Book o' the Month: The Old Magic of Christmas

The Old Magic of Christmas, by Linda Raedisch, is quite the eye-opener.  It turns out, the days between mid-October and February 2nd are chock-full of nasty characters, spirits, monsters, etc.  You have likely heard of the Krampus, but he is just one of many menacing entities you have to watch out for during this season.  However, there are also several actions you might take to help keep the baddies at bay and usher in some good luck (and presents)!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.  It explores the folklore and traditions of Europe and beyond.  And in case you were wondering what you need to beware of on this New Year's Eve...it is moving night for Icelandic elves and if you are in Iceland, you might notice magical white frost "pantry drift" in your pantry.  Also, it is the night Finnish maidens might see the image of their future husbands reflected in a mirror. 

And, if you can swing it and you stroke a piglet this evening, you may have good luck all next year.  So with that I wish you--

(image found here)

Book o' Last Month: The First Four Years

This post is bittersweet.  The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a bittersweet story of Laura and Almanzo Wilder's first four years of marriage.  It was tough going trying to make a living farming in the Dakota Territory, but Laura was resilient, pragmatic, and ultimately optimistic.

Andrew and I have spent many sweet mornings curled up before school reading through this series.  We have both been absorbed in the details of Laura's pioneer life.  But this is the last book in the series and when we finished the final page I thought, Now what?  That's the bitter.

Andrew is an excellent reader (thoroughly enjoying Gary Paulsen's Hatchet series) and interested in many other things: guitar, drawing airplanes and ships, Snap Circuits.  But, lucky for me, he is also still interested in hanging out with his mom.  Now I just need to find a new book to read to him.

Book o' Two Months Ago: Moby Dick

I read it--the dreaded Moby Dick by Herman Melville.  Why is it so dreaded?  I was immediately drawn in to the witty narration of Ismael.  Who knew Moby Dick was funny (the book, not the whale)?  True, it is a loooong book (at over 600 pages in the edition that I read), but the chapters are short--perfect for our current condition of smartphone related short attention spans (or parenthood).  I will admit I learned more about ALL the aspects of whaling, which I never had any intention of knowing, including one particular visceral image I may never be able to purge from my brain, but it was worth it.  I may be partial because of my love of 19th century subject matter and literature, but I would still dare you: Read Moby Dick!

Book o' the Month: Doctor Zhivago

I remember renting a video cassette of Doctor Zhivago as a teen (the 1965 version, obviously).  It was long and I lost interest.  (It actually had an intermission in the middle.)  I didn't know anything about the history.  I watched it again on DVD (things change!) last May and thirty years older, I was captivated.  I also watched the 2002 miniseries, but I found the actors not as convincing as the dashing Omar Sharif (!) and mesmerizing Julie Christie.  

Then, naturally, I had to read the book by Boris Pasternak.  Wowza, I think I have mentioned somewhere on this blog that it is always a good idea to read the book before watching the film(s).  The 1965 film is quite different from the book, besides some key details.  The 2002 version is like a riff on the previous effort.  I still like the first movie, and frankly, why didn't they get it closer to the novel the second time around?  At least I had two beautiful people in mind as the main characters while I read.

And speaking of reading...I'm so glad I read this Nobel Prize winning book that the CIA helped spread around during the Cold War.  I so love classic literature.  The language!  (I bet it sounds even better in the native tongue.)  Just sink your teeth into these quotes:

Does anyone still write like this in our soundbite world?  Pasternak was also a poet and it shows, no?

I had to include that last one.  It seems oddly...contemporary.  (Looks like I cut off the last several words which are "and left nothing behind them.")

I'm thinking of reading Moby Dick next.  It doesn't have "Sea" in the title, but I think it counts for sticking to my traditional summer reading theme.  What are you reading this summer?

[Book image from Amazon]

Books o' the Month: Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years

Andrew and I are almost finished with Laura Ingalls Wilder's series.  We read Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years.  They are both wonderful.  I find myself wishing I had read them to my Grandma.  She was born in 1913 in Minnesota.  She lived there and in Iowa before moving to California in the late 1930s.  I think she would have loved the stories of prairie life and found many things familiar, especially the descriptions of the cold weather.

Next up, The First Four Years.  This will be the beginning of Laura's life with Almanzo and the birth of their daughter, Rose.  The description on the book jacket sounds like hard times lay ahead, which will be different from the happy courtship story in the previous book.  That's life, I suppose.

I am also reading Dr. Zhivago after watching two film versions of the book first--never a good idea.  But, more about that later.

Book o' Last Month: The Seven Sisters

Margaret Drabble's The Seven Sisters did not disappoint. I first read her novel The Waterfall for a class in college. She has a very accessible style and intriguing themes.

Now that summer vacation is here, I'm hoping to do more reading, but all I seem to be doing is driving my kids around to their activities. Oh well. Seems summer is for kids, just like Friday nights, weekends, holidays, and vacations.

Books are my escape. After reading just a couple of pages, I am in another city, another country, another time, another life. Where are books taking you this summer?

Book o' the Month: The Enchanted April

This book was excellent! Imagine, I didn't even know it existed until I was telling a dear friend about the movie. She didn't know there was a movie! We have both been enlightened this April.

Book o' the Month: The Long Winter

Andrew and I got through The Long Winter and I really think it took us all winter to do so!  This book is quite the document of the winter of 1880-1.  Wow!  Now on to the next Laura Ingalls Wilder book. 

Books o' the Month: By the Shores of Silver Lake, Beautiful Ruins, Cocoa Beach

Andrew and I continue to work our way through the Little House books and they are so great!  We usually read a chapter or two in the morning before school.  Andrew is going on ten now, so I read to him whenever he asks, because, you know.  Time flies. 

I got this book suggestion from The Skimm (which I highly recommend).  It was a really fun read, which I also highly recommend.

The most recent Williams book did not disappoint.  I love the way the there are characters in all her novels that are related in some way. This novel ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, so I can't wait to see what happens next, and to whom!

See you in 2018!  Happy New Year!

Books o' Last Month: The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr, The Forgotten Room, The Wicked City

 Have you seen Hamilton?  I have not, but I did read a biography of the man who caused his death.  Quite the tragic life--and I'm still not sure what his real motives were.  We may never know.

Another Beatriz Williams book, written with two other authors.  Three main characters in three different times, one forgotten room.  Just as much fun as the other Williams books I can't get enough of including...

This one was a little more intense, but equally as fun.  What have you been reading lately?

Books o' the Month: Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, A Hundred Summers, Extraordinary Life of an Army Wife, Making Masterpiece, On the Banks of Plum Creek

I have been absolutely prolific in my reading lately.  Prolific, I tell you, which is different than obsessive--search my blog for Diana Gabaldon and Paulina Simons, not to mention Austen and Bronte, for obsessive reading!

Let's start with Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim, AKA Nellie Oleson.  I had to read it after enjoying Melissa Gilbert's memoir.  Take all your preconceived notions of Alison/Nellie and throw them out the window.  Then read this book.  She is an amazing woman who has been through hell and now spends a great deal of her time and energy helping others.

Oh, Beartriz Williams, please never stop writing!  I love her style and her characters and her settings, etc., etc., etc.  A Hundred Summers has it all and was pure fun to read.

I finished reading Extraordinary Life of an Army Wife right before my dear sweet Grandma died.  Jacky Cagwin was another woman of her generation, and what they had in common was being army wives.  True tales from mid-century America, plus Mrs. Cagwin met a lot of interesting people (JFK? check!) and led an interesting if sometimes painful life.

After reading Making Masterpiece, I have a whole new appreciation for what it takes to bring my favorite TV show to my living room.  I have zero regrets about signing up for KQED Passport.

Andrew and I are still working our way through the Little House classics.  On the Banks of Plum Creek was the next fascinating installment.  I love these books!  (As a family, we are now on season five of the television series.)

More books coming next month--you betcha!!

Books o' the Month: A Gentleman in Moscow, Overseas

My reading-like-crazy streak has not stopped!  (And the house isn't getting any cleaner or less cluttered.)  A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles?  Believe the hype.  This is a wonderful book.  Wonderful!

I am cruising through all of Beatriz Williams' books, including Overseas.  Time travel with a twist.  Her books are fun to read, hard to put down.

Need a good rec for October?  A brooding classic with darkness and danger?  Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.  One of my all-time favorite novels, perfect for the spooky season.

Books o' the Month: The Secret Life of Violet Grant, Tiny Little Thing, Along the Infinite Sea

These books are the Schuyler Sisters Series by Beatriz Williams.  I actually read them in reverse order, which was not a problem at all.  They are so engrossing and hard to put down!  Each one has two parallel story lines in two time periods told in alternating chapters.  I simply devoured them.

Books o' the Month: The Bookshop on the Corner, Prairie Tale, Hedy's Folly

Suddenly, I am reading like crazy.  Avoiding domestic responsibilities in favor of reading.  Pulling out my book instead of my phone at swim lessons, at swim team practice, at Toyota, at Tire Pros, at the Starbucks drive-thru.  And I get a little smug about it, because staring at a hand-held book looks way more intellectual than staring at a phone, for goodness' sake!  (Though I may be holding a hardback copy of Prairie Tale vs. reading Tolstoy on my Kindle app, ahem.)

But let's start with The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan.  A bit improbable, but delightful--they go hand-in-hand, agreed?

On to Melissa Gilbert's (aka Half-Pint) Prairie Tale.  The first book I have ever read in this genre...celebrity confessional?  Immensely entertaining tell-all.

And finally, Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhoades.  My interest in the time period between wars (WWI and WWII) is seriously piqued.  I would like to read more about Ms. Lamarr (beauty plus big brains) and watch some of her films, so stay tuned.

Book o' the Month: In the Great Green Room

Chances are you have heard of the children's book Goodnight Moon.  In the Great Green Room, by Amy Gary, is about it's author, Margaret Wise Brown.  She did lead a brilliant and bold life, as the cover states.  It was also brief.  She died at the age of forty-two of an embolism following bed rest after undergoing an appendectomy in France.  Ms. Brown had extraordinary vision, but also the same insecurities we all deal with.  I cried at the end of this easy-to-read book for a life that ended way too soon.

Book o' the Month: Under the Wide and Starry Sky

Under the Wide and Starry Sky is a novel by Nancy Horan about the lives of Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson and her husband, Robert Louis.  Yes, R.L.S., that Stevenson, the one who wrote Treasure Island and Kidnapped which many of us had to read in school.  Which many of us were lucky enough to read in school!

What I enjoyed most about this book was discovering the course their lives took and how they eventually ended up in Samoa, Fanny living out her final days near Santa Barbara, CA.

I will also be reading another book soon on the same subject, Stevenson's Treasure by Mark Wiederanders.

With school out in a week, I am going to need good books to escape to...

Book o' Last Month: Farmer Boy

Andrew and I got through the second book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, Farmer Boy.  We loved it!  This book is about the early life (ages 8-10) of Almanzo Wilder, Laura's future husband.  He lived a much more stable and affluent lifestyle compared to Laura.  His father was a farmer who also raised horses, among other things.  His parents were firm and frugal, but also kind and generous.

This book was fascinating!  We learned many many things about life on a farm.  We are also continuing to watch the TV series.  We are on season four right now--Hubby and I seeing many episodes for the first time, and no wonder.  Probably the ones which are a bit on the odd side  (see "My Ellen") weren't aired as reruns.

Now were are back with Laura and the gang, reading On the Banks of Plum Creek.

Book o' Last Month: Little House on the Prairie

Andrew and I finished the second book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, Little House on the Prairie.  I think that these books should be on reading lists for boys as well as girls.  There is so much good stuff in here about the nuts and bolts of pioneer life!  Building a house, constructing a chimney, laying a split log floor, digging a well, and...Indians.

Which brings me to another point.  I find the discussion of the Native Americans, the Osage, in this book fascinating.  The way they are characterized and described, is of it's time, but also somewhat progressive.  Ma is clearly afraid of the Indians, while Pa has more of a live and let live attitude.  Laura has a child's inquisitive curiosity.

Reading this book resulted in many internet searches about places and names in this book, from the African American Dr. Tan, to Independence, Kansas, to Soldat du Chene.  I even came across a paper discussing the book in relation to attitudes about the Osage, which was very interesting.  What's more, there were many opportunities for Andrew and I to discuss what happened to the native peoples of America.  At nine years old, he has many questions.

Next up, Farmer Boy, which we have requested from the library and are still waiting on.

And...the whole family is half way through season two of the TV show--which provides lots of material for family discussion.  We don't go to church, but I feel that my kids get lessons in morality with almost every episode!

Book o' the Month: Little House in the Big Woods

I think I started reading this book back in fourth grade, but never finished.  James and the Giant Peach was more my thing back then.  But now?  Now I am wondering, what took me so long?!

I LOVE it!  And nine-year-old Andrew loves it!  In fact, we are on to Little House on the Prairie and plan to read the entire series.

AND...we have been watching the TV series.  As a family.  Even the surly almost-thirteen-year-old can't get enough of it.  Hubby and I loved watching as kids and now we get to share it with our kids.  Too much fun, I tell you.

I have actually been on a prairie sort of binge lately.  Think:  Gunne Sax and Holly Hobbie.  But more on that later!

Book o' the Month: The Snow Queen

While reading another book (which I will get to later after I finish it, ahem), I came across a number of references to Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, The Snow Queen.  I requested it from my library--they have the Mary Engelbriet illustrated version, which is darling.

Now I want to find a translation of the original of this interesting story of kindness overcoming cruelty.  What I love about classics from myth to drama to fairy tale and on and on are the enduring themes we humans have been grappling with since our earliest history.

And how we consistently celebrate good championing over evil.