The Awakening is considered by many to be an American classic and a forerunner of modern feminist literature. Yet when it was published in 1899, it received more negative criticism than positive, leading author Kate Chopin to dedicate her talents to writing short stories exclusively for the remainder of her life. Given that most journalists and literary critics in the late 19th century were men, the chilly reception shouldn’t be surprising. The Awakening is about a married woman named Edna Pontellier who, while spending her summer on Grand […]
YAY TO MY FRIEND BETH KANELL! (Yes, little name dropping there!)
First: YAY TO MY FRIEND BETH KANELL! She has created another novel for history and Vermont buffs. Long story how I meet her, but she and I have talked books, poetry and life in general and I cannot wait to talk The Long Shadow with her as well. Second: The Long Shadow is set in North Upton, Vermont in 1850. She deals with abolition, bounty hunters and hiding fugitives of the escaped slave kind. Her narrator, Alice, is a young teen girl, growing up in […]
Who What When Where Why and How…..
Who Was Mark Twain? He was an author, adventurer, tall-tale maker and the subject of this book by April Jones Prince. There are several different people in the Who Was/Who Is series. I read Mark Twain and Who Was Joan of Arc by Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso last night. While each has its own author(s) each are illustrated by a different artist (John O’Brien and Andrew Thomson respectively). They are a non-fiction story about their subject. You can have everyone from Joan of Arc […]
Snubbed? Sure, but still a winning story
If I am reading my research correctly, Louise Erdrich’s The Birchback House was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist. I know this book was on my shelf for a long time, but I was saving it for the Snubbed category which is no shame as it went up against some AMAZING books. She went up against Kimberly Willis Holt (winner. Yay! LOVED the book/author), Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak (OMG! What a book/author!), Polly Horvath (did not read Trolls but she is very good) and Walter […]
Splash down with Ninteenth Century Evil Science
The basic storyline is thus: a group of daughters/creations of infamous literary scientists band together for self-protection and sisterhood, have adventures, and solve crimes. We have Mary Jekyll, the leader, Diana Hyde the wild and bratty little sister, Beatrice Rappaccini the beauty, Catherine Moreau the fierce one, and Justine Frankenstein the strong one. They are assisted by Mrs. Poole the housekeeper, Alice the maid, and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as themselves. Their main target of investigation is Société des Alchemistes, a shadowy organization to […]
A classic that deserves the honor
Okay, so. Will it amuse you if I admit that I somehow did not know that this book is famously long? I’m over here trying to do these reading challenges and had finished my last audiobook, and so saw that this was available on Overdrive and thought “Neat! I’ll just slot that one right in there.” When I saw that the audiobook was over thirty hours long, I realized my mistake. Anyway, man. What an undertaking to read, and now, an undertaking to review. I […]
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