Tag: American

Books

Book 86: March – Geraldine Brooks

Geoff W

A co-worker recommended March and prior to reading it I knew only that it detailed the mostly absent character of Mr. March in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Having finished the novel I realize it is a superb piece of ‘fan-fiction’ and well deserving of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize.

Once I realized March received a Pulitzer (about half-way through the novel) I spoke with my co-worker and she also mentioned not knowing it was a Pulitzer when she started reading it, but once she finished she felt it was a perfect Pulitzer and I couldn’t agree more. I looked up what distinguishes a Pulitzer and Wikipedia states a Pulitzer Prize for fiction is awarded (yes I used our friendly resource) “for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life.” And having just finished March, I believe perfect Pulitzer fits. I’m not referring to the writing itself, as who am I to judge, but instead to the story. Brooks wrote about a time and a place which is so uniquely American and about characters which for a long time were Americana embodied.

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Books

Book 85: Jo’s Boys – Louisa May Alcott

Geoff W

As the final novel I could not have asked for a better ending to the informal trilogy.

Another ten years have passed and Jo and Fritz’ school is now a college and the cast of characters ever widens. I definitely appreciated Jo’s Boys on the same level as Little Women. Whereas Little Men solely served as a bridge between the two and an introduction to the future brave and generous men of Jo’s Boys.

However, as with Little Men, Dan and Nan were my favorite characters. Nan continues to be a spitfire character and has proven she is equal to any man by going to medical school. She has to contend with Teddy’s lifelong adoration, but she takes it in stride. Dan is just as untamable as ever and has by far the most intriguing story of the lot. He comes from the lowest background and falls the farthest, but picks himself back up as well, providing a great mini-story within the novel.

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Books

Book 84: Little Men – Louisa May Alcott

Geoff W

I’ll confess that I am back dating this post. I finished reading this the third week in December, but never got around to posting a review. This is the case for Little Men and Jo’s Boys which I’m hoping to have posted by Friday.

As the continuation of Little Women I expected more from this novel, however as a middle novel in a ‘trilogy’ (they’re loosely a trilogy, and there are apparently a couple of others tangentially connected) I’m not too surprised with the mediocrity of the work.

The novel takes place 10 years after the end of Little Women, and all of our favorite characters make occasional appearances. The hardest part about reading the novel were all the new names and back-stories. With twelve additional characters to the numerous from Little Women it gets confusing. What I took from the story and truly appreciated is that forced learning never works, nor does solely classroom learning. I’m sure there were many other lessons, but this is the one I found most appealing.

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Books

Book 83: The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles #1) – Rick Riordan

Geoff W

Although I enjoyed this book, it was not as good as the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The Kane Chronicles does have potential but this first introduction seemed too much like an adaptation of the first with slight twists. Regardless of this, it was a fun read and I enjoyed the quick action and Egyptian Mythology. And give me some magic, some ancient history, and coming of age tales and I’m happy for a quick read.

In The Red Pyramid we meet Carter and Sadie Kane, two siblings that soon find out they are anything but normal. The are descendants of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, and with that comes various dangers and responsibilities. I won’t go into the story too much because it’s hard to talk about any of it without revealing more than I should, but when they were younger, their mother died leaving their father and grandfather to raise them. You find out why they are raised separately towards the end of the story and it is interesting.

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Books

Book 81: Little Women – Louisa May Alcott

Geoff W

There are few books that I finish reading and truly regret not having read them earlier in life, and this is one of them. However, I’m also glad I haven’t read it previously as I truly doubt I would’ve appreciated the story or the characters as much as I did.

I expected the reading to take longer than the last few books I read, but it didn’t. I discovered Alcott’s editors specifically requested a book for young women and this so she wrote Little Women.

I identified most with Jo, as I feel most people do but I could be wrong. Perhaps it is her often times uncouth and startlingly simple view of the world, of right and wrong, of black and white, but her character provides a great antithesis to all of the other sisters. And although she changes and has her own faults, to me, she shows the most humanness. And Alcott summed this up saying, “But, you see, Jo wasn’t a heroine, she was only a struggling human girl like hundreds of others, and she just acted out her nature, being sad, cross, listless or energetic, as the mood suggested” (loc 5977).

Click here to continue reading and to see the recommendation and quotes from the novel.