Wednesday, February 26, 2020

February Books

February - 5

7. Overdue - book two in the Village Library series
by Elizabeth Spann Craig
mystery 2019
Kindle
finished 2/6/20

I liked this, and will read on in the series.

8. The Man of Property - book one in The Forsyte Saga
by John Galsworthy
fiction 1906
Kindle
finished 2/20/20

It was The Forsyte Saga that made Tom and I television Anglophiles. I think it was on in the US in 1969, but was seen a couple years earlier in England. Beautifully written about a certain branch of society at a certain time in history. This is a family that shows hardly any real emotion and whose raison d'être is to accumulate property and money. The property sadly includes human beings, like wives. Well worth reading. I'm going on with the series.

9. Bread and Jam for Frances
by Russell Hoban
Illustrated by Lillian Hoban
children's fiction 1986
print
reread
library book that Margaret took out for Hazel
finished 2/21/20

The other day we were down at Hazel's house. She was quietly playing and Tom was sitting down, and I began reading aloud a most beloved Frances book. I wrote about this series years ago here. As I read along, Hazel went upstairs for something but I kept on and Tom and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It tells of a very wise mother's handling of a tricky situation - that of a child not liking too many foods and not wanting to try any new foods. Being myself what the world calls "picky" and I call "discerning", I appreciated how there was no cajoling on the parents' part to eat what she didn't want to eat. My folks were excellent about this. If I wanted spaghetti with butter in a restaurant, they had no problem ordering it for me. My mother never made me eat tripe which I found unbearably disgusting. I have grown up to still be a "discerning" eater, but I eat a lot more foods than I did as a child. Becoming a vegetarian introduced me to a world of eating I had never known growing up.

10. Indian Summer of a Forsyte - an interlude between The Man of Property and In Chancery
Now would be called 1.5 in a series
55 pages long
by John Galsworthy
fiction 1918
Kindle
finished 2/23/20

This short novella, what Galsworthy called an interlude, was sublimely beautiful. Old Jolyon is different from his brothers and sisters, and especially so when he is in his eighties. He is mellower, and a great appreciator of nature, and beauty, and his grandchildren. The writing is lovely.

11. Lassie Shows the Way
by Monica Hill
pictures by Lee Ames
children's fiction 1956
print
reread
my childhood Golden Book
finished 2/25/20

Hazel ate supper at our house on my birthday as her parents had to go out. We rented the movie Home on Amazon Prime. It is currently her favorite movie. It was really quite delightful, and warm spirited. Afterwards, she picked up one of my childhood books, and "read" through it, and then asked me to read it to her. I so enjoyed going back in time. Lassie was very popular when I was a child, in books and movies and television. Though played by a male dog, Lassie was a female in the shows. I have had a lifelong love of Collies, and we had one for seven years until the dear boy died young.

This is our MacIntosh in 2002.


I wrote about him on the blog here, and just a few months later wrote about his death here.

We wanted to get another but just didn't dare. We didn't think bear going through possible epilepsy again.

Anyhow, back to the story. Timmy stops in at the store for his mother, and there is a stranger there. The guy thinks his dog will win the dog show. As Timmy leaves he hears the man asks for his address. Today a store keeper would never give a stranger a child's address!! Lassie is later stolen, but comes back home as she always does! And leads the sheriff to the "bad guy". Pretty much par for the Lassie course, but to Hazel it was all new and she enjoyed it.

So that ends my reading month. Not many finishes, but lots of reading joy.

23 comments:

  1. First - I LOVE the header photo of the two kitties! You can feel the warmth of the sun on their fur and their closeness.
    And - oh the PBS Forsyte Saga! How I loved it It was on again earlier this winter - such a treat. The acting, costumes, characters are just wonderful. I especially loved Gina McKee as Irene. She was in one of the Inspector Lewis shows.
    And so nice to imagine the pleasure of reading, etc. with Hazel. I look forward to it with my little Beatrix.
    Mary

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    1. Those kitties are so adorable, and so much fun!
      Did you see the original FS? I didn't watch the second one. And yes, Gina M played Lewis' first girlfriend!! One of my favorite episodes. I could listen to Owen Teale's accent forever.
      I do love the name Beatrix. When I read Hazel and Beatrix together, I could be reading about girls in another century. I love the old names.

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  2. Haven't read any of those selections. I just finished "We Must Be Brave" by Frances Liardet. It's been a long time since I read something that moved me to tears. I had to hold off reading the last chapter for a day, it was that touching.

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    1. I haven't read the LIardet book. It sounds very emotional.

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  3. I love how you have included remarks about your time with Hazel in this book notes, Nan. So wonderful that she shares so much time with you and Tom. It sounds like you had a lovely birthday with all the kiddos. Love your kitty header, too! So sweet.

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    1. Thank you.
      It was a really perfect birthday! I do love school vacations! Now that they are all going full-time, I so appreciate those days off!

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  4. What a wonderful time you must have had reading with Hazel! Love it! I do remember the TV show Lassie, but I don't think I ever read the book. I wasn't really drawn to animal centered books as a kid, but even then liked mysteries. I won't even discuss tripe - ewwww!!! My mother did encourage us to eat simple food - veggies, etc., but she let us put ketchup on everything. Who knew that the simple way I grew up eating would have been the best for me? OK, I don't do plain hamburger meat like she used to, but vegetables and fruit - yes.

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    1. Ketchup on everything!! I never liked it as a kid and still never use it, even on French fries. My folks loved tripe, or at least my father did. I can't remember if my mother made it just for him.

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  5. Your new header is so sweet, Nan. And what a lovely post. Our grandson is like you, a 'discerning' eater. (I love that word.) Our grand-daughter on the other hand will eat pretty much anything except fresh tomatos and will try anything too. I'm convinced these things are hereditry, our grandson's father is like it and so was my father... he especially hated bananas and so does young Scott. I agree with you about tripe. My grandmother used to cook it in milk and I had to leave the house as the smell turned my stomach.

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    1. Oh, gross. I think maybe my mother did that, too. I do sort of remember the smell, but I probably blocked it out!
      I didn't know anyone in my family who was "discerning." But I will forever be thankful that my parents never made me feel badly about it.

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  6. "Lots of reading joy." That's definitely what it's all about, Nan, especially the way you are able to share that joy so directly with your family. I love the way it's all so interconnected for you.

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  7. Just like Cath says, your new header is sweet - I want to curl up next to them!
    My parents also never made my sister and me eat anything we wouldn't be curious enough to try on our own will. The offers were there, and most times, we would want to taste what Mum & Dad had on their plates anyway. There were few things I didn't eat as a child (and still don't), such as liver, tripe and any seafood that has legs, tentacles or eyes that look at me!

    I want to try the "Village Library" series, it sounds just like my kind of series.

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    1. They are the sweetest kittens. I really must do a posting on them.
      The series is good - not my favorite, but one I do keep reading.

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  8. I am late to comment on this, but it means I get to see the lovely kitty header. I do enjoy your book comments, always. Thanks for the reminder of the Russell Hoban books, which I have always loved.

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    1. They are pretty adorable! And yes, those Frances books are so special.

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  9. I now have Overdue on my Kindle...I loved the Lassie tv series when I was the age to watch it. So sorry about your MacIntosh. I still miss my little dog Bo whose name was really Bogancs which means "thistle" in Hungarian and was the title of a book and movie about a Hungarian dog much like Lassie.

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    1. I liked it well enough, but I'm not wild about the series. That said, it could grow on me in time.
      I love the story of Bogancs.

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  10. Several interesting reads in February Nan. I never grow tired or seeing your fur family pics. (I'd love close ups as for some reason, I thought the kitties looked similar but, now I wonder whether they do or not?

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    1. I will post some pictures soon! Similar but different. Gemma is all black with brownish highlights and Maisie is black and white.

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  11. I loved reading out loud to our kids and our grands!

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  12. Oh, Nan, your defense of being a "discerning" eater made me smile! Rather than writing a long comment, maybe I will blog about it! If so I will drop you an invitation to visit, since you are the inspiration.

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