"Anne Of Green Gables"

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy M. Montgomery

How could anyone not love this book? The characters are all wonderfully flawed and loveable, the setting idyllic and the story sweet, funny and satisfying. I'm quite willing to admit I'm biased, living in the Canadian maritime provinces, but I am fully convinced that I'd love the book as well no matter what the setting. Well almost convinced. Somewhat.

The story follows the life of Anne Shirley, an orphan adopted by aging sister and brother, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert who live on Green Gables farm in Prince Edward Island, Canada. They meant to adopt a boy who would be a help on the farm but wires got crossed and when they arrived at the orphanage to pick up their boy, Anne was waiting for them. Eleven years old, red headed and the possessor of a wildly overdeveloped imagination that gets her into trouble repeatedly, Anne's open heart and genuine goodness win everyone over eventually.

The writing is a delight to read. Anne can talk what my mother used to call "a blue streak" barely taking a breath between sentences, but her prattling includes such gems as "It's always wrong to do anything you can't tell the minister's wife. It's as good as an extra conscience to have a minister's wife for your friend."  The language the author uses is lovely, an almost poetic pleasure. The book is full of beautiful phrasing like "The Barry garden was a bowery wilderness of flowers which would have delighted Anne's heart at any time less fraught with destiny." I want to have written that phrase "any time less fraught with destiny".

At the end of this book Anne is I think, 17. There are several more books in the series that follow her into adulthood, marriage and having children of her own. They are all very good and I heartily recommend the whole series for young and old, but for me none of them quite measure up to this first one. Anne is such a wonderful, precocious, joy-filled child, it's a shame she can't stay a child forever. If that can't happen, and it can't, the next best thing is to read about her growing up.

I didn't discover the Anne books till I was an adult. I read continually as a child so I have no idea how that happened. I certainly had no problem finding my way to books that I should not have been reading. I don't know how I could have missed these books that were aimed specifically at girls my age, but I am grateful I found them when I did. Reading "Anne" this time was even lovelier because I was reading a hardcover copy I found in my grandmother's house just before it was sold and torn down. It was printed in 1945 by Ryerson Press and the pages are yellowed and in places stained by generations who read it before me. The book smells like the house smelled, aged and earthy and comfortable. I miss that house and that smell more than words can say.

If you haven't read Anne of Green Gables yet, you're missing out. Don't deny yourself this pleasure any longer. Book Depository has copies for under $5.00, so do yourself a favor and order one. I promise you you'll be glad you did.

"The Hatbox Letters"

The Hatbox Letters by Beth Powning

Oh dear. Another book written in the present tense, though I didn't find that as annoying in this one as I did in The Nine Lives Of Charlotte Taylor. The narrator spends a lot of time reminiscing about the past which gives her plenty of opportunity to switch into the past tense so I guess that made it easier to read. And somehow the present tense seems to fit this story better, giving a feeling that there is no past or future, just the interminable now.

The title refers to nine old fashioned hatboxes found in Kate's grandparents house and filled with old letters, pictures, receipts, invoices, ticket stubs, etc. They have been in the attic for years but now her siblings want her to sort through them and decide what to do with them. Recently widowed and grieving she finds little else to interest her and so begins to put together the pieces of her family's history from the old documents and lots of imagination.

I found the book well written, but the story slow getting started. In the first two or three chapters there was little about the letters and much about the loss she has suffered and how it has changed her. And for me it was a bit heavy on similes and metaphors in the early chapters. There were so many of them they began to get in the way. Fortunately the tempo picked up and I got caught up in the story, both stories actually, past and present.

The sections dealing with Kate's grandparents lives were great, but very little of it came from the letters she found. It's all fictional of course, so Powning could have said anything in the letters, but instead she wrote most of the grandparents' story from Kate's imaginings. She imagines them responding to a situation in one way or another or she pictures them going here or there or saying certain things. It made it all a bit hard to believe for me. And even though it is fiction, the goal should still be to tell a convincing story.

The present day story of Kate dealing with the death of her husband and trying to figure out her place in the world now as a single woman is insightful and compassionate, but sometimes heavy and difficult to wade through.The title doesn't really give an accurate idea of what the book is about. There are hat boxes and there are letters, but what the book is really about is dealing with grief. That's the main story. And just as I found it slow to start, once I got within a chapter or two of the end I found myself getting bogged down again. I kept checking to see how much was left to read.

So I'm conflicted on this one. When I read this over it sounds like I didn't like it much and it's true I think it's weak in a few areas, but I still have to say it's a very good read and I'd be open to reading more of her writing. I do think you'll find it worth the time you'll invest in it. If you decide to read it, please stop by and let me know what you thought.

"The Piano Shop on the Left Bank"

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart

This book wasn't quite what I expected, but I quite enjoyed reading it. First of all I love the title.  Put pianos and Paris together and I'm hooked; the title gave me no choice but to find it and read it. I think I expected a little more Paris and a little less piano, but this works too.

The author lives with his wife, daughter and son in Paris. Walking his children to school every day, he noticed a small piano shop in his neighborhood and became curious. He had played piano as a child and began to think about buying one and bringing music back into his life. So one day he rang the bell and went in, and that began a friendship that would lead him into a Paris world of rare and antique pianos, music schools, teachers and students.  Wading through typical French reserve he found friends, the perfect piano for his apartment, and music teachers for himself and his children.

There is a lot of information in this book about pianos, old and new. There is history, tradition and lots of detail about how pianos are built and tuned. There was one chapter that got so detailed I began to get a bit tired of it, but the pace picked up in the next chapter and I finished the book quite happily.

The tone of the writing is a little more scholarly than I expected, but don't let that deter you. It's not a text book at all, but more of a memoir recounting the author's journey back into music. It's personal as well as very well written.

Paris and pianos. Turning the last page made me feel like I was leaving a world of beauty that I'm going to miss for a while. Ah well. All good things, including this charming book, must end. 

"The Nine Lives Of Charlotte Taylor"

The Nine Lives Of Charlotte Taylor by Sally Armstrong

There are things I loved about this book and things I didn't like at all. Let's start with the good stuff. 

The book is set in New Brunswick, Canada where I have lived all my life, so I recognized the place names, the weather conditions, the season changes, etc. I absolutely love reading about local history and this book is full of it. It tells the story of Charlotte Taylor (an actual historical figure) from the time she arrives as a young woman in the unsettled wilds of 1700's New Brunswick through her marriages, children and various living situations until her death in 1841. The bones of the story are true, the fleshing out is fictional.

It is a fascinating story and quite well told. It gives a nicely detailed picture of what daily life was like for the brave souls who settled in the Miramichi river area in the very early days. Their interactions with the native people who were here long, long before the white man and with the Acadien people who endured a shattering expulsion in 1755, make for a story full of beauty, suspense and pathos.

However. In the first half of the book I sometimes wished Charlotte had had less than nine lives. As interesting as she was, I found myself wishing things would move along a little more quickly and checking to see how many pages were left to the end. Then in the second half, and especially close to the end, years would pass with the turn of a page and in one place five years passed between paragraphs. I wish the tempo of the story had been a little more regular.

Another thing I didn't like was that the entire book is written in the present tense. Not "She thought" but "She thinks"; not "The summer of 1825 was hot" but "The summer of 1825 is hot". I found having the entire story written that way a little disconcerting. It seemed to halt the flow of words at times. Or something. I'm not sure why I didn't like it, it just felt strange.

There was one more thing I didn't like: Charlotte herself, especially in the latter years of her life. Of course there's no way to know what her real personality was like, but in the book I found her stubborn and lacking in compassion at times. On one hand it's realistic that every character has faults, on the other hand I didn't find her an appealing character.

Overall I'm glad I read it. It was good to learn some local history and it really is interesting. I recommend it to anyone looking for a good pioneer tale. It's not a great book, but it is a good story.

And the winner is.....

Congratulations to Melody from Fingers and Prose! She is the winner of the $20 gift certificate for Better World Books being given away to celebrate my first year of blogging.

This was my first giveaway and I must say it was fun! I hope to do more of this in the future. Thank-you to everyone who took time to enter and thanks for giving me a great first year in the blogging world.

Dianne

One more day to enter for $20 Gift Certificate

Saturday is the last day you can enter to win a $20 betterworldbooks.com gift certificate. On Sunday the winner will be announced and contacted by email. Click here to enter. The link will take you to the "First Anniversary and Giveaway post". Leave a comment on that post saying you want your name included in the draw and that's all you have to do! Good luck!