I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for the weekend! Next week is going to be a bit crazy (but lots of fun, too!) so this weekend feels like a nice pause for breath. Which is just what I need!
I came across this photo today on flickr and I just love the mood of it. And the colors, and the reflection, and the space. It’s so calm and lovely and peaceful. I think I’d like to visit.
photo by don na
I’m also excited that today is Friday because that means it’s time for the second installment of the Reading List Series! Here’s a little recap in case you missed the first one, I asked ten friends to recommend one book a piece and share a little bit about why they love that book.
I have the sweetest friends and I love getting to read their answers. I know you’ll like them too!
(Anna’s cute Etsy Shop and blog)
Book: A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
My Grandma D. and I are kindred spirits. We share the love (or maybe obsession) of good books. She visits my family for a couple months each year, and every time she comes she brings me stacks of new reading material. Even when I went away to college and didn’t get to see her on those visits, sure enough, next holiday I was home, there would be a pile of books patiently waiting on my bed for me. A silent reminder of her presence and remembrance of me. One of these books was A Girl of the Limberlost.
The book is about Elnora, a 16-year-old girl living in Indiana during the turn of the century. She has a mother whose heart is hard and bitter from grief over the death of her husband 16 years before. He got caught in and drowned in the swamp on their property, and because Elnora had just been born, the mother was unable to save her husband. She has held this over Elnora for her entire life, and because of it could not love her. Elnora thrives anyway and finds love in unexpected places. She is smart and studious and finds a way to pay for her high school in the city by collecting and selling moths and cocoons from the Limberlost she loves so much. Will Elnora and her mother ever be reconciled? Will Elnora’s money from the cocoons last her all four years of high school? Read the book and find out! (I feel a little bit like I’m on Reading Rainbow)
I’m not particularly into moths, cocoons, or any sort of bugs really, but this book is told in such a lovely, elegant way that I almost feel jealous that I don’t have a swamp in my backyard. The characters, even the ones you dislike, are described with respect. You can’t help but love everyone, just like Elnora’s character. She always manages to see the good in people, even when she’s treated with nothing but pure hatred. I’ve found myself, upon rereading this classic, wanting to be more like Elnora, wishing I could be as noble.
Everyone should read this book! It’s a classic piece of American literature, written over 100 years ago, that still resonates with us today. You might even learn a bit of lepidoptery on the way!
Book: Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O’Malley
As a teenager, I wanted to be cool. I think most people do, to some extent. This translated into me hiding from myself the fact that I really do like some super nerdy things; in this instance, I’m talking about comic books. As I’ve become more and more obsessed with graphic novels/comic books I’ve come across a few that have resonated with that confused teenager I used to be (and perhaps still am).
Raleigh is a confused, gifted student in a sea of seemingly normal teenagers. She winds up through a miraculous happenstance on a road trip with three of her high school classmates. Their journey takes them from California to their home in Canada; it’s a typical road story that involves car trouble, sleeping in hotels, and eating at diners.
Through internal monologues and little speech from Raleigh until an epiphany toward the end of the novel, the reader ends up feeling as isolated and awkward as Raleigh herself. By the end, with plenty of raw emotion, the journey leads Raleigh to realize that relationships (and the people that go with them) are the most important thing in life at any given moment. No matter how isolated one feels, you can always find people who have felt the same way. I know I sound like a never-ending cliché, but this novel is anything but.
Perhaps it’s because I was labeled a “gifted” child and didn’t have many friends in my tiny hometown, perhaps it’s because I found great people afterwards who were genuinely interested in me; whatever it was, this book made me love that discovery of self all over again. When you feel like you’re lost in a world that is nothing like you, pick this book up and realize you are not Lost at Sea.
Book: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The full title of this novel is In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences. So, it’s no surprise that this is a crime novel about the murder of the Clutter family from Holcomb, Kansas. This isn’t a happy or pleasant novel, but it’s a book I couldn’t put down. Capote gained the information used for this book through personal interviews, observations, and official documents. It’s a story you don’t want to believe is true, but it is far from fiction.
Capote begins this story by describing the Clutter family. They are upstanding citizens in the town of Holcomb and well-known in the surrounding communities. No one in the community has an unkind word to say about the family. Herbert William Clutter is the owner of River Valley farm. The residents of River Valley Farm are Mr. Clutter, his wife Bonnie, and two of their four children – Nancy and Kenyon. After reading a short description of life in Holcomb and of the Clutter family the book cuts to dialogue between Richard ‘Dick’ Hickock and Perry Smith as they travel on their way to the River Valley Farm with the intention of robbing the Clutter Family. They would instead murder the family and flee to Mexico.
There is so much more to this story than one can explain. There is so much detail involved in each of the characters, especially the two killers. Capote writes such a detail story and character analysis of Hickock and Smith. It is eerie – almost as if you are in the mind of each killer. I think that is what I liked about this book. I remember reading this book and being so intrigued by the depth given to each character.
Like I said, it’s not a happy story, but it’s intriguing. I did not want to put the book down. I knew the story and I knew the outcome of the characters involved, but I was still so interested in what Capote had to tell his readers about the lives of each of the six people involved in this story. I can’t give an exact reason why you should read this book, unless you are interested in criminal psychology or crime novels. I just think it’s a good book. If you don’t want to read the book, then check out the Hollywood adaption, Capote.
Tags: fall guest series, reading
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