Guileless

Lark Rise to Candleford: A Trilogy

2010-05-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

By: Flora Thompson

Published: 1939-1945

Synopsis:

"Flora Thompson's immortal trilogy, containing "Lark Rise", "Over To Candleford" and "Candleford Green", is a heartwarming portrayal of country life at the close of the 19th century. This story of three closely related Oxfordshire communities - a hamlet, the nearby village and a small market town - is based on the author's experiences during childhood and youth. It chronicles May Day celebrations and forgotten children's games, the daily lives of farmworkers and craftsmen, friends and relations - all painted with a gaiety and freshness of observation that make this trilogy an evocative and sensitive memorial to Victorian rural England. " (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I have been faithfully watching the BBC adaptation and I can't wait till my copy of the book arrives.

A Lantern in Her Hand

2010-05-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

By: Beth Streeter Aldrich

Published: 1928

Synopsis:

"Piercingly beautiful. . . . Aldrich's pioneer woman was based on her mother, and the integrity of her depiction of life in a sod house in the late nineteeth-century Nebraska speaks to her readers. . . . In her own introduction Aldrich writes of wanting to tell her mother's story after her mother's death: 'Other writers had depicted the Midwest's early days, but so often they had pictured their women as gaunt, browbeaten creatures, despairing women whom life seemed to defeat. That was not my mother. Not with her courage, her humor, her nature that would cause her to say at the end of her life: 'We had the best time in the world." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I have yet to read this, but will soon. Aldrich is a family name. I hope we're related!

Up a Road Slowly

2010-05-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

By: Irene Hunt

Published: 1966 (I may have to remove this one from my list because it does not fall within my date range)

Synopsis:

"If you were ever a child, ever an adolescent, you will understand Julie. I saw a lot of myself in her when I read this as a middle school dreamer. Irene Hunt's coming-of-age novel is a remarkably moving work - and therefore, timeless.

Little Julie Trelling and her older brother Chris are left to live with their firm, but kind Aunt Cordelia when her father is widowed. Bright, sensitive, and a bit of a rebel, Julie faces the tough challenges of growing up smart and female. During her childhood, Julie learns bittersweet lessons in heartbreak and compassion and justice and love as only as children do. As idyllic as her country life seems, there is prejudice, meanness, and smallness of human spirit in all corners of the world. Hunt emphasizes her point by making the time and place settings vague. We could all be a Julie living in a no-name town.

As Julie grows up from a young child of seven to seventeen, she tells her story in a voice both immediate and honest. So you feel her triumphs, spirit, wrongs, and experiences in "real time." Hunt creates a vibrantly alive character who draws you in with her compelling point of view. While this is primarily Julie's story, you meet the formidable Aunt Cordelia, whose own life could have been Julie's life. Both women are strong, admirable portrayals, making this an excellent book for girls. Other memorable characters are Alicia, Danny, Carlotta, and Aggie.

The book isn't all lessons and wisdom. It's mostly evocative and reflective, stringing together significant moments in growing up with precise detail of everyday things (like windowsills and bowls of berries), rather than being action-packed or plot-driven. Hunt tell us that growing up isn't simple, but you're also never alone even when you want to be, as even enemies and bad experiences shape us as much as the loved ones and good times do. Up a Road Slowly is written poignantly and intimately." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I just placed an order for this and am excited to read it.

A Room with a View

2010-03-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

By: E.M. Forster

Published: 1908

Synopsis:

"This charming little novel which has recently celebrated its centenary can be easily put down as a period piece. E M Forster foresaw it already in his note which he added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Yet a prospective reader would be most wrong to do so. There is a lesson here which still needs to be learned by many. The title gives away some of the content - the main heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, needs to get away from the stuffy atmosphere of late Victorian England in which she was brought up - the symbol of which is for EMF the room. Her escape takes place in stages - the first of them is her trip to Italy where she finds landscapes and people most different from those she was accustomed to. It is also there that she meets the man she falls in love with, George Emerson. Yet these changes come too quickly for her. Lucy yields to the demands of her chaperone and escapes back to England, finding on the way a more appropriate suitor, Cecil Vyse. When the three young people meet again in England, a fight for Lucy's soul begins anew. Lucy has to decide whether she prefers Cecil who will keep her under his protection in his house as a work of art for others to admire, or George with whom she will have to face the challenges of the world but be free. What is the lesson for us today in a world where there are no chaperones or stage-coaches? We also must make similar decisions - choose freedom which always comes at a cost or safety for which we must pay with our freedom. We choose between being true to ourselves or satisfying the demands of others. Lucy's adventures may serve as a perfect food for thought for those facing seemingly dissimilar but actually very similar decisions. It is the more valuable as Forster does not show easy decisions or easy solutions. The happy ending is never free and yet still worth striving for." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I struggled with whether or not to put this one on the list because it is not very much like the others. It requires a lot more thought and challenged me more than I expected. Having just read it for the first time, I found my self continually wishing I had read it when I was a teenager because I would have found a kindred spirit in Lucy. And it is for that reason that I am making it apart of this database.

Betsy-Tacy

2010-02-07T19:35:00.000-08:00

By: Maud Hart Lovelace

Published: 1940

Synopsis:

"There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy's age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do--a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy's fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy becomes such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person--Betsy-Tacy. Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise--a new friend named Tib. Ever since their first publication in the 1940's, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers." (Amazon.com

Elsie Dinsmore

2010-02-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

By: Martha Finley

Published: 1867

Synopsis:
"Living with her uncle's family on a southern plantation in the mid-nineteenth century, motherless eight-year-old Elsie finds it difficult to establish a relationship with her worldy father who seems indifferent to her religious principles." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I have never read the Elsie books. My mother loves them, but I don't know if I am in the mood for that long of a series or a protagonist that is even more virtuous than Alcott's earliest heroines. While in 1893, The Ladies Home Journal proclaimed, "There has been almost no character in American juvenile fiction which has attained more widespread interest and affection than Elsie," there is so much against her! In L.M. Montgomery's Emily Climbs, Emily is told in a derisive comment by Mr. Carpenter to "go read the Elsie books." Elsie is also mentioned in Maud Hart Lovelace's book Betsy in Spite of Herself. When Betsy's friend Tib buys them theater tickets, Betsy remembers how Elsie Dinsmore would have handled what she considered a somewhat shocking proposal, then dismisses it--"[she] had never thought much of Elsie Dinsmore." Elsie is also mocked by O Henry, and in other books and films. In a recent article commemorating the Anne of Green Gables centennial, it was notes that "Elsie was famous for her pietistic priggishness. She was born good, lives a good life and never changes ... She had conventional good looks, an angelic face... If you look at Anne in contrast, she's quite a departure. She's a skinny, angular child. She was freckled at a time when ladies tried to keep a porcelain complexion and red hair wasn't admired. It was seen as a mark of a flaring temper." (Thestar.com)

Despite all this, I think that Elsie and the young girl serial paved the way for authors like L.M. Montgomery, who wrote a half a century later and were able to humanize their heroines. Martha Finley may simply have been writing what she knew would sell, what parents would want their daughters to read and emulate.

Little House on the Prairie

2010-02-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

By: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Published: 1935

Synopsis:

"Meet Laura Ingalls, the little girl who would grow up to write the Little House books. Pa Ingalls decides to sell the little log house, and the family sets out for Indian country! They travel from Wisconsin to Kansas and there, finally, Pa builds their little house on the prairie. Sometimes farm life is difficult, even dangerous, but Laura and the family are kept busy and are happy with the promise of their new life on the prairie. Laura and her family journey west by covered wagon, only to find they are in Indian territory and must move on." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

This book is very close to my heart, though I haven't read it in years. As a Wisconsin native, I grew up with Wilder's stories. And legend has it, that my family is distantly related in Laura through her mother's family. My first experience in an archives (my now chosen profession) was when my father took us to look through the records to find out where Caroline was born, and we discovered that it was ten minutes from my parent's house. I remember my mom reading aloud every one of these books to me during my home school years, and waiting every week for a new (rerun) episode of Little House. Wilder and I are forever linked through those experiences.

A Girl of the Limberlost

2010-02-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

By: Gene Stratton-Porter

Published: 1909

Synopsis:

"A Girl of the Limberlost (1909) by Gene Stratton Porter is the story of a poor Indiana girl Elnora Comstock who lives with her emotionally abusive mother, a stern heartless widow, at the edge of the Limberlost Swamp. Elnora attends school against her mother's wishes, fighting every inch of the way for her dream of an education, and collects and sells moths and other rare biological specimens from the swamp to pay for her schooling, books, and bare necessities. At first a laughingstock of her fellow students, Elnora persists against unfair odds, and asserts her true self. A wonderful turn-of-the-century novel of discovery of identity, wonders of nature, friendship, family trust, love, and the process of growing up in the magical shadow of the Limberlost." (Amazon.com)

Pollyanna

2010-02-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

By: Eleanor H. Porter

Published: 1913

Synopsis:

"Life couldn’t be much worse for Pollyanna Whittier after her father dies and she is sent to live with stern Aunt Polly. Pollyanna carries on as her father would have wanted her to, looking for the best, even in bad situations. Lefkow imbues this timeless 1913 classic with a turn-of-the-century flair yet wisely eschews a saccharine portrayal of the bubbly and adventurous Pollyanna. Lefkow’s reading embraces the characters as she varies her tones to indicate changes in their personalities. Cheerful Pollyanna softens gruff John Pendleton, cantankerous and demanding Mrs. Snow, and frosty Aunt Polly. Piano interludes punctuate chapter endings. This entertaining release of a junior classic may revive interest in this once popular novel." (Amazon.com)

Caddie Woodlawn

2010-02-07T16:42:00.000-08:00

By: Carol Ryrie Brink

Published: 1935

Synopsis:

At age 11, Caddie Woodlawn is the despair of her mother and the pride of her father: a clock-fixing tomboy running wild in the woods of Wisconsin. In 1864, this is a bit much for her Boston-bred mother to bear, but Caddie and her brothers are happy with the status quo. Written in 1935 about Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother's childhood, the adventures of Caddie and her brothers are still exciting over 60 years later. With each chapter comes another ever-more exciting adventure: a midnight gallop on her horse across a frozen river to warn her American Indian friends of the white men's plan to attack; a prairie fire approaching the school house; and a letter from England that may change the family's life forever. This Newbery Medal-winning book bursts at the seams with Caddie's irrepressible spirit. In spite of her mother's misgivings, Caddie is a perfect role model for any girl--or boy, for that matter. She's big-hearted, she's brave, and she's mechanically inclined!

Cold Comfort Farm

2010-02-07T16:14:00.000-08:00

By: Stella Gibbons

Published: 1932

Synopsis:

"Winner of the 1933 Femina Vie Heureuse Prize, Cold Comfort Farm is a witty, irreverent parody of the works of Thomas Hardy and D.H. Lawrence. Flora Poste, left an orphan at the end of her "expensive, athletic, and prolonged" education, sets off for her relatives at Cold Comfort Farm, despite dire warnings of doom and damnation. Once there she encounters Seth, full of rampant sexuality; Elfine, who flits in and out in a cloak that is decidedly the wrong color; Meriam, the hired girl who gets pregnant every year when the "sukebind is in bloom;" and Aunt Ada Doom, the aging, reclusive matriarch who once "saw something nasty in the woodshed." Flora decides to "tidy up life at Cold Comfort Farm." Mocking Hardy's and Lawrence's melodrama, sensuality, and use of symbolism, Stella Gibbons has Flora, with her no-nonsense attitude, give Elfine a good haircut, teach Meriam some elementary lessons in birth control and send various morose, rural relatives off to happier fates. Cold Comfort Farm is funny even without a background in Hardy or Lawrence, but for those readers who have been frustrated attempting to find exactly where in Tess of the D'Urbervilles Tess is "seduced," or who have plowed through the intensity of Sons and Lovers, Cold Comfort Farm is sweet, hilarious revenge." (Amazon.com)

I Capture the Castle

2010-02-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

By: Dodie Smith

Published: 1954 (I'm blurring the "mid" 20th century with this one)

Synopsis:

"Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain wants to become a writer. Trouble is, she's the daughter of a once-famous author with a severe case of writer's block. Her family--beautiful sister Rose, brooding father James, ethereal stepmother Topaz--is barely scraping by in a crumbling English castle they leased when times were good. Now there's very little furniture, hardly any food, and just a few pages of notebook paper left to write on. Bravely making the best of things, Cassandra gets hold of a journal and begins her literary apprenticeship by refusing to face the facts. She writes, "I have just remarked to Rose that our situation is really rather romantic, two girls in this strange and lonely house. She replied that she saw nothing romantic about being shut up in a crumbling ruin surrounded by a sea of mud." Rose longs for suitors and new tea dresses while Cassandra scorns romance: "I know all about the facts of life. And I don't think much of them." But romantic isolation comes to an end both for the family and for Cassandra's heart when the wealthy, adventurous Cotton family takes over the nearby estate. Cassandra is a witty, pensive, observant heroine, just the right voice for chronicling the perilous cusp of adulthood. Some people have compared I Capture the Castle to the novels of Jane Austen, and it's just as well-plotted and witty. But the Mortmains are more bohemian--as much like the Addams Family as like any of Austen's characters. Dodie Smith, author of 101 Dalmations, wrote this novel in 1948. And though the story is set in the 1930s, it still feels fresh, and well deserves its reputation as a modern classic." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I feel very close to Cassandra, and this book. Sometimes you meet a character who so closely mirrors yourself that you start knowing what they are going to say before you read the words. That is how I felt the first time I read this. It will always be one of my favorite books. If I ever want to remember how I felt when I was 17, all I have to do is read this again. It was published in 1954, which makes it sort of outside the lines of this genre, but it is set in the 1930s.

The Time of Roses

2010-02-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

By: L.T. Meade

Published: 1900

Synopsis:

"A moving story of beauty and truth, The Time of Roses tells the tale of Florence Aylmer, a young woman who travels to London alone to make her way in the world." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I just placed an order for this book because I have never read it. The synopsis is pathetic, I know; but I can't find anything better online. Apparently, it was not very popular. We shall see.

Heidi

2010-02-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

By: Johanna Spyri

Published: 1880

Synopsis:

"Heidi is only five when she goes to live with her grandfather in his hut in the Swiss Alps. She befriends the goatherd Peter and delights in the company of the goats. Everyone is sad when she is taken to live with a family in Frankfurt, but her courage help her manage to return to the mountains." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I will admit that this is more of a children's book than young adult. Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children seemed more mature and were far more interesting to me; but Heidi is a classic and I love it.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

2010-02-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

By: Kate Douglas Wiggin

Published: 1903

Synopsis:

"Author Jack London wrote Kate Douglas Wiggin a letter about her classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm from the headquarters of the First Japanese Army in Manchuria in 1904: "May I thank you for Rebecca?... I would have quested the wide world over to make her mine, only I was born too long ago and she was born but yesterday.... Why could she not have been my daughter? Why couldn't it have been I who bought the three hundred cakes of soap? Why, O, why?" Mark Twain called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm "beautiful and warm and satisfying." Who is this beguiling creature? The irrepressible 10-year-old Rebecca Rowena Randall burst into the world of children's book characters (and her new life in Maine) in 1903 when storybook girls were gentle and proper. A "bird of a very different feather," she had "a small, plain face illuminated by a pair of eyes carrying such messages, such suggestions, such hints of sleeping power and insight, that one never tired of looking into their shining depths.... " Soon enough, she wins over her prim Aunt Miranda, the whole town, and thousands of readers everywhere with her energetic, indomitable spirit." (Amazon.com)

The Blue Castle

2010-02-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1926

Synopsis:

"At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent -- and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

I have loved every L.M. Montgomery I've read but The Blue Castle is still my favorite. It is completely cathartic. I enjoyed every true word Valency said as if I'd said it myself.

Dear Enemy

2010-02-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

By: Jean Webster

Published: 1915

Synopsis:

"Judy Abbot, the heroine of Webster's DADDY LONG-LEGS, has purchased her "alma mater," the unhappy John Grier Orphanage, and places it into the hands of her college roommate, Sallie McBride. Sallie considers herself as flibbertigibbet and arrives at the school with her pet chow dog and a personal maid, determined to stay only a few months until she can marry her fiancé, an up-and-coming young lawyer/politician. However, Judy is wiser about Sallie than she is about herself, and Sallie grows to love her position, releasing the children from the browbeating institutional regime that they have previously followed and devising all sorts of new schemes like camps for the older boys that will help the children when they eventually go out into the world. Sallie also runs afoul of the orphanage's dour physician, a Scotsman named Robin MacRae, but as the story progresses, they become each other's ally as well as antagonist (it is from her salutations to him in letters that the title of the book derives)..." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

It was kind of weird to read a book that was written at a time when eugenics was widely accepted. Of course, that just made it more educational.

Daddy Long Legs

2010-02-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

By: Jean Webster

Published: 1912

Synopsis:

"Raised in a bleak orphanage without even a name from her parents, this modern girls' fairy tale tells the story of Jerusha Abbott, a plucky young woman without ties and unsure of her future. After a visit from the trustees of the orphanage, Jerusha is told that one of the trustees sees in her the potential of a writer and wishes to be the patron of her college education. In exchange for tuition payment and a generous monthly allowance, Jerusha must write him a letter each month. She goes to an excellent women's university and thrives, growing, learning, and having fun in an adventurous period of self-discovery. First published in 1912, Webster's tale of an orphan and her unknown, shadowy benefactor is an enriching love story that unfolds in the countless pages of a cheerful young woman's letters." (Amazon.com)

Rose in Bloom

2010-02-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

By: Louisa May Alcott

Published: 1876

Synopsis:

"In the sequel to "Eight Cousins", Rose Campbell returns to the "Aunt Hill" after two years of travelling around the world. Suddenly, she is surrounded by male admirers, all expecting her to marry them. But before she marries, Rose is determined to establish herself as an independent woman." (Amazon.com)

An Old Fashioned Girl

2010-02-05T19:52:00.000-08:00

By: Louisa May Alcott

Published: 1869 (as a serial)

Synopsis:

If we said that Miss Alcott, as a writer for young people just getting to be young ladies and gentlemen, deserved the great good luck that has attended her books, we should be using an unprofessional frankness and putting in print something we might be sorry for after the story of the Old-fashioned Girl had grown colder in our minds. And yet it is a pretty story, a very pretty story; and almost inexplicably pleasing, since it is made up of such plain material, and helped off with no sort of adventure or sensation. It is nothing, in fact, but the story of a little girl from the country, who comes to visit a gay city family, where there is a fashionable little lady of her own age, with a snubbed younger sister, a gruff, good-hearted, mischievous brother, -- as well as a staid, sensible papa, a silly, sickly mamma, and an old-time grandmother. In this family Polly makes herself ever so lovely and useful, so that all adore her, though her clothes are not of the latest fashion, nor her ideas, nor her principles; and by and by, after six years, when she returns again to the city to give music-lessons and send her brother to college, Mr. Shaw fails, and the heartlessness of fashionable life, which his children had begun to suspect, is plain to them, and Tom's modish fiancee jilts him, and Polly marries him, and Fanny Shaw gets the good and rich and elegant Sydney, who never cared for her money, and did not make love to her till she was poor. That is about all; and as none of these people or their doings are strange or remarkable, we rather wonder where the power of the story lies. There's some humor in it, and as little pathos as possible, and a great deal of good sense, but also some poor writing, and some bad grammar. One enjoys the simple tone, the unsentimentalized facts of common experience, and the truthfulness of many of the pictures of manners and persons. Besides, people always like to read of kindly self-sacrifice, and sweetness, and purity, and naturalness; and this is what Polly is, and what her character teaches in a friendly and unobtrusive way to everybody about her. The story thus mirrors the reader's good-will in her well-doing, and that is perhaps what, more than any other thing, makes it so charming and comfortable; but if it is not, pleasing the little book remains nevertheless; and nobody can be the worse for it. Perhaps it is late to observe that the scene of the story is in Boston; at least, the locality is euphuistically described as "the most conceited city in New England"; and we suppose Springfield will not dispute the distinction with us." (The Atlantic Monthly, 1870)

Rilla of Ingleside

2010-02-05T02:57:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1921

Synopsis:

"Anne's children were almost grown up, except for pretty, high-spirited Rilla. No one could resist her bright hazel eyes and dazzling smile. Rilla, almost fifteen, can't think any further ahead than going to her very first dance at the Four Winds lighthouse and getting her first kiss from handsome Kenneth Ford. But undreamed-of challenges await the irrepressible Rilla when the world of Ingleside becomes endangered by a far-off war. Her brothers go off to fight, and Rilla brings home an orphaned newborn in a soup tureen. She is swept into a drama that tests her courage and leaves her changed forever." (Amazon.com)

Rainbow Valley

2010-02-05T02:48:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1919

Synopsis:

"Anne Shirley is grown up, has married her beloved Gilbert and now is the mother of six mischievous children. These boys and girls discover a special place all their own, but they never dream of what will happen when the strangest family moves into an old nearby mansion. The Meredith clan is two boys and two girls, with minister father but no mother -- and a runaway girl named Mary Vance. Soon the Meredith kids join Anne's children in their private hideout to carry out their plans to save Mary from the orphanage, to help the lonely minister find happiness, and to keep a pet rooster from the soup pot. There's always an adventure brewing in the sun-dappled world of Rainbow Valley." (Amazon.com)

Anne of Ingleside

2010-02-05T02:44:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1939

Synopsis:

"Anne is the mother of five, with never a dull moment in her lively home. And now with a new baby on the way and insufferable Aunt Mary Maria visiting -- and wearing out her welcome -- Anne's life is full to bursting. Still Mrs. Doctor can't think of any place she'd rather be than her own beloved Ingleside. Until the day she begins to worry that her adored Gilbert doesn't love her anymore. How could that be? She may be a little older, but she's still the same irrepressible, irreplaceable redhead -- the wonderful Anne of Green Gables, all grown up. . . She's ready to make her cherished husband fall in love with her all over again!" (Amazon.com)

Anne's House of Dreams

2010-02-05T02:34:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1917

Synopsis:

"[Anne's House of Dreams] follows the red-headed heroine and her new husband, Dr. Gilbert Blythe, to the snug little cottage that is their first home at Four Winds Harbor on Prince Edward Island. There's laughter, heartache, and unexpected turnabouts with new friends such as lighthouse keeper Captain Jim, and neighbors, Cornelia and Leslie... The story is liberally peppered with sketches of other memorable islanders and views of family life around the turn of the 20th century." (Amazon.com)

Anne of Windy Poplars (Willows)

2010-02-05T02:28:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1936

Synopsis:

"...[I]t details Anne Shirley's experiences over three years teaching at a high school in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. The novel features a series of letters Anne sends to her intended, Gilbert Blythe, who is completing medical school. Chronologically, this book is fourth in the series, but it was the seventh book written." (Amazon.com)

Anne of the Island

2010-02-05T02:12:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1915

Synopsis:

"New adventures lie ahead as Anne Shirley packs her bags, waves good-bye to childhood, and heads for Redmond College. With old friend Prissy Grant waiting in the bustling city of Kingsport and frivolous new pal Philippa Gordon at her side, Anne tucks her memories of rural Avonlea away and discovers life on her own terms, filled with surprises...including a marriage proposal from the worst fellow imaginable, the sale of her very first story, and a tragedy that teaches her a painful lesson. But tears turn to laughter when Anne and her friends move into an old cottage and an ornery black cat steals her heart. Little does Anne know that handsome Gilbert Blythe wants to win her heart, too. Suddenly Anne must decide if she's ready for love..." (Amazon.com)

Anne of Avonlea

2010-02-05T02:06:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1909

Synopsis:

"In the past, teachers started their careers at a very early age. Anne, a sixteen- year -old girl had made up her mind to become a teacher. She didn´t want to be an ordinary teacher; no, she wanted to make the difference because she loved teaching. The very first day of classes and her first experience as a teacher was exciting; however, because of inexperience she could not help being nervous but that didn´t prevent her from making her dream come true.
As a teacher, she learned that every student is different, and that they should be treated not only as a group but also as individuals. Among her students there is a boy who is really special. He is a dreamer just as Anne herself is. This common sharing makes them become good friends. But besides her profession, Anne also has her own personal life. At first she lives together with her aunt Marilla, and later with Marilla´s adopted twins. Besides her family, she has very good friends the same age she is. Together with one of her best friends, Anne goes through different adventures. Although she has become the town- school teacher, she is still a young girl who when she is not teaching enjoys life in the way a teen ager does.
In this book, the characters and places are described in such a way that it is easy to imagine them and to live the story in a very colorful way as if one were part of the story." (www.shvoong.com)

Anne of Green Gables

2010-02-05T01:52:00.000-08:00

By: L.M. Montgomery

Published: 1908

Synopsis:

"When eleven-year-old Anne Shirley arrives at Green Gables with nothing but a carpetbag and an overactive imagination, she knows that she has found her home. But first she must convince the Cuthberts to let her stay, even though she isn’t the boy they’d hoped for. The loquacious Anne quickly finds her way into their hearts, as she has with generations of readers, and her charming, ingenious adventures in Avonlea, filled with colorful characters and tender escapades, linger forever in our memories." (Amazon.com)

My Thoughts:

Anne of Green Gables epitomizes the genre this site focuses on. I watched the movies since I was a child but I only first read in 2006 when I was homesick overseas. I highlighted so many parts of this book that my copy is a total mess. But Anne, Anne is so charming! And not perfect, but the way she deals with those feelings of imperfection is perfect. She is completely genuine.

Creation of Guileless

2010-02-05T01:09:00.000-08:00

I began this blog because I wanted a way to compile a list within a very specific genre of literature for myself and like-minded readers. I am also hoping that whoever comes across this site will contribute titles that I haven't listed. I have always been a fan of women's lit between the mid-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth, but over the past few years I have gotten very specific. I like simplicity, I like a reverence of nature, goodness, purity, etc. and I think there are some authors who have found a way to create heroines that some people might find sickeningly sweet, but that are still interesting because they are flawed. L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables is a perfect example, the same with Jo March from Alcott's Little Women. Both writers had to discover this, but I even like their before works. Alcott's earlier protagonists were model young women who didn't even have flawed thoughts, and while that may be obnoxious at times there is something about an earlier age when virtue was still valued that I find very alluring. These young women make me want to be a better person. I find that most people like to identify with protagonists, and when they read about someone with issues much like their own (i.e. Holden Caulfield) they feel validated. I don't want to focus on my failings, I want to be excited about trying to become better.