I'm finally getting around to posting this halfway through the month rather than at the beginning, but better late than never!
I didn't end up reading a whole lot in June due to lots of stuff going on (including some travel). And according to Goodreads, I only read two books in May because Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat were paired in a Kindle collection that I found for 99 cents. Ah well.
Soul Music - Terry Pratchett
"It was sad music. But it waved its sadness like a battle flag. It said the universe had done all it could, but you were still alive."
This was another Discworld novel in the Death story line (the one I've been focusing on of late). It was a little random and jumping around a bit much for my tastes - there was something of a whiplash effect from switching between modern-cultural-references humor and surprisingly moving and deep scenes - but I generally enjoyed it. I appreciated the Welsh-inspired main character with the various little references (using ll's and w's in speech, his devotion to harp-playing, etc). All in all, Soul Music isn't necessarily the best Pratchett novel to start out with, but it's fairly solid.
Pat of Silver Bush - L.M. Montgomery
"The only marked talent she had was for loving things very greatly, and that did not help you much with Greek verbs and dates."
This novel (by the same author as Anne of Green Gables, for the unfamiliar) follows the title character from about age six into her late teenage years. I found it an interesting window into daily life for the time period and place (1920's-ish Prince Edward Island). The main character's deep and abiding love for her home is forefront in her story, and this makes for a somewhat unique (for me) perspective in that all her ambitions are tied up in her family's house and land. Though it feels a bit incomplete without its successor, Pat of Silver Bush still manages to stand on its own, and should certainly be picked up by fans of any of L. M. Montgomery's other books.
Mistress Pat - L.M. Montgomery
"At the top was the old gate, fallen into ruin, and beyond it the path through the spruce bush where silence seemed to kneel like a grey nun, and she felt that Bets must come to meet her, walking through the dusk with dreams in her eyes."
This continuation of Pat and Silver Bush follows the main character into her late twenties. I enjoyed particularly the continuing window into life back then - things like the unquestioned societal rules like single women continuing to live at home and the strained dynamics that come from of marrying into a family and moving in with them are portrayed here as I've not really come across elsewhere. And even though I have to say that I didn't particularly like some aspects of the main character (as well as certain plot points), there's a true charm here in the blend of the practical and romantic.
Side note: I did have some issues with a few things that were normalized due to the time period in which the book was written, namely (minor spoilers) the treatment of the servant Judy when she wants to travel (the family acting as if they can't get on without a servant taking care of them), as well as some fat-shaming that made me actually root for the antagonist (you wear that swimsuit and show off your thighs if you want to, May Binnie!).
I didn't end up reading a whole lot in June due to lots of stuff going on (including some travel). And according to Goodreads, I only read two books in May because Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat were paired in a Kindle collection that I found for 99 cents. Ah well.
Soul Music - Terry Pratchett
"It was sad music. But it waved its sadness like a battle flag. It said the universe had done all it could, but you were still alive."
This was another Discworld novel in the Death story line (the one I've been focusing on of late). It was a little random and jumping around a bit much for my tastes - there was something of a whiplash effect from switching between modern-cultural-references humor and surprisingly moving and deep scenes - but I generally enjoyed it. I appreciated the Welsh-inspired main character with the various little references (using ll's and w's in speech, his devotion to harp-playing, etc). All in all, Soul Music isn't necessarily the best Pratchett novel to start out with, but it's fairly solid.
Pat of Silver Bush - L.M. Montgomery
"The only marked talent she had was for loving things very greatly, and that did not help you much with Greek verbs and dates."
This novel (by the same author as Anne of Green Gables, for the unfamiliar) follows the title character from about age six into her late teenage years. I found it an interesting window into daily life for the time period and place (1920's-ish Prince Edward Island). The main character's deep and abiding love for her home is forefront in her story, and this makes for a somewhat unique (for me) perspective in that all her ambitions are tied up in her family's house and land. Though it feels a bit incomplete without its successor, Pat of Silver Bush still manages to stand on its own, and should certainly be picked up by fans of any of L. M. Montgomery's other books.
Mistress Pat - L.M. Montgomery
"At the top was the old gate, fallen into ruin, and beyond it the path through the spruce bush where silence seemed to kneel like a grey nun, and she felt that Bets must come to meet her, walking through the dusk with dreams in her eyes."
This continuation of Pat and Silver Bush follows the main character into her late twenties. I enjoyed particularly the continuing window into life back then - things like the unquestioned societal rules like single women continuing to live at home and the strained dynamics that come from of marrying into a family and moving in with them are portrayed here as I've not really come across elsewhere. And even though I have to say that I didn't particularly like some aspects of the main character (as well as certain plot points), there's a true charm here in the blend of the practical and romantic.
Side note: I did have some issues with a few things that were normalized due to the time period in which the book was written, namely (minor spoilers) the treatment of the servant Judy when she wants to travel (the family acting as if they can't get on without a servant taking care of them), as well as some fat-shaming that made me actually root for the antagonist (you wear that swimsuit and show off your thighs if you want to, May Binnie!).
