This has to be the most depressing of the Anne of Green Gables series. Anne's daughter, Rilla, does some serious growing up when her brothers go to fight in WWI.
I really didn't like Rilla in the beginning, and it was a while before I realized that we're not really supposed to. As Rilla grows up and deals with the results of war, I started to respect her. She moves from a silly, vain little girl to a responsible, brave young woman.
I was shocked at first when Walter died, but after his letter arrives and he discuses how many horrible things he's seen, it's clear he would always be unhappy if he lived.
Sad, but beautiful all the same. A different sort of Anne of Green Gables book.

BLURB


REVIEW

Obviously, Anderson Cooper has plenty of exciting stories to tell about the places and things that he's seen. However, he interspersed these stories, with analysis of his father's death and his brother's suicide. His reflections on why he travels, and how he was driven to dangerous reporting by his need to escape from himself... well, it just made it difficult to muster a lot of sympathy for the poor little rich boy.
I also felt like his stories skipped around a lot temporally. I had trouble keeping African/European conflicts strait.
The best part was about Hurricane Katrina. That part was emotional, affecting, and well told.

This collection of short, independent stories centers around Indian and Indian-American families. Many of the stories are about the breakups of couples or families. I really liked that it wasn't focused on cultural differences or difficulties- rather, the themes of the stories could be from anywhere.
The stories that have really stuck with me I found to be pretty depressing. The couples are always troubled, committing adultery or just being unhappy. They make great short stories- they'd be too depressing as full novels, rather than just glimpses of sad lives. An excellent example of the short story form.

i read it because it was recommended to me by my new friends in my book club- it's beautiful.

In varying degrees, Lahiri explores "Indianness" in all her stories, wherever they are set. Some, such as "A Real Durwan," take place in urban settings in or near Calcutta. Others deal with immigrants at different stages on the road to assimilation. In "A Temporary Matter," Lahiri's sensitive portrayal of a troubled marriage, the fact that the couple is Indian seems almost incidental. In the title story, Mr. and Mrs. Das, both born in America, are taking their children to visit India for the first time. One of Lahiri's gifts is the ability to use different eyes and voices. I need to read this one again as the stories have become a bit hazy, but I do remember liking it.

This is one of my favorite books. Each of her short stories successfully describes the intricacies of another cultural facet of Asian Indian people. Some are immigrants in the US. Some are immigrants in the UK. Some are Americans visiting Asia. Some are Asians in Asia. Jhumpa Lahiri vividly reflects the tones, textures, and colors of India throughout this lush work. She doesn't tell, she shows. And what she shows is uncommonly beautiful. Well-deserved Pulitzer for this work.

I found the story in this Amelia Peabody mystery to be more convoluted than any of the others in the series. Some of the time I was only partially listening, so that might be my fault. I did like the familial relationship emphasis in this one, though.

This book in the Anne of Green Gables series is all about the children. Some about Anne's children, but mostly about their friends, the motherless children of the preacher.
Again, the antics of the children are portrayed in such a sweet light that it's hard to think of them even as silly. She perfectly describes childhood reasoning.
Everything works out perfectly on Prince Edward Island. Beautiful kind people find beautiful kind people and everyone ends up happy. Normally I dislike that kind of sentimentality, but it's nice to read something every so often with a kind ending.

BLURB


REVIEW

I really liked the narrative style of this book, similar to the Sound and the Fury. Multiple narrators, telling the same story from different viewpoints, adds a lot of complexity and nuance to the story, even while it makes it difficult to follow along. A novel like this really has to be read more than once to really take advantage of the complexity.
An interesting story. I didn't like a single one of the characters- they're all greedy and selfish or stupid and petty. Cash was probably the only redeemable one. I also disliked the constant repetition of particular phrases, which seem to override everything else the character has to say.

Bone chilling at times. A grotesque picture (as only Faulkner could imagine) of a Southern family that destroys each and every one of its members in either physical or psychological ways... or both. It reads quickly and is simply gorgeous at times. Well worth the discomfort brought on by cement poured over flesh.

As I Lay Dying

This is a summary that I copied from the library:
“One of William Faulkner's finest novels, As I Lay Dying was originally published in 1930, and remains a captivating and stylistically innovative work. The story revolves around a grim yet darkly humorous pilgrimage, as Addie Bundren's family sets out to fulfill her last wish: to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi, far from the miserable backwater surroundings of her married life. Told through multiple voices, it vividly brings to life Faulkner's imaginary South, one of the great invented landscapes in all of literature, and is replete with the poignant, impoverished, violent, and hypnotically fascinating characters that were his trademark.”

My opinion of this book is not quite so high!! It was a book I had to read in college and then, again, when my book club picked it. I thought that I might enjoy the book the second time around now that I was more “mature.” However, that didn’t happen. As the young man at the library put it when I was checking it out: “Oh, you’re going to read As I Die Reading!”

I much prefer Faulkner in shorter doses. His short stories are great.

The series shifts from focusing on Anne and her relationships with the people around her to centered on her children. I miss the focus on Anne, since most of the charm of the story is her dealing with situations humorously.
But Montgomery really captures so much of the essence of childhood in the vignettes about the Blythe children. She describes their sulks, fear, elation. Reading the stories, I vividly remembered what it as like to be that age. Maybe I wouldn't have liked this one as a child- maybe the descriptions of silliness would have struck too close to home, rather than striking me as funny.

BLURB
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.


REVIEW

I loved the movie when I was a kid, but I don't think I had ever made it through the book- perhaps too much British terminology for me at that age. It is, of course, much better than the movie (which has its own charms).
It was amusing to me to date the book a bit, given its themes- each kind of dog falls in love with the same kind (and "married" before pups are born)- slight racial tones- and the dogs are filled with a sense of something greater in the church. But these are quite friendly and not that offensive, just funny.
Pretty enjoyable, even as an adult.