(continued from Part 1)
L. M. Montgomery Short Stories 1909-1922
From: Free Kindle Book
"It's better to be yourself with mousy hair and freckles than somebody else who is ever so beautiful."
I'm trying to read all of the Anne of Green Gables author's lesser-known works, and this is, I think, the final collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery. Note: all of her short collections and a few of her novels are available for free on Kindle.
This is along the same lines of the others that I've previously reviewed, so I don't have too much new to say. Overall, they're light, predictable reading and an interesting window into the time period. I will note that one of the stories in particular was, disappointingly, pretty racist towards Native Americans - and it isn't the first time I've run across this in Montgomery's short story collections.
The Golden Road - L. M. Montgomery (1913)
From: Free Kindle Book
"There is certainly something a little supernatural about fireflies. Nobody pretends to understand them. They are akin to the tribes of fairy, survivors of the elder time when the woods and hills swarmed with the little green folk. It is still very easy to believe in fairies when you see those goblin lanterns glimmering among the fir tassels."
This is the sequel to The Story Girl, which I read a couple of years ago. I would say that since this book kind of jumps right in and doesn't introduce the handful of main characters, having read that first would be helpful. This is pretty much a more structured form of short stories, all told within a main story. It focuses on the growing up/adolescent years, and is an interesting window into the differences of childhood during that time (more seriously, chronic illness, death of playmates, etc. being treated as not unusual). It's generally a pretty soothing read, with Montgomery's lyrical and nostalgic nature descriptors sprinkled throughout.
As a side note of interest, a lengthy passage of the book (a piece of it below) seems to describe a character that has Synesthesia:
"The idea! As if thoughts were colored," giggled Felicity.
"Oh, they are!" cried the Story Girl. "Why, I can always SEE the color of any thought I think. Can't you?" ...
She said that everything had color in her thought; the months of the year ran through all the tints of the spectrum, the days of the week were arrayed as Solomon in his glory. Morning was golden, noon orange, evening crystal blue, and night violet. Every thought came to her mind robed in its own especial hue. Perhaps that was why her voice and words had such a charm, conveying to the listeners' perception such fine shadings of meaning and tint and music.
Related Reads:
The Story Girl (Montgomery)
A Conjuring of Light - V. E. Schwab (2017)
From: Local Library
"The more we love, the more we have to lose. But the only way to avoid loss is to avoid love. And what a sad world that would be."
This is the third book in the in the Shades of Magic trilogy - I read the first in January of this year and the second earlier this past month. I probably liked this final one the best out of all of the books, but it's a little hard to say why. It's along the same lines as the previous two, but maybe I felt this just wrapped up things and was representative as a whole for me? As with the other books, there are pieces of the book that I particularly like - the ship that deals in rare magical items, for instance.
The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine - Lindsey Fitzharris (2017)
From: Local Library
"Lister's instrument case had everything a novice surgeon would need at the start of his training: bone saws to hack off limbs; forceps to pick apart tissue; probes to root out bullets and foreign bodies. But there was one tool Lister had carried with him to UCL that very few in his class possessed: his microscope."
This well-researched historical book earned a place on my yearly favorites list almost immediately after I started reading. Fitzharris focuses on the life, struggles, and accomplishments of Joseph Lister (1827-1912) - the "pioneer of antiseptic surgery."
One thing I appreciated was that the book paints a complete picture of the surrounding time period and lead-in to Lister's eventual career, giving decent quick backgrounds to many famous medical and pioneering men of the time (including Pasteur). The author also draws from personal letters, contemporary medical journals, and newspaper op-eds (often written by very opinionated doctors).
I personally didn't find the book overly gory, but readers should note that it goes into detail of numerous medical cases and describes what surgery was like at the time. For me, it was amazing to get a complete picture of the context of the time and the huge changes that took place (and the fight it took to create that change) - namely, of course, the effect adopting sterile and antiseptic practices had on mortality rates in hospitals.
Related Reads:
In the Heart of the Sea (Philbrick)
Half a Century (Swisshelm)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Roach)
Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table - The Classic Edition by Keith Barnes (original: 1485; this edition: 1962)
From: Had since high school
"The feast continued, with merriment and good will, for in those days true chivalry was well appreciated."
Embarrassingly, this book has lingered on my to-read shelf since high school. I finally started it back in April of this year, so it took me a good five months to complete. The middle third was the hardest to slog through - basically, it was tournament after tournament with seemingly endless names. This necessitated reading just a few pages at a time.
However, the first and last portions genuinely held my interest. And was interesting to compare these stripped-down retellings with the various forms of stories that I've read throughout the years. I gained a new appreciation for the Legends in general.
So, if you're looking for a straightforward, encompassing collection of the Knights of the Round Table, this is pretty much the resource, and is really a necessity for anyone intrigued by the Legends of King Arthur. But candidly, embellished tales are more interesting, so I would tend to recommend reading this after having some knowledge of King Arthur and his knights.
Related Reads:
The Sword in the Circle (Sutcliffe)
The Once and Future King (White)
L. M. Montgomery Short Stories 1909-1922
From: Free Kindle Book
"It's better to be yourself with mousy hair and freckles than somebody else who is ever so beautiful."
I'm trying to read all of the Anne of Green Gables author's lesser-known works, and this is, I think, the final collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery. Note: all of her short collections and a few of her novels are available for free on Kindle.
This is along the same lines of the others that I've previously reviewed, so I don't have too much new to say. Overall, they're light, predictable reading and an interesting window into the time period. I will note that one of the stories in particular was, disappointingly, pretty racist towards Native Americans - and it isn't the first time I've run across this in Montgomery's short story collections.
The Golden Road - L. M. Montgomery (1913)
From: Free Kindle Book
"There is certainly something a little supernatural about fireflies. Nobody pretends to understand them. They are akin to the tribes of fairy, survivors of the elder time when the woods and hills swarmed with the little green folk. It is still very easy to believe in fairies when you see those goblin lanterns glimmering among the fir tassels."
This is the sequel to The Story Girl, which I read a couple of years ago. I would say that since this book kind of jumps right in and doesn't introduce the handful of main characters, having read that first would be helpful. This is pretty much a more structured form of short stories, all told within a main story. It focuses on the growing up/adolescent years, and is an interesting window into the differences of childhood during that time (more seriously, chronic illness, death of playmates, etc. being treated as not unusual). It's generally a pretty soothing read, with Montgomery's lyrical and nostalgic nature descriptors sprinkled throughout.
As a side note of interest, a lengthy passage of the book (a piece of it below) seems to describe a character that has Synesthesia:
"The idea! As if thoughts were colored," giggled Felicity.
"Oh, they are!" cried the Story Girl. "Why, I can always SEE the color of any thought I think. Can't you?" ...
She said that everything had color in her thought; the months of the year ran through all the tints of the spectrum, the days of the week were arrayed as Solomon in his glory. Morning was golden, noon orange, evening crystal blue, and night violet. Every thought came to her mind robed in its own especial hue. Perhaps that was why her voice and words had such a charm, conveying to the listeners' perception such fine shadings of meaning and tint and music.
Related Reads:
The Story Girl (Montgomery)
A Conjuring of Light - V. E. Schwab (2017)
From: Local Library
"The more we love, the more we have to lose. But the only way to avoid loss is to avoid love. And what a sad world that would be."
This is the third book in the in the Shades of Magic trilogy - I read the first in January of this year and the second earlier this past month. I probably liked this final one the best out of all of the books, but it's a little hard to say why. It's along the same lines as the previous two, but maybe I felt this just wrapped up things and was representative as a whole for me? As with the other books, there are pieces of the book that I particularly like - the ship that deals in rare magical items, for instance.
The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine - Lindsey Fitzharris (2017)
From: Local Library
"Lister's instrument case had everything a novice surgeon would need at the start of his training: bone saws to hack off limbs; forceps to pick apart tissue; probes to root out bullets and foreign bodies. But there was one tool Lister had carried with him to UCL that very few in his class possessed: his microscope."
This well-researched historical book earned a place on my yearly favorites list almost immediately after I started reading. Fitzharris focuses on the life, struggles, and accomplishments of Joseph Lister (1827-1912) - the "pioneer of antiseptic surgery."
One thing I appreciated was that the book paints a complete picture of the surrounding time period and lead-in to Lister's eventual career, giving decent quick backgrounds to many famous medical and pioneering men of the time (including Pasteur). The author also draws from personal letters, contemporary medical journals, and newspaper op-eds (often written by very opinionated doctors).
I personally didn't find the book overly gory, but readers should note that it goes into detail of numerous medical cases and describes what surgery was like at the time. For me, it was amazing to get a complete picture of the context of the time and the huge changes that took place (and the fight it took to create that change) - namely, of course, the effect adopting sterile and antiseptic practices had on mortality rates in hospitals.
Related Reads:
In the Heart of the Sea (Philbrick)
Half a Century (Swisshelm)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Roach)
Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table - The Classic Edition by Keith Barnes (original: 1485; this edition: 1962)
From: Had since high school
"The feast continued, with merriment and good will, for in those days true chivalry was well appreciated."
Embarrassingly, this book has lingered on my to-read shelf since high school. I finally started it back in April of this year, so it took me a good five months to complete. The middle third was the hardest to slog through - basically, it was tournament after tournament with seemingly endless names. This necessitated reading just a few pages at a time.
However, the first and last portions genuinely held my interest. And was interesting to compare these stripped-down retellings with the various forms of stories that I've read throughout the years. I gained a new appreciation for the Legends in general.
So, if you're looking for a straightforward, encompassing collection of the Knights of the Round Table, this is pretty much the resource, and is really a necessity for anyone intrigued by the Legends of King Arthur. But candidly, embellished tales are more interesting, so I would tend to recommend reading this after having some knowledge of King Arthur and his knights.
Related Reads:
The Sword in the Circle (Sutcliffe)
The Once and Future King (White)
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