The Invisible Man

Finished The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. A short and amusing book. It was much funnier than I expected it to be. The humor eventually dissipates as the irritable Invisible Man becomes an invisible madman. The sense of danger, adventure and running across the countryside was very reminiscent of The Thirty-Nine Steps. A good read for vacation or a rainy day.

Freaked

Finished Freaked by J. T. Dutton. This is a teen novel about Scotty Loveletter who longs for a normal, balanced family life, but is instead stashed away in a boarding school by his sex therapist mother who is between husbands. With no one tangible to turn to or lean on, Scotty leans on Jerry Garcia and The Greatful Dead. Their music and the hazy drug culture that goes along with it become the mechanism for Scotty's self discovery. Risky behavior, self loathing, irony and lots of humor are blended here in a poignant portrayal of a kid left to raise himself. I liked this book. Parts are emotionally hard to read, which makes it all the more genuine.

The Lost Flower Children

Finished The Lost Flower Children by Janet Taylor Lisle. Two sisters who have recently lost their mother are sent to live with their dotty great aunt. The sisters are very close and are not interested in playing with other children. The younger of the two, Nellie, has many odd habits and quirks, like walking up or down stairs backwards. They find a book written by a previous occupant of their aunt's house which tells the tale of a children's tea party long ago where a band of bad fairies turned all the children into flowers in the garden. If the various missing pieces of that tea set are found and assembled together the spell will be broken. This story gives the sisters something to focus on and work towards. As the set comes together the sisters become more relaxed and social and Nellie begins to shed her odd quirks.

Mary Poppins Opens the Door

Finished Mary Poppins Opens the Door by P. L. Travers. This is the third, and by far the most magical and surreal book, in her Mary Poppins series. Mary re-appears in the last of the fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day. The children and especially Mrs. Banks are happy to have Mary back. I've finally gotten used to Mary's terse way of speaking and her complete denial that their magical adventures occur. The children live in awe and sometimes fear of her sharp tongue, but they love her dearly. What I'll never get used to is her leaving. Again and again.

Excellent Women

Finished Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. Pym states towards the end of this, her second novel, in a Jane Austen-like tone, "It is a known fact that people like clergymen's daughters, excellent women in their way, sometimes rush in where the less worthy might fear to tread." Poor Mildred Lathbury. She is herself both an excellent woman and a clergyman's daughter. She is single, in her thirties, living alone in London during the 1950s. She's very involved with her church and does charitable work with the Society for the Aid of Impoverished Gentlewomen half days during the week. She lives a quiet, modest life until the new couple in her building pulls her into their volatile personal life. She becomes a go-between with each of them, the wife's supposed lover as well as the removal men who come to take the husband's furniture away when he moves out. Never have I seen a woman so put upon by others (except perhaps Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop). There were times when I wanted to grab Mildred by the shoulders and shake her very hard indeed. Despite this, the book is humorous with the usual Pym parade of harried clergymen and opinionated spinsters. It was a comfortable, cozy read.

The Sign of the Four

Finished The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is the second novel published in his Sherlock Holmes series. Unlike the first, A Study in Scarlet, it is mostly set in London. This book has all the nuances that are associated with Holmes' character, chemistry, disguises, boxing, violin and cocaine. It also features the Baker Street Irregulars and poison darts. It was faster paced than the first novel, more exciting and extremely readable. I look forward to reading more.

The Solitary Summer

Finished The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim, a follow-up to Elizabeth and Her German Garden. Elizabeth asks her husband, The Man of Wrath, for a summer without the house filled with guests and visitors. He thinks she will be bored, but reluctantly agrees. We are treated to lovely descriptions of the garden, romps with the April, May and June babies and glimpses into village life in the German countryside. Descriptions are at times lush and heavy with scent, at others all gossamer and summer haze. A lovely book to dip in and out of, especially in winter.

The Bungalow Mystery

Finished The Bungalow Mystery by Caroline Keene. This edition is the vintage re-issue by Applewood Books. The third book in the series, it was released in 1930. Unlike The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase, this book is free of racial stereotypes that make the reader cringe. In each of these first books Nancy sets out to help women in trouble, but in this one she also rescues a man who has been a prisoner for two weeks and has been left to starve. She gets a lot of help from her father, Carson Drew, in this story, but is still considered a hero. This was a quick and exciting read.

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual

Finished Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan. Finished it in one sitting. I love this book. It's a quick and easy read. Each rule has it's own page. The rules are sensible, practical and very thoughtful about what should be considered food. I highly recommend it to anyone who concerned about their health and the food they choose to eat.

Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women

Finished Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs. It won the Newbery Medal in 1934. For those familiar with Louisa May Alcott, this book is an interesting look at her life and her family members who were models for the characters of Little Women. While the characters of Jo March, her parents and siblings are very clearly drawn from Alcott's family, the inspiration for two of the most intriguing characters, Theodore Lawrence and Professor Bauer, are only vaguely hinted at. This was an interesting read. Although geared for a younger audience, Meigs never talks down to her readers. I think she sometimes makes assumptions about Alcott's feelings in certain situations, but it's clear that she used letters and journals to comprise her biography.

Ozma of Oz

Finished Ozma of Oz, the third book in L. Frank Baum's Oz series. Dorothy Gale, who is traveling by boat to Australia with her Uncle Henry, is washed overboard in a storm and finds herself in the Land of Ev. There she meets and frees Tik-Tok, a mechanical man made of copper. They encounter Princess Langwidere, who has 30 heads to choose from in a cabinet. She puts on whatever head she feels like wearing. She decides she likes Dorothy's head, but Dorothy, of course will not give it to her.

It's no surprise that this is a very weird book.

Ozma of Oz learns that the Queen of Ev and her children have been sold to the Nome King by the late King of Ev. She travels over the poisonous desert, with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, the Sawhorse, the Hungry Tiger and a small army, upon a magic carpet that rolls out in front and up in back. They are all surprised to see Dorothy in Ev and band together to rescue the royal family from the Nome King.

John R. Neill's illustrations are wonderful. Most in this book are in color. His rendition of the Nome King seems almost Seussian to me.

The Loving Spirit

Finished The Loving Spirit by Daphne Du Maurier. Published in 1931, it was Du Maurier's first novel. Set in Cornwall, it is a family saga ranging over four generations of the Coombs, ship builders in the village of Plyn. Janet Coombe has a tender love for her husband Thomas, but somehow knows that the great love of her life has not come to her yet. When it does it is not romantic love, but an extremely intense love of mother for son. While Janet has six children, it is her son Joseph who she forms this bond with. He embodies all of the wildness she felt as a girl and lives as she has always wanted to, but was unable to as a woman. At times their love and devotion to one another is uncomfortable in it's intensity. The story continues with Joseph, his son Christopher and then Christopher's daughter Jennifer. Each of these characters has their own section of the book. Each section begins with an excerpt of poetry by Emily Bronte. The story is vast, sweeping, dramatic and very engaging. One sees the shadows of obsession and destruction by fire that are played out later in Rebecca. I loved this book. I had to borrow it through an interlibrary loan. However, it is due to be reissued in paperback in May 2010.

Sing in Praise: A Collection of the Best Loved Hymns

Honestly, I did not finish Sing in Praise: A Collection of the Best Loved Hymns. It won the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1947. Written by Opal Wheeler and illustrated by Marjorie Torrey, it is a collection of popular hymns. Each has an accompanying story telling of the possible origin of the work, or the childhood of the composer. It seemed a bit contrived to me. Wheeler and Torrey also collaborated on and won the Honor Medal for Sing Mother Goose.

The Yearling

Finished The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings. It won the Pulitzer in 1939. Set in the early 20th century, it is the story of Jody, an only child, living with his mother and father. Jody craves a companion. He finds an orphaned fawn and brings him home as a pet. The fawn, named Flag, and Jody grow up together amid the beauty and dangers of backwoods Florida. These dangers include flood, rattlesnakes, wolves, bears and alligators. One bear in particular, Old Slewfoot, is brazen enough to walk off with the family's brood sow and several calves. Jody learns the ways of the woods and how to track and hunt from his father. He and Flag continue to grow until they are both really "the yearling." This book is beautifully written and as with any animal story there is sadness and grief, but I enjoyed it immensely.

The edition I read had color illustrations by N. C. Wyeth, an American illustrator of the Brandywine School. He illustrated many classics including Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe and The Last of the Mohicans.

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze

Finished Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis. It won the Newbery Medal in 1933. Young Fu is thirteen when he and his mother move from the country to Chungking where Fu will apprentice as a coppersmith. The city is crowded, damp and dirty. There are many things to peak Fu's curiosity and he gets into a number of scrapes that way. However, with guidance from his mother, Wang Scholar and his boss and mentor Tang, he grows up to be a clever, brave and talented man.

The edition I read had an introduction written by Pearl S. Buck who won the Pulitzer in 1932 for The Good Earth. Lewis' backdrop of the turmoil, poverty, war, disease, flood, etc of early 20th century China was so similar to The Good Earth that it made me feel depressed. Eventually these things fell further into the background and Fu's character development became the center of the book. Somewhere around the middle of the book I began to enjoy it very much.