A Country Doctor - E's Review

It was Nan's one mission in life and without fulfillment she would cease to exist. It was a strong calling inside her that propelled her to do what most women of her time did not do. And with this one goal in mind, she became a doctor.

Set in 19th century Maine, Nan faced her dilemma head on. In fact, she never even really saw it as a dilemma. She was created for one thing and one thing alone - to restore bodies and nurture souls. Even being courted and wooed by a handsome, well to do young man did not sway her from what she knew to be her one vocation in life, her one calling.

Interestingly enough, she could not have it both ways. Society dictated that a woman's place was in the home and for her to choose to become a doctor, she was choosing to not marry. This semi-autobiographical tale did not glide it's way to the top of any of my lists, but it did make me stop and think about how strikingly different Nan's world is with my own. And it made me wonder what an 1884 version of myself would have done.

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Before Green Gables - Review

-Anna

Impossible. Absolutely inconceivable that anyone can capture Anne Shirley besides her creator. Anne is a character born from the imagination of L.M. Montgomery, crafted with her gift of writing, and molded by the experiences and environment of her life. Unless someone has the ability to channel L.M., they don't stand a chance of channeling Anne.

Before Green Gables is not a prequel to Anne of Green Gables. Names, dates, places may all be the same, but Anne isn't. Anne does not break through the words and sentences to become a living, breathing person, rather she lays flat, one dimensional page after page. She is overexaggerated and underdeveloped. She is a concoction, not a character to love.

And just as I fear disgusting zombies will haunt me every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I now fear Anne's little impostor will follow me from Green Gables to Ingleside.

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Sigh

-Anna

Well, I've done the math, and I don't think I'll be able to read 60 books this year. That was my goal. I've read 39 to date, but 21 books in 3 months? That is daunting. My "second best" goal is to read 48, so I'll shoot for that, and anything over is just candy!

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AR Looking for an AALB

-Anna

I am an Avid Reader who is looking for an Awesome Average Length Book to read.

I love Young Adult Fiction.

I love Fantasy and Science Fiction (not the crazy weird stuff, more along Lewis, Tolkien, Rowling).

I love Jane Austen.

P.G. Wodehouse hits my funny bone, and L.M. Montgomery soothes my soul.

I am looking for a book that I can't put down, that I can take long baths with, that will make me laugh out loud and perhaps shed a few tears. Would prefer 400 pages or less.

Is there anyone out there who can set me up with an Awesome Average Length Book?

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Slight Bend in the Rules

-Anna

The goal: to choose Catching Fire for book club.

The problem: it's the second book in a series, and I couldn't pick the 1st, Hunger Games, because I'd already read it.

The solution: begging, bribing, cajoling.

The result: a bend in the rules and Catching Fire is in!

(E, don't I still owe you a coffee?)

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A Country Doctor - Anna's Review

-Anna

It's the simple scenes that I enjoyed most in this book.
Three women snug inside, chatting about life in their little community.
Twin brothers' camaraderie in putting one over on their wives.
The golden apples that are the envy of the neighborhood.
The contagious nature of getting spooked.
Mischievous childhood pranks pulled on neighbors.
These everyday scenes set the backdrop for Nan's journey to take the path that is natural to her despite the social sanctions of the day. And while the ideology of education and discussion of woman's roles is interesting, it is these heartwarming scenes that breathe life into the story.

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The Agony

-Anna


Are...you...saying...I will have to wait a year to find out what happens to Peeta?

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Who is Excited...

About Catching Fire??

I am, I am.

-Anna

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The Mystery Guest

-Anna

Just a short excerpt to give you a taste....

Unless, as sometimes happens, the change is in the person's clothes. Since I'd always hated turtlenecks worn as undershirts and despised the men who wore them as the lowest kind of pseudo-sportsmen with, as they say, the lamest kind of collar, I started wearing hideous turtlenecks as undershirts the moment she left. Basically, I never took them off. No doubt this was magical thinking on my part (if I never took them off, nothing could ever take off on me); at any rate, these turtleneck-undershirts erupted in my life without my noticing until it was too late and I was under their curse. You could even say they'd inflicted themselves on me, so that now I hardly remembered the wind on my neck, which is the very feeling of freedom itself. But if that was the price I had to pay, I told myself, so be it. We brick ourselves up in prisons of our own devising...

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