Book Review: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Just a brief review on my next “Back to the Classics” read:

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew was written by Margaret Sidney. It was released serially in Wide Awake children’s magazine in 1880 and as a book in 1881.

A sweet story of the Pepper family – five children and their mother who live in the Little Brown House living in cheerful poverty. Through a series of unlikely situations, assisted by their own pleasant attitudes, the charming family finds themselves in greatly improved circumstances.

It’s a little Pollyanna at times (SO upbeat!) but I feel the children are written very well. They are well rounded characters. Although the circumstances are unlikely, they aren’t SO much so as to come across inauthentic. Everything ties up a little too neatly in the end but I don’t feel that diminishes the story – it IS a children’s novel after all. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a happy ending.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this series at some point, especially with my children. There are a total of 12 Pepper books; Sidney calls 6 of them the “original series” with the other 6 giving background information (according to Wikipedia).

This is my sixth B2tC read for the year – I’m halfway! This my “Classic with a Number in the Title.” I’d originally intended Dickens but life demanded a lighter read.

Book Review: Their Eyes were Watching God

“It’s uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh GO there tuh KNOW there. Yo’ papa and yo’ mama and nobody else can’t tell yuh and show yuh. Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves.” (183)

Written in 1937, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a well known novel in African-American and feminist literature. I’ve had it and tried to read it a few times now; this time I can say I’ve accomplished it! This novel was originally well received but fell out of favor due to Hurston’s falling out with the Harlem Renaisance / Uplift political agenda. It was rediscovered beginning in the 1970s as part of new Black Studies and Women’s Studies college programs.

This book took me some effort to get into, primarily because it is written heavily in southern Black dialect. I had to concentrate to figure out what the characters were saying, since this isn’t familiar to me in aural or written form. Once I got the pattern, though, I can attest it was completely worth the effort.

Overall, this book is about Janie finding her voice. As a teen, her blooming womanhood is stifled by a rushed and unwanted marriage deemed necessary by her grandmother. A few years later she abandons that marriage with the hope of love, as Jodie stirs her heart and leads her down the road. But quickly he settles in to life as mayor of Eatonville and Janie is appreciated for her role, not her self. She’s set up on a pedestal and isolated from the community. Eventually (after 20 years) she finds her tongue and tells Jodie what-for, which dooms the end of their relationship as well as his life, as he succumbs to ill health.

Janie is left with money and freedom for the first time in her life. Although she goes through the motions of grief for the sake of the community, her mind is pondering what might come next. This is when Tea Cake comes into the picture. Honestly, he’s not good for much – a poor, dark man from farther south who is twelve years younger. But for the first time in her life, Janie feels SEEN. She marries him and they move about some, first to Jacksonville then to the Everglade swamps. Janie continues to explore who she is vs who she’s been expected to be, eventually joining Tea Cake in the bean fields and fire dances.

“He kin take most any lil thing and make summertime out of it when times is dull. Then we lives offa dat happiness he made till some mo’ happiness come ‘long.” (135)

The ending chapters of this book feel very rushed. Lots of things happen with little narration or dialogue. A hurricane sweeps through the area, flooding the lake and forcing a rapid flight towards Palm Beach. Tea Cake gets bitten by a dog. After the storm, he’s conscripted into labor burying the dead but flees from it and they head back to “the muck,” where Tea Cake becomes ill from the dog bite (rabies?). Little is said about his death, Janie’s trial, and her journey back to Eatonville, where apparently her house remains. Nothing is said about what comes next in Janie’s life. We leave her in her bedroom, gathering the horizon about her as she sits with the memories of Tea Cake. What we do know from the introduction is that she walks tall in her own strength, despite the chattering of neighbors. Janie has found her voice and will use it as she chooses.

This is my fifth book for the 2017 Back to the Classics Challenge, 20th Century Classic. You can find the link up here.

Book Review: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“There had to be the dark and muddy waters so that the sun could have something to background its flashing glory.” Page 165

There is much “muddy water” in Francie Nolan’s life. Born in poverty in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Francie’s life is in many ways a tragedy. Her father is a drunk and her mother doesn’t love her; there’s often not enough money for food and the community around is depraved to say the least. And yet, like the tree mentioned in the title, Francie’s spirit can’t be killed. She presses through the hardest of circumstances to survive.

 

A “Tree of Heaven” in an urban yard

What do I talk about from a book of nearly 500 pages that has thoroughly captivated me for the past month? This novel is beautiful. It is hard, very hard. But it is also beautiful. To quote the book itself, when Francie is quested by her teacher about the dark subject material of her writing compositions:

“What does one write about?” Unconsciously, Francie picked up the teacher’s phraseology.

“One delves into the imagination and finds beauty there. The writer, like the artist, must strive for beauty always.

“What is beauty?” asked the child.

“I can think of no better definition than Keats’: Beauty is truth, truth is beauty.”

Francie took her courage into her two hands and said, “Those stories are the truth.”

“Nonsense!” exploded Miss Gardner. (page 321)

While Miss Gardner wasn’t convinced, I am. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a true story, based on the life of the author Betty Smith. Like Francie, she was born in Williamsburg and bounced between multiple apartments with her hardworking mother and drunken father. Like Francie, and the Tree of Heaven, she sunk roots into the concrete and strived to reach the sky. And like Francie, when she was a young adult she made her way out of the clutches of poverty to study in Michigan and lay a new path for her life.

As I was reading I jumped off on rabbit trails many times to do additional research into the setting. I’m a Midwest girl (and now a Florida transplant). Building over 3 stories have been rare in my experience – especially block after block after block of raw humanity stacked together like sardines. It’s amazing how landlords/architects will follow the letter of the law (“ventilation”) while completely missing the point (livable conditions for tenement residents). You can search for “dumbbell tenements” if you want to learn more.

Modern aerial view of tenements described in the novel

This book is sad. There isn’t any other word to summarize it. From the beginning pages, we hear about children being exploited and tormented. One young single mother is even stoned (not to death, but to injury) and a child is murdered. There seems to be little joy to be found, and yet, I found it in these many pages. It is a very engaging book. You have to look hard for the hope, but it is there, and by the end the characters have found it as well. I think one of the most poignant things is how *normal* this book is, and yet beautiful in the normal. Crazy things happen (like Sissy’s baby) but the events don’t feel forced or fabricated the way they do in many novels.

This is one I will revisit again after I’ve had time for the ideas to soak into my mind.

This is my 4th book for the Back to the Classics challenge, category: Woman Author

Reading Round-Up: March 2017

How are we a quarter of the year through 2017 already? I thought the past couple years had flown – I’m thinking things have accelerated yet again.

After finally dragging through The Mysteries Of Udolpho in February, I got through far more books this month, including my first Kindle read for the year. I don’t usually read on my Kindle – I have the Fire tablet and it’s far too easy to get distracted by apps and notifications. But for those occasions when a paperback is unavailable or cost prohibitive and the digital copy is free, I’m glad to have it around.

COMPLETED:

Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges

Litany of the Ordinary, Trish Warren

These two theological books were both quick reads yet very deep in their short pages. Both kept coming back again and again to the idea of preaching the gospel to yourself. This was a dominant theme in Tripp’s Parenting I completed in January as well. As a believer in Christ, this is a theme I need to never get tired of, for it is the source of all my strength.

“When the day is lovely and sunny and everything is going according to plan, I can look like a pretty good person. But little things go wrong and interrupted plans reveal who I really am; my cracks show and I see I am profoundly in need of grace. But here’s the thing: pretty good people do not need Jesus. He came for the lost. He came for the broken.”

Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain

Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope

ONGOING:

The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald

Since this is the end of the quarter, I’m going to do a full update as well. Here’s where I am on all the challenges. Titles are linked to the reviews on my blog, the rest can be found on Goodreads.

Christian Reading Challenge  – Light list 7/13 (Titles in italics are also on Back to the Classics)

1. A biography
2. A classic novel: Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
3. A book about history
4. A book targeted at your gender
5. A book about theology: Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges
6. A book with at least 400 pages: The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe
7. A book your pastor recommends
8. A book about Christian living: Parenting, Tedd Tripp
9. A book more than 100 years old: Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope
10. A book published in 2017
11. A book for children or teens
12. A book of your choice: Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren
13. A book about a current issue: America the Anxious, Ruth Whippman

Back to the Classics Challenge 3/12

1. 19th Century: Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain (1876)
2. 20th Century
3. Woman author
4. Translation
5. Published before 1800
6. Romance: Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope (1865)
7. Gothic: The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe (1794)
8. Number in title
9. Animal (About or in title)
10. Place you’d like to visit
11. Award Winner
12. Russian

Book Review: Miss Mackenzie

At the insistence of a few friends, I can no longer say I’ve never read an Anthony Trollope novel!

Miss Mackenzie was first published by Trollope in 1865. Margaret Mackenzie has spent her whole life in isolation. Taken from school at age 16, she first nursed her dying father and then her ill brother Walter. After his death, Margaret finds herself at age 36 both free to discover herself and with the income required to do something about it! She moves to Littlebath (a fictional town based on Bath) and begins to determine if she will be a sinner in the crowd of Miss Todd or a saint following the teachings of Mr. Stumfold, a prominent pastor in the place.

Several proposals by various potential lovers later, Margaret finds her fortune in crisis. At this point her true character begins to shine through as she navigates the waters of both the legal and social systems of the time. And that’s all I can tell you without spoiling this delightful book. From here on, read my thoughts at your own risk 🙂

Book Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Having lived in the Midwest most of my life, I’m quite familiar with the world Mark Twain paints in his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I’ve even visited Hannibal, MO on multiple occasions. And yet, somehow or another, I’ve made it to almost 30 years old without ever reading this book. I read a Great Illustrated Classics version once, but seriously, those are so bad all they do is kill a desire to read the original. This deficiency in my education is at long last corrected!

First published in 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer paints the picture of a group of rowdy boys living in a quiet river town. Tom, Joe, and Huck are perpetually enjoying such boyish activities as running away, fighting, digging for treasure, and sneaking out at night. He seeks to win the love of his classmate Becky the way many young boys attempt: gymnastics and crazy antics in the classroom. Many of these crazy activities lead them near to, or even into, major trouble.

I feel that one of Twain’s real skills as a writer is to capture children in writing. The description of the little boy playing steamboat early in the book is spot-on. The description of Tom and Joe playing Robin Hood in the woods was captivating. Tom’s mischievous mind made me laugh out loud more than once, from nearly the first page. The infamous whitewashing scene sets the tone for the whole book:

“Oh, come now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”

The brush continued to move.

“Like it? Well I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”

…

He had a nice, good, idle time all the while – plenty of company – and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn’t run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.

This was a quick and pleasant read, filled with laughter. I greatly appreciated finishing a book in less than a week after the massive investment of time Udolpho turned out to be. And now, I’m missing my Midwest home only minutes from the Mighty Mississippi as I sweat it out here in Florida.

This is my 2nd book for the Back to the Classics Challenge, in the 19th Century category.

Reading Round Up February 2017

February was a better month for reading than January. I got 2 books completed – which is my goal – putting me at 3 for the year and one behind my target. Mysteries of Udolpho REALLY slowed me down. At nearly 700 pages, it took a long time to muddle through.

COMPLETED:

The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe. (Back to the Classics: Gothic and Christian Reading: 400+ pages). Review on my blog here.

America the Anxious, Ruth Whippman (Christian Reading: Current Issue). Review on Goodreads here.

I loved this book – it made me laugh out loud repeatedly and gave me much to think about. This quote sums the book up hilariously: “Like an attractive man, it seems the more actively happiness is pursued, the more it refuses to call and starts avoiding you at parties.” (9)

ON GOING:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain

Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges

SET ASIDE:

Be Right, Warren Weirsbe. I was trying to read this alongside my Bible reading plan for the year but fell far behind. I’m going to circle back to Romans after I finish the John study I’m currently in – this book (both the Bible one and Weirsbe’s commentary) require more attention than I’m able to devote.

 

Year To Date:

Back to the Classics: 1/12

Christian Reading Challenge: 3/13

Reading Round-Up January 2017

I did not get as much reading done as I’d hoped this month – I’m starting the year off behind on my challenges! (My reading goals post). But some reading is better than no reading, and I’ve had many excellent thoughts and connections in the few pages I have gotten read.

Completed:

Parenting, Paul David Tripp (Christian Reading Challenge: book on Christian living)

This is a very convicting book on the philosophy of parenting. It isn’t a how-to book, it’s a why-to, building awareness of the Gospel in every aspect of parenting. The main theme is that we are God’s ambassadors to our children and as we parent them, God parents us. The best parent is the one who realizes how unable she is on her own power. I highly, highly recommend it.

This thought from page 121 sums the whole book up very well:

No parent gives grace more joyfully and consistently than the parent who daily confesses that she desperately needs it herself. God calls rebels to his authority to rescue rebels against his authority. Only powerful grace can make that happen.

 

In Process:

The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe  – this 700 page Gothic novel may actually take me forever. At least I’ll be in raptures to the sublime as I press on, ha!

Be Right, Weirsbe – I’m intentionally taking this one slowly, reading the section each week that goes along with my Bible reading plan for the year.

 

Year To Date:

Back to the Classics: 0/12

Christian Reading Challenge: 1/13

Back to the Classics 2017

It’s the last weekday of 2016. I’m spending the day getting prepped for 2017 – reorganizing homeschool stuff, resetting our family budget, and much more entertaining, setting up my reading challenges for the year!

Below is my plan for the Back to the Classics Challenge, hosted by Books and Chocolate. In 2016 I completed 9 categories; this year I’m aiming for all 12. We don’t have anything major planned for the year so I should be able to do it… right? I created a simple checklist that I printed and punched for my day planner to track this challenge. If you would find that useful, it’s available on dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/etig93atotr1933/Back%20to%20the%20Classics%202017.docx?dl=0

In addition, I’m doing the Christian Reading Challenge hosted by Tim Challies. I like the idea of diversifying my reading in addition to reading classics. I’m aiming for somewhere between the Light and Avid plans. I don’t want to rush through books; I want to savor them and be changed by them. Completing wo books a week would definitely require rushing in my life.

Back to the Classics 2017 PLAN (Written in pencil. Blanks will be filled as others start linking up. I need ideas!)

1.  A 19th Century Classic – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/book-review-the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/

2.  A 20th Century Classic – Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston (1937) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/book-review-their-eyes-were-watching-god/

3.  A classic by a woman author. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith (1943) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/book-review-a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn/

4.  A classic in translation.

5.  A classic published before 1800. Beowulf (Old English)

6.  An romance classic. Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope (1865) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/book-review-miss-mackenzie/

7.  A Gothic or horror classic. The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe (1794)  https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/02/26/book-review-the-mysteries-of-udolpho/

8.  A classic with a number in the title. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (1859) Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Margaret Sidney (1881) https://gabisunshine.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/book-review-five-little-peppers-and-how-they-grew/

9.  A classic about an animal or which includes the name of an animal in the title.

10. A classic set in a place you’d like to visit. A Passage to India, Forster (1924)

11. An award-winning classic.

12. A Russian Classic. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866)