys a vineyard in France, to live out the dream of Joe, the man who inspired his first novel, but disappeared twenty-two years ago. The story is told from Jay's perspective, as a teenager shipped off to boarding school and his grandparents while his parents go through an ugly divorce (1977), and as a 37 year old trying to rehabilitate a neglected vineyard and his own neglected potential as a writer (1999). A charming book, excellent for vacation reading.

Eight Cousins

Finished Eight Cousins (a.k.a. Aunt Hill) by Louisa May Alcott. Published in 1875, it is the story of Rose Campbell, an orphan at age 13, sent to Boston to live with her aunts until her legal guardian, Uncle Alec, arrives from overseas to take charge of her care. Rose is shy and sickly and overwhelmed by her fussing aunts. Her life changes drastically when she meets her seven male cousins and her uncle Dr. Alec, who prescribes fresh air, non restrictive clothing, housework, physiology lessons and an extended childhood. A charming book. So glad there is so much more Alcott to read. Next year the sequel Rose in Bloom.

The Warden

Finished The Warden by Anthony Trollope, the first book in his Chronicles of Barsetshire. This is a quiet book. It begins the series of novels based on the church politics of Barchester. There are characters with droll names like Sir Abraham Haphazard, a noted barrister and Mr. Quiverful of Puddingdale, who has twelve children to support. I was expecting this book to be rather dry, but it was a pleasant, amusing read.

Cheri

Finished Cheri by Colette. I decided not to read the sequel The Last of Cheri because it is rather dark by comparison. I apparently read both of these books in a Women's Lit class as an undergrad, but did not remember much about them. The prose is sultry, as is the plot. It is also rather beautifully written. A film version of the two books will be released next month.

Now in November

Finished Now in November by Josephine Johnson. It won the Pulitzer in 1935. This was Johnson's first novel. She was twenty-four when it was published. Set during the Depression it tells the story of a family's struggles to live with each other and to keep the farm they've put so much of themselves into.

Three sisters, Kerrin, Marget (the narrator) and Merle work alongside their mother performing the womanly tasks that are expected of them. Kerrin, the oldest, longs to work with her father on the land, but he thinks girls are too stupid and feeble to do so.

The novel is short, but spans ten years in the lives of the family on their farm. Towards the end of the decade Grant, the son of a neighbor, comes to live with them and help out. Kerrin, ever restless and rebellious, is distracted by him, as she would be by anyone new. Marget is quietly and desperately in love with him, but he himself is partial to Merle, who enjoys challenging him verbally, but has no interest in him as a mate.

Drought and tragedy take their toll on everyone, Kerrin in particular. At the beginning of the novel she is wild and untamed, much like Hans Christian Anderson's character of the Robber Girl in The Snow Queen. She teaches herself to throw a knife, wanders the woods alone most nights, sleeps in the barn and eats alone, like a starved animal. She becomes progressively unbalanced and in the end commits suicide. While horrible, this is almost a relief to her family who each felt that there was no place in the world for Kerrin and her odd ways.

The prose is spare, taught, poetic and bleak. The reader floats dreamlike through the days of drought and despair. Though I haven't read it yet, I think the impact of this book was perhaps overshadowed by Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath which won five years later.

Heaven to Betsy

Finished Heaven to Betsy, Maud Hart Lovelace's fifth book in the series. Betsy and Tacy are now freshmen in high school. Many changes take place this year. Betsy's family moves to a new, larger home. They also acquire house help, a woman named Anna, who comes to live with them. The move away from Hill Street is sad for Betsy since she will no longer be right across the street from Tacy. The new house is lovely though. Betsy has her own room and makes new friends nearby. They become "The Crowd." Betsy quickly merges Tacy into The Crowd and they have many adventures and social activities. Boys become a major topic in this book. Betsy spends a lot of time on her personal appearance. She begins rolling her hair at night on curlers (magic wavers) that Anna has given her. She develops a crush on a new boy named Tony, but steps aside when she realizes that her friend Bonnie likes him too. We also meet Joe Willard, whose character was based on Maude's own husband, Delos Lovelace. The social negotiations between boys and girls are very carefully drawn here. Betsy has numerous learning experiences as a result of them. The prose has again matured to match the age of the characters. This was a very pleasant, comfortable read.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Finished The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. I missed reading this book in eighth grade English class because I switched schools in November of 1977 and the class at the new school had just finished reading it. It's great fun. This was the precursor to later superheros in disguise stories. The cleverness of the disguises often reminded me of Sherlock Holmes. It's a gripping adventure as well as a romance. I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to watching the 1934 film adaptation starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon this weekend.

The Christmas Anna Angel

Finished The Christmas Anna Angel written by Ruth Sawyer and illustrated by Kate Seredy. It won the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1945. Set in Hungary it is the story of a little girl who longs for the decorative Christmas cakes that they used to have before the wars came. The story is very original and the illustrations are lovely.

Ruth Sawyer won the Newbery Medal in 1937 for Roller Skates. Kate Seredy won the Newbery Honor Medal in 1936 for The Good Master and then the Newbery Medal in 1938 for The White Stag.

Yonie Wondernose

Finished Yonie Wondernose by Marguerite de Angeli. It won the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1945. Yonie is an overly curious, seven year old Amish boy. His parents leave him at home with his grandmother and sister, so he is to be the man of the house while they are away. He has many responsibilities on the farm and sometimes has trouble staying focused because of his curiosity. This is a lovely book with fun illustrations.

de Angeli won the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1955 for Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes. She also won the Newbery Medal in 1950 for The Door in the Wall and the Newbery Honor Medal in 1957 for Black Fox of Lorne.

An American Tragedy

Finished An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreisser, finally. I have been reading this book, bit by bit, since last July. In a sense it is a masterpiece of American literature, capturing time and place with tremendous attention to detail. Dreisser gives us every thought, breath and motivation of every character in the book. This can be pretty daunting. On the other hand, there were moments when as the reader I was so far inside a character's head that I was able to recollect similar thoughts of my own and it was a bit unnerving.

Queen Lucia

Finished Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson. This is the first of Benson's six Mapp and Lucia books. Set in England in the 1920s Queen Lucia is about Mrs. Lucas, local diva, who runs the social and cultural life of her village. The book is amusing for a bit, but becomes somewhat tiresome (or "tarsome" as the character Georgie would say) since there are no actually likable characters. The introduction in the edition I read compared these books to the works of Nancy Mitford, but personally I find Mitford far more clever and amusing.

My Mother's House and Sido

Finished My Mother's House and Sido two books published in one volume, by Collette. These are both reminiscences of Collette's childhood and her charming mother. They are written with vivid, loving detail and at times seem almost dream-like. While reading these I was reminded of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, but the nostalgia here is more for a person than a time and place. A lovely read, but especially appropriate for vacation.