Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories: 1905-1906. Dodo Press. 260 pages. [Source: Bought]
There are thirty-one short stories in this L.M. Montgomery collection. There are some great stories within this collection. There are some not-so-great stories within this collection. The quality definitely varies story to story. But if you already love L.M. Montgomery, it's well worth reading. If you're never read her, however, this may not be the best introduction. True, you'd probably find something to like, to enjoy, maybe even love. But would it persuade you to seek out EVERYTHING she's ever written because she's oh-so-amazing?! Probably not. It's good to keep in mind that these short stories were published several years before her novels. (Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908).
There are two stories that are tied for being my favorite-favorite in this collection: "
Aunt Susanna's Birthday Celebration" and "
The Understanding of Sister Sara." Both stories are about lovers' quarrels being resolved with a little outside help.
Previous short story collections I've reviewed:
- L.M. Montgomery Short Stories, 1896-1901. L.M. Montgomery. 142 pages.
- Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1902-1903. L.M. Montgomery. 216 pages.
- L.M. Montgomery Short Stories, 1904. L.M. Montgomery. Dodo Press. 144 pages.
These stories are included in Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories: 1905-1906
- A Correspondence and a Climax
- An Adventure On Island Rock
- At Five O'Clock in the Morning
- Aunt Susanna's Birthday Celebration
- Bertie's New Year
- Between the Hill and the Valley
- Clorinda's Gifts
- Cyrilla's Inspiration
- Dorinda's Desperate Deed
- Her Own People
- Ida's New Year Cake
- In the Old Valley
- Jane Lavinia
- Mackereling Out in the Gulf
- Millicent's Double
- The Blue North Room
- The Christmas Surprise at Enderly Road
- The Dissipation of Miss Ponsonby
- The Falsoms' Christmas Dinner
- The Fraser Scholarship
- The Girl at the Gate
- The Light on the Big Dipper
- The Prodigal Brother
- The Redemption of John Churchill
- The Schoolmaster's Letters
- The Understanding of Sister Sara
- The Unforgotten One
- The Wooing of Bessy
- Their Girl Josie
- When Jack and Jill Took a Hand
If you're looking for a good short story to perhaps read on its own, I'd recommend:
© 2015 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
The Railway Children. E. Nesbit. 1906/2011. Penguin. 304 pages. [Source: Bought]
I found The Railway Children to be a very pleasant read. I can't say that I loved, loved, loved it. Or that it is my favorite Nesbit read of all time. It isn't. But it was quite enjoyable. The Railway Children is not a children's fantasy book. Plenty of Nesbit's books are, but this one isn't. It is realistic fiction. Three siblings: Roberta, Peter, Phyllis star in this one. The family is having some hard times. Their father has been put into jail. (He's innocent, of course.) The mother is supporting the family by writing stories. She's a very good writer, but, she's kept very busy and very worried. The children may feel pressure to be strong and good, to do nothing that might in any way worry their mother, but, reality is that they are kids and they act like kids. They have their good days and bad days. And sometimes things just happen, adventures just happen. The children meet a LOT of people. This one has a strong community feel. It's just a lovely read.I first reviewed this one in August 2011. Favorite quotes:“I suppose I shall HAVE to be married some day,” said Peter, “but it will be an awful bother having her round all the time. I’d like to marry a lady who had trances, and only woke up once or twice a year.”
“Just to say you were the light of her life and then go to sleep again. Yes. That wouldn’t be bad,” said Bobbie. “When I get married,” said Phyllis, “I shall want him to want me to be awake all the time, so that I can hear him say how nice I am.”
Peter sowed vegetable seeds in his — carrots and onions and turnips. The seed was given to him by the farmer who lived in the nice black-and-white, wood-and-plaster house just beyond the bridge. He kept turkeys and guinea fowls, and was a most amiable man. But Peter’s vegetables never had much of a chance, because he liked to use the earth of his garden for digging canals, and making forts and earthworks for his toy soldiers. And the seeds of vegetables rarely come to much in a soil that is constantly disturbed for the purposes of war and irrigation.
“There’s no end to this tunnel,” said Phyllis — and indeed it did seem very very long. “Stick to it,” said Peter; “everything has an end, and you get to it if you only keep all on.” Which is quite true, if you come to think of it, and a useful thing to remember in seasons of trouble — such as measles, arithmetic, impositions, and those times when you are in disgrace, and feel as though no one would ever love you again, and you could never — never again — love anybody.
© 2014 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
This is a seemingly dramatic departure from Adrian McKinty’s usual books but he pulls it off marvelously. Based on a true story McKinty heads to the South Pacific circa 1906 to tell a tale of mad Germans, sun worship and possible murder.
Will Prior, is an ex-English lieutenant who finds himself in German New Guinea after the horrors of the Boer War. As an ex-military policeman he is asked by local authorities to investigate the strange death of a man from a neighbouring island where a new, cultish society is trying to establish itself. Calling themselves ‘cocovores’ they believe that sun worship and a diet of coconuts will lead to immortality. Will’s investigation is quickly stonewalled by a group under the influence of more than just the sun and tropical fruit and he must tread carefully if he wishes to ever leave the island in one piece.
McKinty has obvious fun telling this story. Coming off the brilliant Sean Duffy series was always going to be a challenge and going outside his usual zone is a stroke of brilliance. There is a real 19th century flare to McKinty’s writing and characters in this novel and the atmosphere he creates on the island of Kabakon, which the ‘cocovores’ inhabit, bubbles away nicely with a sinister air never too far away. The combinations of malarial fever and heroin induced dreams also means the lines between sanity and insanity intertwine until the truth of what really happened on Kabakon is possibly indeterminable.
This may not appeal to all the Adrian McKinty fans but I think it is going to win him a few new ones.
Buy the book here…
The Story of the Amulet. E. Nesbit. 1906/1996. Puffin. 292 pages. [Source: Bought]
Apparently, I was not in the mood to enjoy the third novel in this series. I don't remember hating it the first time I read it. But this time. Well. I kept forcing myself to read it so I could finish it and move on to the next E. Nesbit novel.
The Story of the Amulet read very clumsily for me. I still like the four children (Lamb isn't in this one at all). How could I stop loving them after reading the first two books? But all the joy and fun seem to have vanished. There is a heaviness, a messiness to this fantasy novel. The children under the advice of the Sand Fairy buy an amulet from a shop. They've been told it has magical properties, but this magic is limited because half of it is missing. If the two could be brought back together, the magic would be extraordinarily powerful. Like it could somehow make it so their parents would come home and pay attention to them. So the children go on a quest to make this happen. They travel to the past and the future.
Their time-traveling adventures are hit and miss. One or two of them were enjoyable for me. Some of them I thought were awfully clumsy and awkward. The last third of the novel felt so horribly forced to me. Like the author had lost focus and was trying to figure out how in the world she was going to have the children find the two pieces of the amulet. It was just painful to read the resolution of this one. I mean, of course, they end up getting their heart's desire, but, in terms of the plot actually working, it didn't.
I
originally reviewed this one in July 2011. I gave it four stars too!
© 2014 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Lady Baltimore. Owen Wister. 1906. 272 pages.
Like Adam, our first conspicuous ancestor, I must begin, and lay the blame upon a woman; I am glad to recognize that I differ from the father of my sex in no important particular, being as manlike as most of his sons. Therefore it is the woman, my Aunt Carola, who must bear the whole reproach of the folly which I shall forthwith confess to you, since she it was who put it into my head; and, as it was only to make Eve happy that her husband ever consented to eat the disastrous apple, so I, save to please my relative, had never aspired to become a Selected Salic Scion. I rejoice now that I did so, that I yielded to her temptation. Ours is a wide country, and most of us know but our own corner of it, while, thanks to my Aunt, I have been able to add another corner. This, among many other enlightenments of navel and education, do I owe her; she stands on the threshold of all that is to come; therefore I were lacking in deference did I pass her and her Scions by without due mention,—employing no English but such as fits a theme so stately. Although she never left the threshold, nor went to Kings Port with me, nor saw the boy, or the girl, or any part of what befell them, she knew quite well who the boy was. When I wrote her about him, she remembered one of his grandmothers whom she had visited during her own girlhood, long before the war, both in Kings Port and at the family plantation; and this old memory led her to express a kindly interest in him. How odd and far away that interest seems, now that it has been turned to cold displeasure!
Last year I read Owen Wister's The Virginian and just loved it. Surprisingly loved it since I am NOT by any stretch of the imagination a fan of westerns. I knew I wanted to read a second book by Owen Wister this year, and I chose Lady Baltimore. Trying to compare Lady Baltimore and The Virginian would be a mistake because they are two entirely different books. Different styles, different genres.
Lady Baltimore is one part social commentary, one part romance, one part comedy. Set in South Carolin...moreLast year I read Owen Wister's The Virginian and just loved it. Surprisingly loved it since I am NOT by any stretch of the imagination a fan of westerns. I knew I wanted to read a second book by Owen Wister this year, and I chose Lady Baltimore. Trying to compare Lady Baltimore and The Virginian would be a mistake because they are two entirely different books. Different styles, different genres.
Lady Baltimore is one part social commentary, one part romance, one part comedy. Set in South Carolina at the turn of the century, it dramatically and comically shows the tension of a town and ultimately a nation. What kind of tension? Well, tensions between generations, regions, races, and social classes.
(We see domineering aunts, for example, from both North and South, who want to "rule" over their nephews and nieces.) There is a generation (probably those fifty and up) who CANNOT for one minute put the Civil War behind them, and there is a generation (especially those in their twenties and late teens) who don't quite understand why it still has to be such a big deal, who'd like to see some change or progress at least. There's definitely still tension between North and South as well. Our narrator is a "Yankee" visiting a Sou
The Railway Children. E. Nesbit. 1906/2011. Penguin. 304 pages.
They were not railway children to begin with. I loved this one. I did. I don't know how I'd ever choose a favorite, favorite E. Nesbit because all of her books are oh-so-good. The Railway Children stars three siblings: Roberta (Bobbie), Peter, and Phyllis. This one features a strong mother figure, an involved parent. (Or at least the
most involved parent I've encountered in Nesbit's fiction.)
This family is under stress. The father disappears quite suddenly from his children's lives. The mother won't explain just why their father has to go away, and why the family has to move to a little place in the country. The children just know that everything is changing--little things and big things. For example, they now must choose between jam or butter for their toast--they can't afford to have both.
But while many things are changing, not all of the changes are bad. For the children discover a new way of living life. And they become involved in their new community! For better or worse! Not every person is instantly charmed by these three children, but, it's hard to resist them for long.
There were many things I enjoyed about this one. I enjoyed the children. I enjoyed their mother. I loved that she was a writer, that she was supporting her family by writing stories. I enjoyed their community, I loved meeting the different characters. It was just a satisfying story with a lot of heart.
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
The Story of the Amulet. E. Nesbit. 1906. 228 pages.
First Sentence:
There were once four children who spent their summer holidays in a white house, happily situated between a sandpit and a chalkpit. I believe that this is the final adventure of Cyril, Robert, Anthea, and Jane. The first adventure,
Five Children and It, and the second adventure,
The Phoenix and the Carpet, were both delightful. The novel has a sad beginning. Their father is off to Manchuria to be a war correspondent, and their mother and Lamb are recovering their health in Madeira. (Their mother has been sick, Lamb has not.) They have been left in the care of Nurse, they have been left in London.
One of the children has the idea that if they leave the house and go explore the city--on their own, with proper permission, of course--that it would cheer everyone up. And that works, in a way. For in their exploring they discover an old, old friend of theirs. Someone that they'd not seen since that oh-so-magical summer. Yes, the four children happen to find Psammead caged up and for sale in a shop. Of course, they have to rescue him. And he is thankful--to a certain extent. But though he may be grateful to be out of the shop, out of the cage, he does NOT want to become a toy for the children, a wish-granter. But not wanting to be completely mean and unsociable, he tells them of an amulet with magical powers. This amulet is also for sale, and if the children purchase it, well, they can have their heart's desire.
Sound too good to be true? Well, if they want their heart's desire they are going to have to prove themselves worthy--or clever. For the amulet they buy is only half of the magical charm. They'll have to find the second half of the charm and the pin that binds these two together in order for this charm to grant their heart's desire. What good is half a charm? Well, it's still plenty powerful! Especially if you like to travel through time! For this amulet--when magical words are spoken, when held in a certain way, in a certain direction, becomes a doorway to the past. The children can step through the amulet to the past on their quest to find the missing half.
And these time travel adventures are fun! They go to Babylon, Egypt, Tyre, Atlantis, etc. Will they ever find the missing half? Will their amulet ever be whole? While the four children may have slightly different ideas on how to go about the quest, they agree on what their wish will be, they know their heart's desire.
I enjoyed this one. I've enjoyed all three of the books very much. I'm so glad that I decided to read E. Nesbit!!!
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
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Ah your review just reminded me of a similar series of books I used to read as a kid, The Boxcar Children :)