Just really adding to my Jenny shelf. I did read this in my Indiana years, and remember how there are some events in the book not included in the moviJust really adding to my Jenny shelf. I did read this in my Indiana years, and remember how there are some events in the book not included in the movie!...more
I noticed when I liked someone else's review that I didn't have this one marked. How could that be? I've read it at least twice. Stellar book.I noticed when I liked someone else's review that I didn't have this one marked. How could that be? I've read it at least twice. Stellar book....more
This was a favorite in my childhood, right up there with The Secret Garden and The Swing in the Summerhouse. Any book with a lonely child creating a wThis was a favorite in my childhood, right up there with The Secret Garden and The Swing in the Summerhouse. Any book with a lonely child creating a world for herself in nature was right up my alley, since that's what I did too!
(Guessing at the read date, obviously, just so it wouldn't add it to this year's reading list.)...more
I reread a childhood favorite in one night. Who can forget the cozy Murry kitchen, the way science and religion are valued equally, tesseracts and plaI reread a childhood favorite in one night. Who can forget the cozy Murry kitchen, the way science and religion are valued equally, tesseracts and planet adventures. If a book can be a warm blanket, this is mine.
When I as young, I loved Meg because I felt as awkward as her, and also as unable to grasp a boy ever liking me the way Calvin just does. But I also had those weird insights in ways not quite as dramatic as Charles Wallace, so I was all of those kids. And my Dad worked all the time, maybe not on another planet, but far enough away for my Mom to run the household, minus the science experiments and liverwurst-and-cream cheese sandwiches....more
I hated this book when I was required to read it, and as it was I remember reading it alone in the library in 7th grade and writing a paper because thI hated this book when I was required to read it, and as it was I remember reading it alone in the library in 7th grade and writing a paper because the class was reading a book I had already read. Suffice to say I'm enjoying Steinbeck more now....more
I started reading this on the Serial Reader app but finally paid for the full version so I didn't have to wait so long to finish it.
"Guess he's been i
I started reading this on the Serial Reader app but finally paid for the full version so I didn't have to wait so long to finish it.
"Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters."
I read this long ago, in 8th or 9th grade. I imagine we were assigned this at that age because it was a short novel, more of a novella, but it could not possibly have been as meaningful without having lived through some life first. Probably back then we were looking at Ethan and the symbols of winter, but this time around for me I was more interested in the character of Mattie, his desire for this warm and bright girl, and all the dreams that can never be. I thought it was beautiful, chilling, and heartbreaking.
"She clung to him without answering, and he laid his lips on her hair, which was soft yet springy, like certain mosses on warm slopes, and had the faint woody fragrance of fresh sawdust in the sun."
But don't get me wrong, because the writing about the winter is one of the best things about this novel.
"Here and there a star pricked through, showing behind it a deep well of blue. In an hour or two the moon would push over the ridge behind the farm, burn a gold-edged rent in the clouds, and then be swallowed by them. A mournful peace hung on the fields, as though they felt the relaxing grasp of the cold and stretched themselves in their long winter sleep."
The ending is a bit punishing but reflects the era. ...more
"The only thing very noticeable about Nebraska was that it was still, all day long, Nebraska."
I have my own charming story about the endless rolling h"The only thing very noticeable about Nebraska was that it was still, all day long, Nebraska."
I have my own charming story about the endless rolling hills of Nebraska. When my husband and I first moved across the country from Oregon to Indiana, we spent a long day driving across Nebraska after spending a night there. As staunch Oregonians we were dying for some real coffee but whenever we asked, from Utah to Wyoming, people would shrug and say "we have coffee" and point to the gas station offerings. It got more and more dire the farther east we went, culminating in us deciding that Nebraska meant, in its native language, "No Espresso." But then we turned a corner in a dusty parking lot, the backside where all the semi trucks and tractor trailers parked and got gas, and there was a tiny espresso hut with the nicest woman in the universe.
So I'm familiar with this feeling that Nebraska is only endless and dusty and drab on the outside, that with just a little effort you can really see something special. And Willa Cather brought me back to that moment. I read this book (or possibly just the first section) when I was in 8th grade. That feels too young now, rereading it because a class I am the librarian for is reading it as their introduction to American disaster literature. How could I ever have understood it? How could I have appreciated the writing? I didn't. But I did this time. I need to seek out more from Cather after a positive experience reading The Professor's House earlier this year....more
I found this on my parents' shelves long ago, next to the martyr missionary tales and below the shelf of James Dobson/ Focus on the Family parenting mI found this on my parents' shelves long ago, next to the martyr missionary tales and below the shelf of James Dobson/ Focus on the Family parenting manuals. Suffice to say it didn't exactly fit in with their collection but I read it anyway, since I read everything I could get my hands on as a child. It was pretty readable but pretty silly. I feel embarrassed for people who took it seriously but I came across it in Goodreads and decided to go ahead and mark it as read....more
I never checked these off as read! Loved these books when I read them - the setting, the strong women, the pagan religion elements - all within the stI never checked these off as read! Loved these books when I read them - the setting, the strong women, the pagan religion elements - all within the story of King Arthur. Even the film adaptation is pretty good....more
I read this the year I was commuting to my job at a chocolate shop, so 2001 I guess. I ended up buying it again along the way to read again. A light bI read this the year I was commuting to my job at a chocolate shop, so 2001 I guess. I ended up buying it again along the way to read again. A light book about self-discovery through travel....more
I got to read this book in 4th grade when the rest of the class was reading a book I had already read. My 4th grade teacher may have had a hidden motiI got to read this book in 4th grade when the rest of the class was reading a book I had already read. My 4th grade teacher may have had a hidden motive knowing the background I was being raised in, but it definitely had an impact on me.
Someone randomly recommended this book to me so I thought I'd add it to my read list!...more
This was a cornerstone of my Readings in Ethnography course in graduate school. Basically a classic of anthropology that also had an impact on the fieThis was a cornerstone of my Readings in Ethnography course in graduate school. Basically a classic of anthropology that also had an impact on the fields of folklore and ethnomusicology. And happens to be set in islands off the coast of but belonging to Papua New Guinea!...more
Jenny (Reading Envy)
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