30 Day Book Challenge! Day 11: Despise

One of these days (maybe tomorrow...) I'll get around to posting twice so I can attempt to catch up. In the meantime, though, I'm just happy to be sitting down to do this before 11pm!

Day 11: What is a book you absolutely hated?

I had to reach way back into the dark recesses of my brain to come up with an answer for this question. "Hate" is such a strong word, I find myself having trouble applying to a book. Finally, though, I remembered a story that I felt totally gypped as a little girl when I finished reading.

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Rilla of Ingleside is the final book in the "Anne of Green Gables" series, and I think I "hated" it because it was so unlike what I had expected or wanted it to be. Rilla is Anne's youngest daughter and the baby of the family. Taking place during World War II, Rilla must deal with all the fears and hopes belonging to everyone who had brothers and sweethearts fighting against the Nazis. Really, I don't suppose it's that bad of a story, but I had a hard time relating to Rilla (for example, she hates babies! When she is asked to help take care of one during the war, she does it only from a begrudging sense of duty, rather than because she wants to. She does grow out of it, though) and it was much more dramatically (and rather over-the-top) romantic than any of the other books. It seems as though L.M. Montgomery chose to sacrifice her sweetly innocent stories and characters to the soap-opera-style of emotions. Or maybe it is simply that she didn't really know how to make the switch from novels to strong historical fiction, and had to rely on emotional manipulation. Either way, although not necessarily a bad or hateful book in and of itself, it was a disappointing end to the nostalgic stories of dear Anne and Gilbert.

But the other ones are all sweet and in the proper style! Have you ever read a book you despised? Why did you finish it? :p
 

30 Day Book Challenge! Day 2: More than 3 Times

Good morning to you! How's your Saturday faring? We just got back from a delish pancake breakfast at the local fire station - it was great! Had breakfast, met friends, watched the Littles spray the fire hose at a wooden house structure, observed the fire men taking a car apart...good stuff! Lots of pictures to be had this morning...if I had a working camera. As it is, you can just imagine the fun! :)

Today's question is...

Day 2: Which book have you read more than three times?

This is, oddly enough, a bit of a tricky question for me. I have books that I know for sure I've read two times, but more than three? Usually after the second time, I hardly file it away as 'reading' the book. I pick it up to find a favorite part, and end up sitting down and re-devouring it 'accidently'. However, I'm fairly certain this is a 3+ timer. :)

"The 'Old-Fashioned Girl' is not intended as a perfect model, but as a possible improvement upon the Girl of the Period, who seems sorrowfully ignorant or ashamed of the good old fashions which make woman truly beautiful and honored, and, through her, render home what it should be - a happy place, where parents and children, brothers and sisters, learn to love and know and help one another." - Louisa May Alcott

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Honestly, I don't know where to begin or how to end in the praise of this darling tale of Louisa's. A story that fills one with all sorts of "warm fuzzies", An Old-Fashioned Girl holds a special place in the heart of anyone so fortunate as to have read it. It is the story of Polly, a little "old-fashioned" country girl - her life, her thoughts, her failings and her triumphs. It is the story of Fanny, Polly's oh-so-fashionable best friend, whose life is changed by the sweet, down-to-earth sense, styles, and joys of her visitor. It is a story of encouragement to any and all girls who have felt out of place for being "old-fashioned" in their convictions, style, or tastes.

(I also happen to love the particular version I have - printed in 1928, precious pictures...hooray for ebay!)

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"Fanny had been to many elegant lunches, but never enjoyed one more than that droll picnic in the studio; for there was a freedom about it that was charming, and artistic flavor to everything, and such a spirit of good will and gayety [sic] that she felt at home at once. As they ate, the others talked and she listened, finding it as interesting as any romance to hear these young women discuss their plans, ambitions, successes, and defeats. It was a new world to her, and they seemed a different race of creatures from the girls whose lives were spent in dress, gossip, pleasure, or ennui. They were girls still, full of spirits, fun, and youth; but below the light-heartedness each cherished a purpose, which seemed to ennoble her womanhood, to give her a certain power, a sustaining satisfaction, a daily stimulus, that led her on to daily effort and in time to some success in circumstance or character, which was worth all the patience, hope, and labor of her life."

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What's your favorite Louisa May Alcott? Why?

*all pictures take by the generosity of Emmy's camera :)

Dripping Honey

"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." - Proverbs 16:24

Mmmmm. Honey certainly is good. But honey in the honeycomb is ten time more so. To just dip a spoon and come up with a teaspoon of dripping honey and chewy comb... Yes, we've been enjoying the gift some friends and their bees gave to us! :) Mama and I are now considering getting our own hives...

"My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off." - Proverbs 24:13, 14

Have a sweet Tuesday!