I only have time for a short post today; it's been a busy, yet very good day. I'm reading Lori Wick's book Beyond the Picket Fence, a collection of short stories, and I'm enjoying it very much. I shall write about it once I've finished reading it.
For a short blog post I must select a short subject. I'm not even going to do a whole book, but a short story by Grace Livingston Hill, whose stories were introduced to me by my mom. This particular story is one that I've read, and reread, a number of times, because it is just so sweet, and so charming. The title is Aunt Crete's Emancipation.
Lucretia Ward lives with her sister and niece, Carrie and Luella. Carrie and Luella are selfish, short tempered women, but somehow Lucretia, called Crete, is still a sweet and loving person. They receive a telegram one morning from Crete and Carrie's nephew, Donald Grant who has been out West. Carrie and Luella hurry off to their beach vacation to avoid this young man, who they are sure is a bumbling, coarse backwoodsman, leaving poor Crete, with house-work and canning and sewing, to entertain the young man.
When Donald Grant comes, he is gentle and caring, a delightful nephew to dear Crete who has spent her years in toil. He is tenderly attentive to her. Donald picks up the phone one afternoon while Crete is napping, and Luella is on the other end, calling to Aunt Crete. Luella, unaware of who is on the other end, gives her lengthy diatribe, then gets mad and hangs up when she receives no reply. Donald is moved with righteous anger, and a plan crystallizes in his head.
What follows is an endearing Cinderella-type story. Donald spends some of his great fortune buying presents for his Aunt Crete, and then her takes her to the fine beach resort when Carrie and Luella are staying. By and by Carrie and Luella are furious once they find out that the fine lady who reminds them of Crete at a distance, actually IS Crete. Yet Donald swoops down and protects Crete, and ends up coaxing her to come and keep house for him while he is at university.
I love this story, and go read read it when I want something sweet that makes me smile. It has all the wonderful qualities of a long story wrapped up into one bundle that can be read in a short -but not too short- time.
His blood boiled over the tone which his invisible cousin at the other end of the wire had ordered Aunt Crete about. ...He felt strongly impelled to do something in the matter. A rebuke of some sort should be administered. How could it best be done?
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Simon the Coldheart
Simon the Coldheart was the first book that I read by Georgette Heyer, and it became one of my favorite books while she quickly became one of my favorite authors. The majority of Georgette Heyer’s books are regency novels; however, this one takes place in the early 1400’s.
Simon comes to my Lord of Montlice at the age of fourteen, yet he is a man already, and he is seeking employment. Montlice, known as "the Lion", chooses to give him employment because he likes something about the stubborn, firm lad who refuses to be turned away. Simon’s motto is, “I have not, yet I still hold.” He is determined and unshakeable.
Simon is first page to Montlice’s son, a boy around his age, then page to Montlice himself, and finally he becomes squire to Montlice. Simon is curt with his dealings, strong and cool-headed. Montlice grows fond of him, being more pleased with this lordly youth than his own son, Alan, who prefers courting young ladies and playing a harp. Yet Alan is not jealous, for he looks up to Simon as an older cousin, and this amuses the seemingly feelingless Simon.
There are battles to be fought for England, battles which Montlice takes part in, and he takes Simon with him, for Simon is an excellent and skilled one in battle, fearless and level. As the years pass Simon gains a name for himself, knighthood and lands.
Part Two of Simon the Coldheart takes place some little while after the first part, and Simon is well established as a soldier and good friend of the King. “Simon was all a soldier, dauntless and cool, born to rule and to lead.” He fights loyally under the king, accompanied by his half-brother Geoffrey Malvellet, and Alan Montlice. Alan is still a quite a poet, but he goes along Simon, and the King calls the threesome “My Soldier, my Knight, and my Poet", while another man calls them “Iron, Flame, and Silver.” Simon is said to be second only to the king, well known for his generalship, either loved or hated –but never ignored- and no one was more readily obeyed than he.
“Yet something he seemed to lack, for with all his assets and attainments, he was as cold as stone, almost as though some humanizing part of him had been left out in his fashioning.”
And I really cannot tell you what else happens, or I’ll give away spoilers! –But it has a fabulous ending.
Georgette Heyer is truly a splendid writer, and I think one of my favorite things about her writing is the dialogue that she comes up with. It is thoroughly enjoyable. Her regency novels have some riotously funny dialogue, and this 15th century novel has superb dialogue. Sometimes I’ll pick up this book and just read some of the conversations between the characters. (I love it!) Georgette Heyer also describes people and actions with a perfectly delightful style, and her writing really comes to life in my head as I read it.
Google Books has it. But of course, it doesn't have all the pages. *groan* However, it seems to be pretty common in libraries, at least the ones I've been to.
Simon comes to my Lord of Montlice at the age of fourteen, yet he is a man already, and he is seeking employment. Montlice, known as "the Lion", chooses to give him employment because he likes something about the stubborn, firm lad who refuses to be turned away. Simon’s motto is, “I have not, yet I still hold.” He is determined and unshakeable.
Simon is first page to Montlice’s son, a boy around his age, then page to Montlice himself, and finally he becomes squire to Montlice. Simon is curt with his dealings, strong and cool-headed. Montlice grows fond of him, being more pleased with this lordly youth than his own son, Alan, who prefers courting young ladies and playing a harp. Yet Alan is not jealous, for he looks up to Simon as an older cousin, and this amuses the seemingly feelingless Simon.
There are battles to be fought for England, battles which Montlice takes part in, and he takes Simon with him, for Simon is an excellent and skilled one in battle, fearless and level. As the years pass Simon gains a name for himself, knighthood and lands.
Part Two of Simon the Coldheart takes place some little while after the first part, and Simon is well established as a soldier and good friend of the King. “Simon was all a soldier, dauntless and cool, born to rule and to lead.” He fights loyally under the king, accompanied by his half-brother Geoffrey Malvellet, and Alan Montlice. Alan is still a quite a poet, but he goes along Simon, and the King calls the threesome “My Soldier, my Knight, and my Poet", while another man calls them “Iron, Flame, and Silver.” Simon is said to be second only to the king, well known for his generalship, either loved or hated –but never ignored- and no one was more readily obeyed than he.
“Yet something he seemed to lack, for with all his assets and attainments, he was as cold as stone, almost as though some humanizing part of him had been left out in his fashioning.”
And I really cannot tell you what else happens, or I’ll give away spoilers! –But it has a fabulous ending.
Georgette Heyer is truly a splendid writer, and I think one of my favorite things about her writing is the dialogue that she comes up with. It is thoroughly enjoyable. Her regency novels have some riotously funny dialogue, and this 15th century novel has superb dialogue. Sometimes I’ll pick up this book and just read some of the conversations between the characters. (I love it!) Georgette Heyer also describes people and actions with a perfectly delightful style, and her writing really comes to life in my head as I read it.
Google Books has it. But of course, it doesn't have all the pages. *groan* However, it seems to be pretty common in libraries, at least the ones I've been to.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Bookmobiles and Doodle Bugs
I live out in the country. It’s not the complete boonies, but it certainly isn’t the city area I grew up in. I grew up with a fantastic little library that made up for lack of size by stocking its shelves with the best books. And then we, my family and I, moved.
Now out here we have five tiny county libraries, widespread in places a ways away were we rarely ever go. For a while I was sad about my lack of a library, and sought to content myself with the books we already owned, but then a neighbor told us about the Bookmobile.
A Bookmobile? Such a thing had been heard of before, but only in a fictional horse book. Yet this one was real, and it came to a house within walking distance of our house (for some reason, though, we’ve never walked to it). It comes every month, a white van with specially made shelves that are laden with books, and we meet it every month. It is inter-connected with the five little county libraries, so a week before it comes, I search through the country library catalog and send in a book request to the wonderful outreach people. And they bring me the books!
This month I came off the Bookmobile with thirteen books. Sometimes I leave with more, though occasionally I leave with less. We get movies and CDs from the Bookmobile as well, and we get to keep them for the whole month. Right now I’m going through all the Lori Wick books the system has, four or five a month at a time. I do believe she is one of my favorite authors.
Now that I’ve covered the Bookmobile, I’ll go on to Doodle Bugs.
Everyone has seen a Volkswagen. –unless I miss my guess-. And a number of people have been in them. I personally love them. (but I’ve never driven one). One of my childhood heroes that I knew had both a VW Bug and a horse, and I thought that was incredibly amazing, and that she was so lucky. (And I fancied myself the most fortunate horse-crazy pre-teen in the world when she drove me out to the horse farm in her VW and then let me ride her horse.)
My Volkswagen love came along when I watched Herbie Rides Again. That movie sparked a VW collection, and the incessant road game of calling out “DOODLE-BUG!” every time I saw one. And my mom also ended up buying a couple books on VW Bugs.
The first one is called Small Wonder, by Walter Henry Nelson, and I remember my dad reading it to my sister and me each night before we went to bed. And it is subtitled, The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen. It is non-fiction, yet I don’t remember being bored by it. It tells all about how the little car came to be, in full detail, starting at “The Years of Preparation”, and going through Hitler and the Nazi’s, the War, improvisation, “The Years of Fulfillment”, introducing the VW to the USA, “A Matter of Taste”, “Volkslore”(which is my favorite chapter), on to the final chapter, “Postscript 1970: Transition Toward Tomorrow” (yeah, it’s copyright 1970). It is most thorough, and definitely a good book for anyone who wants to know all about the VW Bug’s beginnings and its history through to 1970.
“Volkslore” is the most fun chapter of the book, having to do with floating Beetles and racing VW’s, pranks (like college kids burying them under leaves in Autumn)and sentiments for the little car, along with other humorous stories and anecdotes about it and several jokes. …One VW owner says to another, “My engine is missing,” and the other replies, “Are you in luck! They gave me a spare one in my truck.”
The second VW book is Beetle: Volkswagen’s Little Giant: From old Reliable to New Sensation, by the Auto Editor’s of Consumer Guide. It covers the Bug’s history with much less detail than Small Wonder, it’s main characteristic being stunning pictures (most of them color) of VW’s through the years. It also points out the various different details of the Bug during the different year, like the chrome being here, and the lights being this way, the hubcaps being flatter this year and such. It’s a beautiful coffee-table book. I love the pictures in it… (*starts paging through and gets distracted….*)
One more VW book. My most recent one. It’s a children’s book published by “Little Golden Book”, called The Love Bug: Herbie’s Special Friend. It’s a cute little story starring Herbie, and I can read it to my cousins in a few minutes, and enjoy every bit of it.”
“Did you have to do that, Herbie?” Bill groaned. “Now I’ll never get to meet her!”
The VW books, along with a small selection of my Bug collection. The new blue bug second from the right is my very favorite (his name is William), and a painting that a good friend of mine did for me of Herbie.
Now out here we have five tiny county libraries, widespread in places a ways away were we rarely ever go. For a while I was sad about my lack of a library, and sought to content myself with the books we already owned, but then a neighbor told us about the Bookmobile.
A Bookmobile? Such a thing had been heard of before, but only in a fictional horse book. Yet this one was real, and it came to a house within walking distance of our house (for some reason, though, we’ve never walked to it). It comes every month, a white van with specially made shelves that are laden with books, and we meet it every month. It is inter-connected with the five little county libraries, so a week before it comes, I search through the country library catalog and send in a book request to the wonderful outreach people. And they bring me the books!
This month I came off the Bookmobile with thirteen books. Sometimes I leave with more, though occasionally I leave with less. We get movies and CDs from the Bookmobile as well, and we get to keep them for the whole month. Right now I’m going through all the Lori Wick books the system has, four or five a month at a time. I do believe she is one of my favorite authors.
Now that I’ve covered the Bookmobile, I’ll go on to Doodle Bugs.
Everyone has seen a Volkswagen. –unless I miss my guess-. And a number of people have been in them. I personally love them. (but I’ve never driven one). One of my childhood heroes that I knew had both a VW Bug and a horse, and I thought that was incredibly amazing, and that she was so lucky. (And I fancied myself the most fortunate horse-crazy pre-teen in the world when she drove me out to the horse farm in her VW and then let me ride her horse.)
My Volkswagen love came along when I watched Herbie Rides Again. That movie sparked a VW collection, and the incessant road game of calling out “DOODLE-BUG!” every time I saw one. And my mom also ended up buying a couple books on VW Bugs.
The first one is called Small Wonder, by Walter Henry Nelson, and I remember my dad reading it to my sister and me each night before we went to bed. And it is subtitled, The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen. It is non-fiction, yet I don’t remember being bored by it. It tells all about how the little car came to be, in full detail, starting at “The Years of Preparation”, and going through Hitler and the Nazi’s, the War, improvisation, “The Years of Fulfillment”, introducing the VW to the USA, “A Matter of Taste”, “Volkslore”(which is my favorite chapter), on to the final chapter, “Postscript 1970: Transition Toward Tomorrow” (yeah, it’s copyright 1970). It is most thorough, and definitely a good book for anyone who wants to know all about the VW Bug’s beginnings and its history through to 1970.
“Volkslore” is the most fun chapter of the book, having to do with floating Beetles and racing VW’s, pranks (like college kids burying them under leaves in Autumn)and sentiments for the little car, along with other humorous stories and anecdotes about it and several jokes. …One VW owner says to another, “My engine is missing,” and the other replies, “Are you in luck! They gave me a spare one in my truck.”
The second VW book is Beetle: Volkswagen’s Little Giant: From old Reliable to New Sensation, by the Auto Editor’s of Consumer Guide. It covers the Bug’s history with much less detail than Small Wonder, it’s main characteristic being stunning pictures (most of them color) of VW’s through the years. It also points out the various different details of the Bug during the different year, like the chrome being here, and the lights being this way, the hubcaps being flatter this year and such. It’s a beautiful coffee-table book. I love the pictures in it… (*starts paging through and gets distracted….*)
One more VW book. My most recent one. It’s a children’s book published by “Little Golden Book”, called The Love Bug: Herbie’s Special Friend. It’s a cute little story starring Herbie, and I can read it to my cousins in a few minutes, and enjoy every bit of it.”
“Did you have to do that, Herbie?” Bill groaned. “Now I’ll never get to meet her!”
The VW books, along with a small selection of my Bug collection. The new blue bug second from the right is my very favorite (his name is William), and a painting that a good friend of mine did for me of Herbie.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Scarlet Pimpernel
For my first blog post, I decided that I should do one of my favorite books. Having a number of favorite books, it took me a little while to decide which one. But I have found a perfect one: The Scarlet Pimpernel.
I first came across The Scarlet Pimpernel in the form of a movie starring Anthony Andrews; however, no movie has yet done The Scarlet Pimpernel much justice. Baroness Orczy, the authoress of the book, spins together a riveting tale with the perfect balance of romance and adventure with deep, full characters. The movies fall a little short, especially on the ‘deep, full characters’ part. That criticism given, I must add that the Anthony Andrews movie was not bad, and the black and white movie with Leslie Howard was pretty good. Now on to the book -for which I only have good things to say.
The Scarlet Pimpernel takes place during the French Revolution, yet with the exception of the first chapter, it has very little gore and bloodshed in it. I like adventure and French historical fiction, but I greatly dislike anything that is over graphic. The Baroness does an excellent job of creating a realistic setting without being macabre. The story’s pace is quick, yet not lacking emotion or feeling. Indeed how could it lack emotion when a beautiful Frenchwoman, Marguerite, is married to an Englishman who once loved her passionately but now has drawn a mask of inanity around himself and no longer seems care for her while she still desires his love?
Along with that, there is a daring English hero, known as “The Scarlet Pimpernel”, who risks his life to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine, incurring all kinds of rage from the revolutionists. When a French agent, Chauvelin, comes to spy out the hero’s true identity, he forces Marguerite to help him; either she aids him in finding the Pimpernel, or her brother dies.
I could go on and on about the book, but then I would spoil it for future readers.
There is enough angst in it to have you gripping the book tightly (and wailing when people interrupt you), yet it has uproariously funny parts, and in the end it is quite a happily after book. And then there lots of sequels!
To my great sorrow, I do not have a copy of this volume of my own. However, when I do find one at some store, you may be sure - aye and very, very sure!- that I will do my best to procure it for my already crowded book shelves.
Now if your library happens to be inept at stocking its shelves with great books, or it is “ept” but has overlooked The Scarlet Pimpernel, don’t despair! There are two online ways you can enjoy it: Librivox and Blakeney Manor.
Librivox.org is a fabulous place. It’s just like a “book-on-tape” library at your finger-tips. Just click and there is the whole book, chapter by chapter. You can listen to the whole thing, and it’s perfectly free.
Blakeneymanor.com is another great place, and it has the complete e-text of The Scarlet Pimpernel (it’s free, too). It also has all her other Scarlet Pimpernel books in e-text as well.
"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?--Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel"
I first came across The Scarlet Pimpernel in the form of a movie starring Anthony Andrews; however, no movie has yet done The Scarlet Pimpernel much justice. Baroness Orczy, the authoress of the book, spins together a riveting tale with the perfect balance of romance and adventure with deep, full characters. The movies fall a little short, especially on the ‘deep, full characters’ part. That criticism given, I must add that the Anthony Andrews movie was not bad, and the black and white movie with Leslie Howard was pretty good. Now on to the book -for which I only have good things to say.
The Scarlet Pimpernel takes place during the French Revolution, yet with the exception of the first chapter, it has very little gore and bloodshed in it. I like adventure and French historical fiction, but I greatly dislike anything that is over graphic. The Baroness does an excellent job of creating a realistic setting without being macabre. The story’s pace is quick, yet not lacking emotion or feeling. Indeed how could it lack emotion when a beautiful Frenchwoman, Marguerite, is married to an Englishman who once loved her passionately but now has drawn a mask of inanity around himself and no longer seems care for her while she still desires his love?
Along with that, there is a daring English hero, known as “The Scarlet Pimpernel”, who risks his life to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine, incurring all kinds of rage from the revolutionists. When a French agent, Chauvelin, comes to spy out the hero’s true identity, he forces Marguerite to help him; either she aids him in finding the Pimpernel, or her brother dies.
I could go on and on about the book, but then I would spoil it for future readers.
There is enough angst in it to have you gripping the book tightly (and wailing when people interrupt you), yet it has uproariously funny parts, and in the end it is quite a happily after book. And then there lots of sequels!
To my great sorrow, I do not have a copy of this volume of my own. However, when I do find one at some store, you may be sure - aye and very, very sure!- that I will do my best to procure it for my already crowded book shelves.
Now if your library happens to be inept at stocking its shelves with great books, or it is “ept” but has overlooked The Scarlet Pimpernel, don’t despair! There are two online ways you can enjoy it: Librivox and Blakeney Manor.
Librivox.org is a fabulous place. It’s just like a “book-on-tape” library at your finger-tips. Just click and there is the whole book, chapter by chapter. You can listen to the whole thing, and it’s perfectly free.
Blakeneymanor.com is another great place, and it has the complete e-text of The Scarlet Pimpernel (it’s free, too). It also has all her other Scarlet Pimpernel books in e-text as well.
"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?--Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel"
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