The Long Winter

Finished The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It won the Newbery Honor Medal in 1941. There is no telling how many times I have read this book, or the whole series for that matter, but it's been about 17 years since I last read it, aloud, to my then four year old daughter. I chose to revisit the book since we ourselves were having a long, hard winter here in Michigan and it just seemed like the right thing to do.

I remembered many details of the book, set in the winter of 1880-81: the twisting of hay to burn as fuel, the hole in the wall that hid Almanzo's secret seed wheat, the scarcity of food, and the relentless blizzards. What I did not remember are the now terrifying side effects of it all, the emaciation of the whole family and the resulting brain fog. I think as a child it didn't really register. You knew it was a hard time, but the direness of it was what really stood out with this reading. What a relief when it finally ended with the spring thaw in May 1881.

Meanwhile it's April 15th, 2014. We broke the 1880 snowfall record last night, totaling 97" for this year. Enough already...

The Secret Adversary

Finished The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. This is the first novel in her Tommy and Tuppence series. Cousins and life long friends Tommy and Tuppence run into each other in London after World War I. Both are down on their luck. They devise a scheme to make money by offering their brains and legwork to anyone who might need it. And someone does. They are drawn into an international plot. They meet many people who are eager to help them, but whose loyalty is suspect. Their cleverness and quick thinking get them out of numerous scrapes and in almost losing each other, they realize their true feelings. This was a fun, quick, adventurous book.

Betsy's Wedding

Finished Betsy's Wedding, the tenth and final book in Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy series. Betsy returns from her trip to Europe on the cusp of World War I. Joe is there to meet her at the dock. They have a lovely day together in New York City and Joe proposes. He wants to get married right away, but Betsy worries what her family will think of this idea. She returns to Minneapolis and breaks the news to them. They are skeptical of the rush, especially her father. But Joe soon arrives, secures himself a journalism post locally, and the two are quickly and happily wed.

Betsy enjoys most of her early attempts at housekeeping, with the exception of cooking. She has no experience or flair for it. On the one hand this is understandable since the "hired girl" Anna did most of this when Betsy was growing up. On the other hand, Betsy's father knows his way around the kitchen, hosting and preparing Sunday Night Lunch for all and sundry every week. It also seems odd to me that Betsy's mother and/or Anna left her so unprepared in this area. Betsy's friends Tacy and Tib can cook. But looking back over the series I do not remember Betsy lifting a finger in the kitchen. Needless to say, she has many failures, but Joe is patient and cheerful and is pretty good in the kitchen himself. With time and help Betsy learns her way and even has several "company dinners" in her repertoire.

Betsy and Joe buy a little house and are so very happy in it. Joe works nights and Betsy adapts her own schedule to have meals and slumber with him. Their next challenge comes when Joe's Aunt who raised him decides to retire and sells her country home and store. She has nowhere to go. Although Betsy hates to give up their private little nest, she and Joe invite Aunt Ruth to come and live with them.

As always, I enjoyed this installment in the series. Betsy and Joe grapple with budgeting and family obligations, like any newly married couple. The book is cheerful, and interesting in context. I'm sorry the series is over, but there are three related books to read next, Carney's House Party, Emily of Deep Valley, and Winona's Pony Cart.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt: 55 Letters and the 111 Blocks They Inspired

Finished The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt: 55 Letters and the 111 Blocks They Inspired. Once upon a time there was a magazine entitled The Farmer's Wife. Back in 1922 they asked their readership, "If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in light of your own experience, have her marry a farmer?" The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Women wrote letters about the fresh food, clean living, fresh air, good books, recordings of fine music, games, etc. that occupied family evenings once all the chores were done. They saw farming as a noble profession and mentioned the many time and labor saving devices that had improved the lot of the farmer's wife. This book features many of these letters as well as quilt block patterns, that when sewn all together, comprise The Farmer's Wife Quilt. The letters are charming and uplifting. The illustrations and quilt block assembly instructions clear and easy to follow. The book also includes a CD with pattern templates for quilters to print and use. The cover and the illustrations show drab, dark fabrics. I cannot wait to make one of these quilts with bright, happy, vibrant fabrics.

Quartet in Autumn

Finished Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. It was published in 1977, a good fifteen years after her previous novel No Fond Return of Love. Set very much in the 70s, it is the story of four aging office workers, Marcia, Letty, Norman, and Edwin, on the verge of retirement. All live alone in their own quirky lives. Contemporary music, hairstyles and fashion perplex these people as does what to do with their future. When the two women retire events take an unexpected turn. While there were moments of humor in this book, it was not laced with the Pym wit I am accustomed to. This story, though still populated with vicars, is a bleak departure from her earlier novels. Her miniscule attention to the drab daily details of peoples lives is still there, but there were no hoped for cameos of characters from previous works. I liked the book, even in it's bleakness.

The Provincial Lady in Wartime

Finished The Provincial Lady in Wartime by E. M. Delafield. Sadly, this is the last book in the series. It is the fall of 1939 and World War II has just begun. The Provincial Lady takes a flat in London and applies herself all over the place in search of some sort of war work or writing assignment.

Meanwhile, preparations for air raids ensue. Of course the Provincial Lady loses her gas mask and National Identity Card and must go through all sorts of bureaucracy to obtain replacements.

No one seems to need her help in the war effort. She eventually finds a position working in the canteen of an underground ambulance headquarters. Many odd-ball characters are met and several parties take place. Nothing has really happened yet though. No bombings, no casualties. Just a lot of people drinking coffee and tea, playing cards and dancing while the ambulances wait patiently.

The book ends with her finally being summoned to serve her country from a journalistic perspective. This was clearly finished and printed before The Blitz. Sitting about waiting for the war to happen...such a contrast to what happened once the bombing began.

Cherry Ames: Veterans' Nurse

Finished Cherry Ames Veterans' Nurse by Helen Wells. This is a book from my childhood. I remember liking it very much. When I found myself without a bedtime book a few weeks ago, I picked it up to see what it was like. This is a series, much like the Nancy Drew books. The central character is a young woman who has a talent for solving mysteries. This was the sixth book in a series of 27 published between 1943 and 1968. Cherry is an upbeat, pretty, intelligent girl who has a penchant for doing what is right. Each book in the series has her stationed someplace new in a unique nursing role. In this book she is stationed at a veteran's hospital looking after soldiers who have been wounded in combat, some of them quite gravely. The tone of the hospital is encouraging. Their mission is to help patients heal emotionally as well as physically from their wounds. Those who have lost limbs learn to use prostheses and are trained in new job skills. Cherry works hard to keep her patients' morale high. She also works hard to find out who has been stealing the special and rare medication from the hospital's pharmacy. This was a pleasant bedtime read. I wonder why I did not read any other Cherry Ames mysteries when I was a kid. I may have to start at the beginning and check the whole series out.

Eat Move Sleep: Why Small Choices Lead to Big Changes

Finished Eat Move Sleep: Why Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath. Eat right, move more, sleep better. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Nothing here that is not obvious, but some people need to hear it over and over again. I listened to the audiobook version of this, read by the author. I'm used to these types of books being upbeat and motivational. This one was a bit flat, a bit bleak. The information is all good and well presented. I personally didn't find it very inspirational. However, it was a New York Times bestseller.

Letters from Father Christmas

Finished Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien. This too was finished before Christmas proper. I'm still catching up on blogging about my books from December.

Between 1920 and 1942 Tolkien composed and illustrated letters to his children from Father Christmas. Each year there were several letters, discussing the preparations for the season, an ongoing war with the goblins, and the various scrapes that Father Christmas' assistant, Polar Bear, got himself into. Sometimes Polar Bear wrote comments in the margins of the letters, or postscripts to the children. Father Christmas' handwriting is very intricate and special, and his drawings are charmingly detailed. The children in their turn wrote back to Father Christmas and he often answered their various questions in the correspondence. What a lovely thing for a father to do for his children. This book would make a wonderful holiday gift for someone who is still a child at heart.

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain

Finished The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, the last of Dickens' Christmas books. I finished it before Christmas, but am only blogging about it now. Professor Redlaw is a man with many painful and troubling memories. He is visited by a spirit in the shape of himself. This spirit offers to relieve Redlaw of the memories of all the painful slights he has received at the hands of others. Redlaw accepts this offer, but is told that it's outcome will spread to all those he comes into contact with. So, something that sounds like a good thing is really not good at all. Redlaw becomes cold, bitter and unsympathetic to those around him. As he moves among the people in his life, they too lose their patience and compassion. All but Milly. Milly is a beacon of light and understanding. Redlaw knows this and does what he can to shield her from his influence, but it matters not. She is unaffected by it. In fact, at one point Milly says "It is important to remember past sorrows and wrongs so that you can then forgive those responsible and, in doing so, unburden your soul and mature as a human being." This is of course the moral of the tale. It's certainly worth thinking about. Some of us carry perceived and actual slights around with us for years. Being capable of forgiveness is a quality of strength, although some things will always remain unforgivable.

The Bells of Christmas

Finished The Bells of Christmas by Virginia Hamilton. I actually finished it before Christmas, but I have gotten behind on my blog posts. The book is a richly illustrated by Lambert Davis. Jason Bell awaits the arrival of aunts and uncles and cousins to join his family to celebrate Christmas in Springfield, Ohio in 1880. This was a very comfortable, homey read. Hamilton has won many awards including the Newbery Medal in 1975 for M. C. Higgins the Great. I look forward to reading more of her books.

Best Reads of 2013

Here is a list of the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2013. Quite a lot of contemporary fiction.

10. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
9. Before Ever After
8. One Day
7. Journey in the Dark
6. The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold
5. The House on Oyster Creek
4. Up From the Blue
3. The Yellow House
2. The Soldier's Wife
1. The Book Thief

The Quiet Little Woman: A Christmas Story

Finished The Quiet Little Woman: A Christmas Story by Louisa May Alcott. It's actually a book of three stories, The Quiet Little Woman, Tilly's Christmas, and Rosa's Tale.

In The Quiet Little Woman, Patty is an orphan who is taken in by a family who, while not outwardly cruel to her, take her on as a servant girl and don't see her a a person, a young girl with no one to love her, until a kindly aunt points out Patty's plight.

Tilly's Christmas, is about a poor girl who believes that if the nearby rich gentleman knew that she and her mother had not enough food to eat, or wood to keep them warm he would come to their aid.

Finally in Rosa's Tale, a young woman ventures out to the stable to see to her neighbor's horse. It is Christmas Eve and nearly midnight, the time when the animals are said to be able to speak. The horse tells her it's life story after which the girl vows to keep the horse safe and at it's ease in it's old age.

This was a charming book and very good bedtime reading. It seems there is always more Alcott to be read.

The Book Thief

Finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is by far the best book I have experienced this year. I listened to an audiobook version, read by Allan Corduner, whose performance is outstanding.

Set in Nazi Germany, it is the story of Liesel Meminger, a nine year old girl who is sent to live with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubberman, who she quickly learns to call Mama and Papa. Papa is a house painter. He is a patient and kindly man who teaches Liesel to read. Rosa is impatient and kindly, and the queen of colorful language. Once Liesel learns to read she does whatever she can to get her hands on a new book, even stealing one off a pile that has been torched by the Nazis. The story follows this family (and the Jew they are hiding in their basement), their friends, neighbors, and enemies during the years of World War II.

What makes this book so fascinating and original is that it is narrated by Death. As a firsthand observer during these dark years, Death has a lot to report and has some interesting opinions on what he sees. This book was gripping as well as hilarious. I cannot recommend it enough.

One Day

Finished One Day by David Nicholls. Emily and Dexter, two very different young people, meet on the last night of university in Edinburgh. They have a somewhat amorous encounter and decide to just be friends. This happens on July 15th, St Swithin's day, 1988. The book then visits with them together and separately on the same day for the next twenty years, examining the very different paths their lives take.

Shy, awkward, bookish Emily works in a demoralizing job in a Mexican restaurant, then trains as teacher. Eventually she leaves teaching to start writing and pens a wildly successful series for tweens.

Handsome, rakish, irresponsible Dexter travels, teaches English abroad, then returns to England and becomes a TV personality, introducing vacuous late night pop shows. As his mother begins losing her battle with Cancer, Dexter sinks deeper in to a seedy and soused existence. His television assignments get worse and worse until he is the man viewers love to hate.

I won't say any more about the plot so as not to spoil it. I will say that this is in many ways a literary documentary. It's deeply felt and follows very much the same timeline as my own young adult life. Hence it really spoke to me. This is an excellent book.