Chicago Book Reviews: Ernest Hemingway

I love Ernest Hemingway, as evidenced in this book review of The Sun Also Rises and The Paris Wife. And I have been lucky enough in my travels to see two of his (many) homes.

Oak Park is where Ernest Hemingway was born and raised, and back in 2010 my mom and I were able to tour his childhood home and the museum that is also in Oak Park.

Both were very enlightening for me in terms of learning about Ernest Hemingway and his early life and how that played into the person and the writer he became. Plus, I love touring any kind of historic house. Definitely worth checking out (with the Frank Lloyd Wright houses) should you ever find yourself in Chicago.

Pages In Time

It's probably because I've always been a reader, but when I think about the books that I've read, I think about who I was, where I was in life, when I first read them. Of course, this can't apply to all of the books I've read, because sometimes I read just to read, but I certainly remember my favorites.

Take Harry Potter, as an example. I was able to read the first two without waiting, but had to wait for the rest of the series to be released. When the last one was released, I was in D.C. for an internship, and it was my last day being there. I thought I had reserved it at the local Borders, but when I got there, they had not saved me a book like they said they would and they were out. On top of that, they told me that no other store in the city had copies. I cried on the metro on the way back to my dorm, until I realized that since I didn't have the book to read anyway, I could spend all day looking for a copy. Of course, the first store I went to, the store where I had gone for my first author event, had it, and I spent the day finishing it. (Note: On principle, I protested Borders. I'm not saying that's why they went out of business...I'm just making the comment.)

Other individual books have held their place in my memory--the book I was reading when I first talked to Nathan (a Phillipa Gregory), the books my mom read to me (A Wrinkle In Time, Where The Sidewalk Ends), the first book I remember reading by myself (Little House In The Big Woods). I loved the Princess Diaries books, and used to go to the bookstore the day they came out; the first ones I was still in high school, and the last one, I got on my first business trip in Arizona.

Today, a new book from my favorite author, Emily Giffin, comes out and I feel like it's Christmas. But I also remember first reading them--the first two after my first semester of college and the most recent one on my day off, right before we got married, plus the two between--and I love seeing how much has changed. So yes, while I am of course excited to sit down and read (or devour) the book, I also love how it, like so many others, reflects the changes in my life and lets me look back on the journey of life that has lead me to where I am today.

Book Swap: My Thoughts On "Dune"

What I Liked

Reading Dune didn't feel like I was reading a book that was written decades ago. The major themes of the book are still relevant to today, particularly the environmental ones. I was most surprised at the dominance of woman characters in the book--Jessica is a strong character, both in personality and in status. I was also surprised by the nontraditional relationships between men and women shown in the book, particularly that of the Duke and Jessica. Because this was written in a time period where for many women, marriage was preferable to having a career (can you tell I've been watching "Mad Men" lately?), this really surprised me.

I also liked the character development--it seemed like there were a lot of characters, but there was always the opportunity to understand their motives, their inner thoughts, and their relationships with the other characters.

What I Didn't Like

I have to say that Dune was very hard for me to get into. I had actually already started reading Dune on our plane trip back from Europe, and just couldn't connect with the story. I also put off starting it again for the book swap--Nathan finished Gone With The Wind at least a month and a half ago, and I just finished Dune recently. However, once the action got started, I couldn't put it down.

Oh, and the Baron really creepd me out.

A Different Perspective

I think the only science fiction book I have ever read is A Wrinkle In Time. The main reason I don't read science fiction is that I have a bad imagination. I imagine practical things, so taking me out of reality and putting me in a world where I have to imagine planets and places and a completely different life is hard for me. Also, I don't understand why techonolgy we have now is not available in the future. (Though Nathan informed me that they explain this further in the later books.) Thus, Dune really took me out of my comfort zone. But once I was able to stretch my imagination, I found I really enjoyed the story.

Oscar Week: The Help

Movie: The Help
Book: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

Nominations: Actress In a Leading Role, Actress In a Supporting Role (1), Actress In a Supporting Role (2), Best Picture

My Thoughts: This was a book I had actually read before the movie was made, and I loved it. I honestly think this is one of my favorite books. The time period is interesting, and Stockett does a fantastic job of painting a picture that seems so real. It is thought-provoking. The book also features an ensemble of characters, rather than one main character and many supporting characters—every character is so different in terms of their experiences, what drives them, what motivates them, and the decisions they make, and that is something that is unique. I also love that the book is a story of determination, just as the book is a product of Kathryn Stockett’s determination.

An Ode To Laura

Hello, my name is Whitney and I have a secret obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder (and, consequently, pioneers). OK, so maybe it’s not so much of a secret anymore, but I do still love her. Today, she would have been 145 years old, and she has left so much of a legacy.

Little House In The Big Woods is the first book I remember reading myself. I went to Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary School, where it was required reading, but I read it on my own and fell in love with the series. I still love to reread the books, though it is interesting how my perspective has changed as I've gotten older. My favorite book has changed, from By The Shores Of Silver Lake to These Happy Golden Years, and I see Laura as a different person. Even though so many of the books are about her childhood experiences, it is the adult Laura, who we see in the last books, who I relate to the most. She is strong, independent, and hardworking, and I think her thoughts on growing up are universal, still to this day.

I think my perspective has also changed since visiting De Smet, South Dakota, the "settling down" point of the Ingalls family and the place where Laura and Almanzo first settled. Nathan and I went a couple of years ago, and it was so much different than I had ever pictured in my head. While I always knew she was a real person, walking around the surveyor's house, seeing the Ingalls homesead (which now houses what I like to call the Laura Ingalls Wilder Amusement Park museum), and seeing the Wilder's homesead, made her that much more real. And different, too, because all of these things I imagined seemed so different and real.

Laura definitely made me into a reader, which I will always be grateful for.

Ghost Stories

Today, I went to the library. Now, really, pretty much every blog post I write ever (assuming I am back to regular blogging, which I am attempting now that life has settled down a bit) could start with today, I went to the library. Because I go to the library a lot--there are some weeks where I go literally every day.

Lately, I haven't checked out any books I'm totally in love with. I've checkd out many audio books that I'm totally in love with, that's for sure, but nothing that I've read. So today, I checked out two books I've already read. But I checked them out because the third book in the series comes out today: The Strangers on Montagu Street.

I originally checked out the two pervious books for the cruise, without knowing that they were more ghost stories than they were historical house stories. And for those of you who don't know, I have a huge fear of ghosts. They freak me out--in fact, they are the reason that I am afraid of the dark. I did actually have nightmares on the cruise while reading them, but I can't resist them because they are that good. Plus, it always does us a little good to face our fears, which is why I checked these out again and also why I'm trying really hard to listen to people's birth stories and not immediately hide my eyes when someone gives birth on TV (yes, giving birth is my second biggest fear).

With a lighter work week ahead, maybe I can get these books finished before Friday and then head over to barnes and noble and read the third one on my nook . . .

Book Review: Sammy's Hill

There are two kinds of readers, generally speaking. Those who can reread their favorite books over and over and over again, and those who read books only once. There is not a right or wrong way, just different ways. Also, I'm sure there are people that are the exception to that, too. I fall into the first category: I can read my favorites over and over again. But they aren't necessarily my favorites; instead, they are books I can turn to when I just need something to read. Something that I know I will like, something that is easy.

I have read a LOT of very good books recently. But I generally have phases with my reading, where I read so much (I was going to the library every day and checking out at least three books each time...that's a lot!) that I just can't do it anymore. And that's where my comfort books come in.

The book I grabbed last night was Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore, which is about the everyday life of a Capitol Hill staffer. But she is one of the best characters ever written, because she is totally quirky. I mean, seriously quirky, and you really wonder if anyone is that quirky, until you realize that you are. (Yes, that did happen to me while I was reading this.)

Here is an example of one of her quirks:
"Yet as I tried to fall asleep, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was going wrong. If not in my romantic life, then somewhere else. It was times such as these that I always got very worried about alibis. What if my weird feeling was intuition (which was even more plausible now that I knew about my mother's psychic prowess), and I was sensing that right at that very moment, while I was home alone with no witnesses, someone was framing me for a terrible crime?"

I read this book while I was in D.C., which is probably part of the reason that I like it so much. And I do like it that much--I saw someone else on the bus reading it after I had just finished and had to really resist the urge to talk about the book with her. And I read it twice in a row. As in, I finished it, and then started it again because I wasn't ready for it to be over.

There is a hilarious part that invovles sending a slightly scandalous email as a "reply all" message rather than reply, which is hilarious. Many fish and the conspiracy behind why they keep dying. Boyfriend drama and romance drama. And a look at what it might be like working in Washington. Really, the whole book is great for a laugh, and of course you end of cheering for Samantha all the way through the book and the sequel. There were talks for a movie back when I first read it, but alas, not yet . . .

Favorite Literary Couples

My friend Laura recently did a series on her favorite literary couples, and today is featuring her friend's favorite couples. You'll find mine in the post, too! Check it out here. I have to say, Laura and I are reading twins, so a lot of her favorites (which you can find on her blog) are also mine.

Book Review: The Paris Wife

As I mentioned yesterday, The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain, is about the relationship between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley. The first few chapters are about their brief courtship and the rest of the book follows their time in Paris as expatriates. It was during this time that Hemingway got his start as writer, writing several of his first books, including my favorite, The Sun Also Rises.

I want to do something a little different with this book review. When I read, I slightly (very slightly) fold over the bottom of the pages that have passages I really like. I wanted to share some of the passages I folded over here.

*"'I want to write one true sentence,' he said. 'If I can write one sentence, simple and true, every day, I'll be satisfied." (81) 
*"His ambitions for his writing were fierce and all encompassing. He had writing the way other people had religion." (81)

Of other interest:
*Hemingway's first works were lost on a train by Hadley. She packed them up to bring with her and lost them on the train.
*Pauline, Hemingway's second wife, was a friend of Hadley's.
*I loved seeing how life in Paris shaped The Sun Also Rises. The book also talks about the inspiration for the characters in The Sun Also Rises and takes us to the running of the bulls a few times, too.

I wonder how much of The Paris wife is fiction, and how much is biographical. I will have to check out some biographies to compare, I think.

Book Review: The Sun Also Rises

And I'm back from my weekend away! The trip was very fun overall, and my mom and I got to spend some quality time together. We did a lot of shopping, wine drinking, and mostly just relaxing. We found some good deals on clothes (yay Ann Taylor Loft!), took long morning walks, and caught up on some TV shows.

The train trip home was rather unexciting, except that I shouldn't have tried to sleep, because I didn't.. I should have just stayed up reading. I brought two books with me, a Sarah Dessen to reread and then the book I'm reviewing tomorrow and talking about today, The Paris Wife. I also got a super fun book from a friend while I was there that I can't wait to explore.

But back to The Paris Wife. This was one my mom mentioned to me, and it's about Ernest Hemingway's first wife. I kind of love Ernest Hemingway. In fact, if I had to pick my favorite book (as my friend Leah would say, quoting Cougar Town, "Gun to your head!") I would pick The Sun Also Rises.

I didn't read any Hemingway until my 20th Century Literature class my freshman year of college (second semester). I was desperate to take this class, and I took the last spot after watching the schedule for days. I was also the youngest person in the class and was intimidated, as this was the first literature-based college class I had taken. But I had a great professor who chose wonderful books and it ended up being one of the classes I did the best in and loved the most.

And Hemingway became one of the authors that I love most. You know when you read a book at just the right time in your life that you and the book just click? I think that happened with me and The Sun Also Rises. I wrote my response paper on the feeling of being lost, and while I wasn't lost in the same way as the characters, I could relate to it. I had a lot of changes going on that semester and just didn't know what I wanted. And the book seemed to capture how I was feeling, despite the immensely different time periods and circumstances.

In The Paris Wife, we actually see Hemingway and Stein and all of the "lost generation" before the books and writing that made them famous. And we see Hemingway writing The Sun Also Rises, which was really cool for me to read. I'll be back with a full review tomorrow, but after the "read more" break is my response paper for The Sun Also Rises, in case you want to check out some vintage Whitney writing. It's still one of my favorite "academic" papers I've ever written.

The Sun Also Rises
30 January 2005
A Lost Generation   

The epigraph of The Sun Also Rises includes a quote from Gertrude Stein that states, “You are all a lost generation.”  Through the characters of Jake, Robert Cohn, Bill, this statement is proven to be true, but Lady Brett Ashley is perhaps the most “lost” character of the novel, and she tries to fulfill her unhappiness by searching for love.     

Though Lady Brett Ashley is portrayed as somewhat of a masculine woman, every man that she comes in contact with loves her.  Robert calls her “Circe” (148), who was a Greek sorceress who lured men to her island and then turned them into animals.  Brett does have a certain effect on men, most notably on Robert.  Not only does he end his long-standing relationship with Frances, his personality changes, a change that Jake blames on Brett: “…until he fell in love with Brett, I had never heard him make one remark that would, in any way, detach him from other people” (52).  As the novel progresses, Robert continues to change, and his obsession with Brett impacts his relationship with the others.

The reasons for Brett’s abilities to seduce men are unclear.  Mike says that “she is the only lady [he] has ever known who [is] as charming when she [is] drunk as she [is] when she [is] sober” (66).  Brett Ashley is not only charming, but beautiful as well: Robert Cohn says that she is “remarkably attractive” (46).  But the best way to describe Brett is the following: “There’s a certain quality about her, a certain fineness.  She seems to be absolutely fine and straight…I don’t know how to describe the quality…I suppose it’s breeding” (46).  Brett’s combination of beauty, charm and breeding gives her the opportunities to find what she is really looking for, but she can’t find it.

Even though many men love her, Lady Brett Ashley is lost in that “she only wanted what she couldn’t have” (39).  She spends her time searching for the one thing she can’t have: love.  Everyone knows that “Brett’s had affairs with men before” (147), but these men are not the loves of her life.  She sleeps with many men, but it doesn’t change the fact that she is lonely. Brett has been through a great deal of heartache and has lost every real love she has ever had.  Before she married Ashley,  “her own true love had just kicked off with the dysentery” (46).  In addition to not loving her husband, she has a horrible marriage:

    “When [Ashley] came home he wouldn’t sleep in a bed.  Always made Brett sleep on the floor.  Finally, when he got really bad, he     used to tell her he’d kill her.  Always slept with a loaded service revolver…She hasn’t had an absolutely happy life…” (207).

To add to her unhappiness, Brett is desperately in love with Jake, but cannot be with him because he cannot fulfill the physical expectations of their relationship.  When Mike asks Brett and Jake why they aren’t married, Brett replies, “We have our careers” (68).  I thought this was an interesting statement made by Brett, because the only things she truly does with her time is sleep with men and drink. After first meeting Mike, she says “I rather liked the count…offered me ten thousand dollars to go to Biarritz with him” (41). I immediately felt that Brett was indirectly referring to herself as a prostitute, but then, Jake tells Robert “[Brett’s] in love with Mike Campbell and she’s going to marry him” (46). 

Later on in the book, Robert calls Jake a pimp, which, in a way, is what Jake is to Brett.  When Brett decides that she’s “in love” (187) with Pedro, it is Jake who sets them up:

    “[Pedro] looked at me.  It was a final look to ask if it were understood.  It was understood all right…when I came back and looked     in the café, twenty minutes later, Brett and Pedro Romero were gone” (190-191).

At the end of the novel, it is Jake who rescues Brett, but he does partially take blame for the situation: “Send a girl off with one man.  Introduce her to another to go off with him.  Now go and bring her back.  And sign the wire with love.  That was it all right” (243).  Since Jake is unable to fulfill the physical aspects of the relationship, he almost tries to find other men to take his place.

However, no men can take really take the place of Jake.  Jake and Brett have an emotional relationship, and this relationship is unlike any other in the book.  It is to Jake that Brett admits that she is “miserable” (32), and it is Jake who truly understands her.  He can see her true feelings, found in the descriptions of her eyes:

    “She was looking into my eyes with that way she had of looking that made you wonder whether she really saw out of her own             eyes.  They would look on and on after every one else’s eyes in the world would have stopped looking.  She looked as though         there were nothing on earth she would not look at like that, and really she was afraid of so many things” (34). 

Jake truly loves Brett and can tell that she is afraid.  He goes on to say that “her eyes had different depths, sometimes they seemed perfectly flat.  Now you could see all the way into them” (34).  By allowing Jake to look “all the way” into her eyes, Brett is almost exposing her emotions to him.  

Jake is “the only person [Brett’s] got” (185), and she claims to be in love with him: “She looked at me, hand on the table, her glass raised.  Don’t look like that…told him I was in love with you.  True, too.  Don’t look like that” (41).  She also is in love with Mike and thinks she is in love with Pedro.  With her tendencies to fall in love so quickly, it makes me wonder about whether she truly does love Jake, or if he is just a symbol for what she wants and cannot have.  If she and Jake were capable of having a relationship, I wonder if Brett would finally be happy, or if she would end up just as lost as she is throughout the novel. 

Meeting Sarah Dessen

Well, I know that I'm two days late on my update on meeting Sarah Dessen. Thursday turned into a crazy busy day with work and picking up the house and packing for my impromptu trip to Denver for the weekend. You see, I drove my old car back to my parents' house and decided to stay a while. Or at least for the weekend. So that's where I am now--writing this update before we head out shopping!

Meagan and I left Lincoln at 4:45 for our adventure. I drove the new car and loved it! We only got a little lost in Omaha, but eventually made it to the library by 5:50. There were already about 10 people waiting by the door to get in. (It started at 7.) We had seats right in the second row, almost on the end, and by 6:50, there was hardly standing room. I would say there were probably about 200 people there. She was a delight. She read from her new book, which I don't have because it's hardcover and I want it to match the rest of my paperbacks, but after hearing the first chapter, I've decided to just buy it and not worry about it. She talked about her inspiration for the book, which came from many different places, and then did some questions and answers. There was a wide variety of ages there, I would say, so she got lots of different questions. People asked about how she felt about the movie, How To Deal, which is based on two of her books, what her writing process was like, where inspiration comes from, etc. She was very funny and seemed to be very down-to-earth, and she was also very gracious to her fans. I learned that she recycles her characters, too, because she said a lot of girls were asking for sequels, and she didn't want to write them, so that was a compromise. I had never noticed that, but after I went through one book, it was so obvious, I didn't know how I missed it!

After she did a brief trivia game, which Meagan and I didn't do too well on, she did a book signing. The lady in charge promised us we would be first because she would dismiss by row, but there was a mass exit and we didn't want to get trampled, so we stayed seated. That mean there was a crazy long line, and so we just sat in the room until they started picking it up. We went ot and the line was still really long, but a nice woman and her daughter let us cut them in line so Meagan wouldn't have to stand for so long. Even from our "line cutting point" we were in line for about 50 minutes. But it was worth it--we got our books signed (I did This Lullaby, my favorite, and Meagan got the new one, What Happened To Goodbye) and a picture, and she was very nice in person. Then we headed home, with only a stop at McDonald's for dinner. It was such a fun night, and despite all of the waiting,it was so worth it. And we got some good talking time in, too.

My Celebrities

I won't lie, I love my share of celebrity culture. But when I think about the famous people that would probably make me go eeee! ahhhh! do you know who that is? if I ran into them at say, an airport or some other public place, most of them are authors. (And yes, I think I would be able to recognize my favorites if I saw them on the street.)

I've been lucky enough to hear some really interesting and cool writers. Frank Warren, PostSecret, and Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Nightmares and others, came to the University, and my friend Kaitlyn and I went to hear them speak (and we got there super early both times, too, which meant we had awesome seats) and get books signed. At the Key West literary seminar I went to, I was able to hear lots of good writing advice and meet both established and up-and-coming writers. And stare at the back of Judy Blume's head, which was pretty cool. But one of my favorite author-meeting experiences was Kristin Gore.

I spent the summer in D.C. four years ago (I can hardly believe it's been that long now!), working an internship at a local magazine there. It was an experience, both good and bad, and while I didn't realize it at the time, I learned a lot about myself while out on my own in a strange city. I love D.C., I really do--it's one of my favorite places, and I can't wait until Nathan and I can go back and experience it together. It has so many opportunities--museums, gardens, memorials, shopping, awesome public transportation, and . . . author events. I had literally just read Kristin Gore's first book, Sammy's Hill, and I loved it. In fact, I loved it so much, I finished it and read it again because I was not ready for it to be over and also considered striking up a conversation with someone who was also reading it on the bus. And it just so happened that she was speaking at a bookstore right by my "office" (the magazine actually had the top floor of a house as an office, but ya). I was thrilled.

I got there early with my books, waiting for her to come out. And then she did! She read from her new book, the sequel to my beloved Sammy's Hill, and then answered questions. She actually got several questions about her parents (she's Al Gore's daughter) that she handled very gracefully. And then she did a signing. I was so nervous to actually meet her, and I'm pretty sure I said, "umm, ahh, I really liked your book." and then we got a picture together.

It was amazing. And tonight, I have another amazing opportunity. Sarah Dessen, one of my most favorite authors who I have been reading forever, will be in Omaha. So my wonderful friend Meagan, who is also a huge (probably more than me even) Sarah Dessen fan and I are hitting the road, hoping for an autograph and a picture. I'll be sure to spill the details tomorrow afternoon after work.

Book Review: The Book Of Tomorrow

Do you have any authors that make you feel like you've watched them "grow up?" You know, the ones where you come across their first book in hardcover, love it, find their second book, buy it, stalk Barnes and Noble for the third one, and so on. And then, pretty soon, you have a full collection of  hardcover books, because you hate to have some in hardcover and some in paperback, so of course, you spend the extra $10. It's only logical, of course.

One of those authors for me is Cecelia Ahern. I read P.S. I Love You (not this linked version though. Apparently when you make a movie from a book, the publicity photo replaces all artwork.) on an airplane out to Thousand Oaks, CA, when I was a senior in high school. I was headed out for an interview for a scholarship and to check out the college, and lugged the book out with me on the plane to read rather than do my make-up work. And I loved it, despite the fact I was 18, not married, and never experienced that kind of grief. It moved me, which I think says a lot about Ahern's talent as a writer.

I, personally, don't think any of her books are as good as her first (and that the movie really doesn't do the book justice, but again, just my opinion). That doesn't mean I don't like them, no; it just means that P.S. I Love You was that good. With the exception of her second book, the rest of her books have some kind of magical elements to them, so really, comparing them would be like comparing apples to oranges (which is not my favorite expression, but it'll do in this particular instance). And her most recent book (which I didn't buy, but found at the library instead), The Book Of Tomorrow is no different.

Basically, the story goes like this: Tamara Goodwin and her mother move to the country to live with her aunt and uncle after her father dies. Her mother is in mourning and never talks with anyone or leaves her room. Bored, Tamara comes across a book that appears to be a diary, but really, it's a book that tells her exactly what's going to happen the next day, and it's up to her to decide what she does with the information. Which, in the process, leads to a mysterious twist that I'm not even going to hint at, because I imagine most of you are not like me and would mind the spoiler.

I think it's one of her best "magic" books, and while it can be predictable in the end, it's not predictable as a whole. And it makes you think about what you would do if you were in the same instance: Would you try and change what happens or just go along with what the book tells you?

I think as a character, Tamara also grows a lot, and the other active characters are well-developed, as well. There's a lot to be said about human nature in all of them, and how their decisions made them who they are, and how certain instances in your life really affect your future.

And with that, I leave you with this small passage I marked, because while it seems very high school girl, I think it's important to remember as we go about our lives:

I learned something important that night. You shouldn't try to stop everything from happening. Sometimes you're supposed to feel awkward. Sometimes you're supposed to be vulnerable in front of people. Sometimes it's necessary because it's all part of you getting to the next part of yourself, the next day. -Cecelia Ahern's The Book Of Tomorrow

Heavens To Betsy

Has anyone ever read the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace? There are few series out there that follow a character on the journey from childhood to adulthood and are so timeless in the portrayal of emotions and life that even 100 years later, they still seem relevant. Obviously, I think Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of the best, but Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy is just as lovable and timeless. And the newly released versions are truly lovely, with forwards from Meg Cabot, Laura Lippman, and Meg Cabot.

I was reminded of a part of Betsy's Wedding last night, where she is trying to learn to cook for her new husband and it always seems to turn out wrong, particularly a meat pie.

"Betsy approached the oven dubiously. The accident had been a little more than 'nothing much.' She had thought she remembered just how Anna made meat pie--cutting leftover meat into chunks, and dropping it into gravy along with potatoes and onions and carrots, spreading biscuit dough on top. But something had gone wrong. The dough had overflowed and stuck to the floor of the oven, and burned. She had scraped it off, and scraped and scraped, but it kept on overflowing and sticking and burning and she had run frantically to fling up all the windows and run back to scrape some m ore. Eventually she had decided that the oven wasn't hot enough and had turned it up as high as it would go. Then the top of the depleted crust had burned."

This is how my dinner turned out last night. Kind of. Last night, we tried to make chicken and dumplings. What we ended up with was chicken and vegetables covered in dough because the biscuits didn't form and instead just sat on top in a floury mess. It was still good, but not exactly what we were going for. It's really at the point now where it's more humorous than maddening. Particularly because it's not that it's not edible, but just not quite right.

On that note, here's our second two-week meal plan.

Chili
Pizza
Waffles
Chicken nuggets
Chicken and dumplings
Pasta Presto [pasta with peppers, feta cheese, and sun-dried tomato and basil chicken sausage, yum.]
Chicken Curry

We also have beef enchiladas, mac and cheese, soup, and porkchops. Yum.

Lauran's Holidays

"Every Christmas is better than the Christmas before . . .

I guess it must be because I am growing up."
-Laura Ingalls Wilder, "By The Shores Of Silver Lake"

As usual, Laura speaks the truth, and in my opinion, she is one of the best Christmas writers there is. Each of her books features a Christmas story that I can relate to, even though we are generations apart. For example, in "Little House In The Big Woods," she gets her doll, Charlotte, for Christmas, and she is most treasured. I'm sure everyone remembers the excitement of Christmas morning and getting something that they most wanted, or means the most to them. As she grows up, she spends Christmases with families and friends, and welcomes Almanzo to the family in "These Happy Golden Years" when they celebrate their first Christmas together, as Nathan and I did last year. And in "The First Four Years," we see the two of them creating holiday traditions and celebrating together, just as Nathan and I will do this year and in the years to come. Be sure to check back this week as I reflect on my favorite Christmas memories, our Christmas this year, and more.

Book Review: Rilla Of Ingleside

In honor of Veteran's Day, I want to say thank you to the veterans in my life: my Grandpa Chris and my Uncle Steve and my cousins and friends who have served their country, our country, to keep us all safe and preserve our way of life. It's because of them and all of the other veterans that we have the opportunities we have in our country, and I'm grateful for everything they have done. I hope you also take the time today (and every day) to recognize the veterans in your life and what they have given us and sacrificed for us. Also, I think it's important to also recognize and thank the husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children, and families of our military men and women, for all they have to give up, as well. So thank you—we are truly blessed to have people like you!

Because I like to share reading and writing experiences on this blog, I want to add a book recommendation to this post,  hopefully without taking away from the gratitude I feel. However, I think it is fitting, in a way, because it takes place during WWI, and Veteran's Day was originally set aside as a day to honor WWI veterans and falls on the official end of the war (though did you know that WWI just actually officially ended in September?). It's the final book in the Anne of Green Gables series, Rilla Of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery, published in 1921. Anne is in the book, but much older and really the story is told with her youngest daughter Rilla being the focus.  

I think anything Anne can be somewhat romanticized, which, really, is part of the magic of the books and what makes them classic, but I think Rilla of Ingleside really stands out as a more serious piece of literature that looks at the effects of war both on those who fought and those who were left behind. It looks at the sacrifices that people had to make during this war, what it's like to experience loss, and what everyday life was like for Canadians during this time period. It also looks at how quickly war changes people, seen mostly through Rilla, and looks at what the war was like for this particular town and family. Through letters, it also gives you a brief perspecitve of what it was like to be a solider.  

This book moves me every time I read it (and I probably read it at least once every year, normally more than that) and when I read it as an adult, it only gets better because I can recognize all of the unique writing techniques that Montgomery adds to her books to make them special. For exaomple, she often has the narrator step back from the story and make some kind of commentary on the situation, or even the war, that just works without forcing it. Or, she occassionally changes character perspecitve, such as through converstaions about Rilla, to show what her charcter has become and who she is, thus illustrating how the war has affected her as a young woman. This all plays into the message she give throughout the book in terms of what I was talking about above: The effects that war, especially wars of this magnitude, can have on everyone.

The book also adds in situations that are less serious, such as a baby in a soup tureen, and a somewhat happy ending (that is so emotionally complicated and wonderful at the same time), but I think that this is also be a realistic portrayal of war that is not often thought about. Life doesn't always stop for war, even though it doesn't go away, as illustrated by Rilla Blythe and her family.

Book Review: Truth & Beauty

Today’s book review is on a book that I consider to be one of my favorites: ”Truth and Beauty,” by Ann Patchett.

As you may have read, I posted an article written by her during my first couple of weeks of writing. I really like her as a writer, and I was reminded of her by a friend who had asked me if I read “The Magician’s Assistant.” I have read most of her books, not all, but my favorite is still the first one I read, “Truth and Beauty.” It was this book that made me go out and search for her fiction.

The book is a memoir written by Patchett about her friendship with Lucy Grealy. It’s a complicated story of friendship and writing, and more importantly, it’s a story that’s real. Because it’s a memoir, you expect it to be about real life and experiences, but Patchett doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Their friendship is complex and not always perfect and so moving. She talks about the real effects of what life circumstances can have on relationships and how friends can be such a huge part of your life, as Lucy was hers, both as a person and writer.

My sophomore year I took one of the best classes of my college years, Women in Literature. The professor made the class what it was, as she was not only passionate about her subject but also nurtured every student’s talent and made everyone interested in what she was teaching. We read books such as "The Color Purple," "O Pioneers," and "Their Eyes Were Watching God." We discussed the books in terms of how we felt about them, what we learned, and what the books said about women. It was one of the few classes I actually felt comfortable talking in and really learned a lot about English and who I was.

We had to give a presentation on a book by a woman author as a speaking requirement, and I talked about Truth and Beauty. For the assignment, you had to provide background information about the author and read a passage. It was really interesting to research both women and learn about who they are outside of the book, and I also hope to read Lucy's memoir. I'll have to add it to my list.

Book Review: Sarah Strohmeyer

So, today is the first day of book reviews for my blog, and I had a really hard time deciding what book to choose for the inagurual post. Which is part of the reason why this post is up so late in the day, compared to my earlier attempts this week. I thought about writing about the first book that made me love reading (Little House In The Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder) or my go-to book when asked for recommendations (God-Shaped Hole, Tiffanie deBartolo, thanks to Lisa Petak) or my favorite book that makes me look like an English nerd (The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway). But instead, I want to (maybe) introduce you to the author that I've been talking about lately and whose books I've been devouring—Sarah Strohmeyer—and also talk about why I like reading chick lit. Because honestly, at this point in my life, it's what I read a LOT.

I'm not actually sure how I came across Sarah Strohmeyer's books initally, but I know they were recommended on Facebook by one of my favorite authors—Emily Giffin—so I requested them from the library. I started with The Sleeping Beauty Proposal and found that in addition to being funny and intelligent, it had some interesting thoughts on the role of marriage in a woman's life, especially fitting for me as a newlywed. Then I read The Cinderella Pact, which dealt with weight, body image issues, dieting, and friendship in addition to appearances. The Secret Lives Of Fortunate Wives was a little less serious in terms of "issues" but it was interesting to read about the roles that women (and men) played in this more upperclass society and how everyday things such as marriage and working fit in. And the one I just finished, Sweet Love, addressed divorce single parenthood, old loves, and breast cancer. Also, in some way, most of them had a character that was some kind of writer, mostly journalists, which I'm guessing comes from Sarah Strohmeyer's personal experience.

I think there is this a stigma that goes with reading, or even writing, chick lit that it's silly and stupid and full of fluff. And some of the really good stuff is silly and full of fluff. But what I liked about all of these books is that they tackled serious issues in a way that was relateable in some way, if not directly. And yes, they generally have happy endings, and yes, a lot of these women do spend a lot of their time chasing men, and sometimes, the situations they end up in can be kind of silly. But aren't these aspects of real life? In these books, no on is saying you need a man to be happy, or you need to be model skinny to be happy; instead, they tackle these, in my opinion, everyday issues, in a way that makes them relateable and enjoyable to read, no matter how big they are, without presenting negative stereotypes of women.

And that's why I like chick lit, aside from having some fluff to read after a day at work. Because if you look hard enough, you can find the big issues and think about them and how they relate to you, or how they don't relate to you, and take away more than just a fluff story.

A word fancies Where Side Note

Today's NYT (edit: yesterday's. I only found it today. It was meant to be.) has this article from Ann Patchett writing about her house. She is probably one of my favorite "modern" authors, and I love houses, so thus, I must love this article. Also, how moving is her last paragraph?

This is where I do exactly the thing I’ve always wanted to do, be a writer. This is the window from which I see entire days go by from dark to dark, never going farther than the end of my driveway. This is the place my husband comes back to every night, to this house where we were married and we are married. What I mean to say is that it is a good life wrapped in a good house.

 I feel I can definitely relate to this with our house, as it's the house we lived in when we got married and where we're starting our married life together, working together to make it ours and sarting to really persue what we want out of life. And we do have a good life, and a good house, even if it's not quite "finished" yet. But is anything ever finished?