The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain. 1876. 225 pages. [Source: Bought]
First sentence: “TOM!” No answer. “TOM!” No answer. “What’s gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!” No answer. The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them.
Premise/plot: Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young boy who almost always finds himself at the center of adventure. He's joined by other boys in the town, most notably Huckleberry Finn. Tom may be young, but he's not too young to "fall in love" with a certain Becky. Will that love last? Maybe, maybe not. After all, before Becky moved to town, he was in love with another little girl. So Tom may be a small-town Romeo in the making. One thing about Tom: he loves to fool everybody and even when fooled himself likes to make you think he is cleverer than anyone.
My thoughts: I read Huckleberry Finn earlier this year. I really do prefer Huck as narrator. But Tom can be charming when he chooses. (And if you can forget the way he treats Jim in Huckleberry Finn, he's fun to spend an afternoon or two with. But having just read the other book this year, I can't help seeing some of Tom's flaws!)
I would recommend both books. This one is definitely less weighty than Huckleberry Finn. There are at least three or four adventures in this one. And the book moves at a very steady pace!
© 2016 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
This coming Thursday, I'll be down at the Constitution Center being interviewed for the still-to-be-titled Sam Katz documentary on Philadelphia. I'll be talking about one of my favorite Philadelphians of all time, the philanthropist and Public Ledger editor, George Childs, and about a period of time (the late 19th century) that has forever captured my own imagination.
Yesterday, while speaking with one of the film's producers—while trying again to conjure Philadelphia at what I feel was its most glorious—my thoughts sifted back toward this passage from my novel-in-progress:
Katherine climbs and tells no one where she is. She climbs looking for her end, her final day. She’s climbed through February and March, through April and May, through seasons that cannot decide on the weather, confusing the tulips and squirrels and Katherine as well, who nevertheless finds her way. Sometimes Katherine leaves the house in a light wool dress with a scarf looped loose around her neck and then, of a sudden, the weather will change. In will blow an infiltrating wind and there Katherine will be on Belmont Hill, all the way up, on the highest tier of the Sawyer Observatory. She’ll secure the scarf around her chin and stay. She’ll stand until the city can be seized—the coves and hollows of the Centennial park; the spire of Saint Peter and Paul; the houses, theaters, marketplaces, banks set tight upon the city’s checkerboard squares; the bulbous steam above Baldwin Locomotives. She’ll stare out onto the Renaissance pile of City Hall—like a cake, she thinks, with excess butter cream. She’ll look for a clap of bakery flour. And it won’t matter how fiercely the weather blows: Katherine stands. She stands and dares herself to the very edge, almost but not quite losing her balance. Getting ready.
“Anna,” Katherine says aloud, “how could you?”
Lovely.
I am breathless. You write so utterly beautifully. I've never been to Philadelphia, nor have I read any of your books. I will do both now. Thank you, Beth, for sharing.
Good luck with the interview! And I love the descriptions in your novel-in-progress.
I really wish I could write like you.
I can tell I'm going to like Katherine.
I gave you an award. Check it out at Bella is reading . . ..
Oh, dear readers.
How I do hope that Katherine finds her place between covers and that I might someday share her world with you.
Thank you.
And Maya: You already do.
I love the image of climbing through months.
I will certainly have to see this city someday for myself.
A tantalizing glimpse! Even though it's Katherine that we're seeing, I'm very intrigued by this Anna.