Little Women & Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

 

Title:  Little Women

Author:  Louisa May Alcott

Narrated by:  Jennifer Woodward

Publisher: Saga Egmont

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 11 minutes

Source: Checked out from Hoopla through the Kewaunee Public Library

 

Title:  Good Wives

Author:  Louisa May Alcott

Narrated by:  Lorelei King

Publisher: Audible Studios

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 11 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.

What is a positive book that improves your mood when you read it?  Little Women is just such a book for me.

Little Women is the story of the trials and tribulations of the four March sisters.  Meg is the eldest and is beautiful and caring. Jo is independent and fearless, Beth is musical and timid, and Amy is artistic and vain.  The country is in the midst of the Civil War and their father is gone having joined the Union war effort.  The girls and their mother, Marmee, and housekeeper, Hannah, work to keep their household going and to help their community.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was great on audiobook and both narrators were very expressive and a joy to listen to. The first audiobook that I listened to ended at the middle of what I think of as Little Women.  I had to go and get Good Wives separately to finish the story as the girls grow older and marry.  This is originally how the books were published, but most modern editions have both books packaged together as Little Women.

·       This book was the July pick for the Back to the Classics Book Club at the Kewaunee Public library.  We enjoyed it.  It’s an overall happy book which we discussed at book club is rare for a classic novel. We watched and enjoyed the 2019 adaptation of the novel.

·       As an adult with every reread, I am struck by Marmee’s talk with Jo on how she has a bad temper and how as an adult, she has had to work hard to keep her calm appearance and keep her anger in. It is so interesting and it provides such a depth to Marmee’s character.  She is a great mother who supported her daughters to become great women.

·       I loved how the sisters had their disagreements as all sisters do, but they support and love each other.

·       Amy and Jo spar but are a lot alike.  They are both passionate about their art and want a different life than the traditional pathway of marriage for females at the time.

·       I’ve read this book many times in my life, and I have loved it every time.

·       This novel is based on Louisa May Alcott’s real life and family.  At times now, I get real life and the novel confused. 

·       I loved how they help the immigrant Hummel family and give them their Christmas dinner.  The Hummels are a poor fatherless German Immigrant family.  I love the Christian message of helping the “stranger” in our midst.

 

Overall, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is an uplifting and timeless classic that is well worth a read, or multiple reads.

Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington by Ted Widmer

 

Title:  Lincoln on the Verge:  Thirteen Days to Washington

Author:  Ted Widmer

Narrated by:  Fred Sanders, Ted Widmer

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 16 hours and 53 minutes

Source: Thank you @simon.audio for the audiobook version and #LincolnOnTheVerge #HistoryBuffsBookClub @History_In_Five for the physical book review copy.

What is your favorite, book, movie, or show that features Abraham Lincoln? I loved the movie Lincoln starring Daniel Day Lewis.

The United States was at a crossroads when Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election in 1860.  Southerners had vowed that his inauguration would never take place.  Lincoln boards a train to Washington DC and over the next thirteen days, he wows crowds, while also trying to foil assassination attempts.  How did he make it safely to Washington DC?

My thoughts on this book:

·       This was a truly fascinating book.  I really liked how the reader received a full snapshot of what life was like at this moment in history and through these perilous times.

·       At this point in time, democracy was on the verge of ending as it had ended in so many places before like Greece and Rome.

·       This book provided good overview of history and everything happening at that time.  I also loved the history of the cities as he traveled through them such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, etc.

·       Railroad and telegraph were transforming the nation and how information was disseminated at the time.

·       Dorothea Dix had traveled through the south and had details of a conspiracy to kill Lincoln as he traveled to DC for his inauguration.  The South would rather declare their own nation.

·       Kate Warne was a female spy who played an unsung role (like Doreathea Dix) on protecting Lincoln on the way to his inauguration.

·       Civil engineers were discussed such as who designed the bridges and tunnels for the railroad.

·       There was a sad discussion included of a real-life enslaved woman who killed her own child rather than have the child be captured and enslaved just like what happened in the fictional Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

·       The end of the book also goes through Lincoln’s train journey back to Springfield after his assassination.

·       The audiobook that had good narrator and it was very interesting to listen to. 

·       This new paperback version had a great preface by Liz Cheney on the importance of this book and of Abraham Lincoln.

·       There is a great notes section at the end of the physical book.

·       The physical book also has interesting pictures inserted throughout the text.

Overall, Lincoln on the Verge by Ted Widmer is a great history nonfiction book that tells not only the story of the perilous journey Abraham Lincoln took through America to his inauguration, but also the story of America at that time and the fight to keep our democracy.

A Measure of Devotion by Nell Joslin (TLC Book Tour)

Susannah Shelburne lives in South Caroline in 1863.  She has a much older husband, Jacob, and one son, Francis.  Their family does not believe in slavery.  Francis left their family to join the Confederate army at the start of the war, much to his parents’ dismay.  As Jacob’s health fails, Susannah must leave him in the care of friends (employees that were former slaves that they freed), to travel to where Francis has been gravely wounded in battle.  Will Francis forgive her for the cruel words that she said before he left for the war?  Will this family survive the war?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This is a very well written, fascinating Civil War story.

·       Things were very complicated when people had anti-slavery sentiment and lived in the South.  I had never thought about people being killed in the south for their beliefs.

·       This novel was told in the first person viewpoint of Susannah. It flipped at first between “current day” of going to help Francis, to back when her and Jacob got together, married, and had Francis. 

·       A mother’s love is everything.  Susannah has many, many trials trying to save Francis, especially after he is captured as a prisoner of war.  Francis never seems grateful, but Susannah never stopped loving him.

·       The story showed the cruelty of war through all manner of what could be thought of as small incidents.  For example, Francis tells his mother the story of how they killed a cow in front of a young mother and her two young children.  This poor family didn’t have enough food to survive.

Overall, A Measure of Devotion by Nell Joslin is a beautifully written compelling story of the Civil War.

Book Source:  A review copy from Regel House Publishing as a part of the TLC Book Tour. 

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

 

Title:  Little Women

Author:  Louisa May Alcott

Narrated by:  Anne Undeland

Publisher: Alison Larkin Presents

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 7 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Alison Larkin Presents.  Thank-you!

What book do you love that is loved by other members of your family?  Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a novel that transcends time.  I grew up loving it with my sisters and mother.  I have a copy of my Grandma’s copy of this novel. 

Little Women Is the classic story of the trials and tribulations of four sisters growing up during the Civil War in Massachusetts. My thoughts on this novel:

·       I listened to this book on audiobook this reread.  Alison Larkin is one of my favorite audiobook narrators.  This version is part of her Alison Larkin presents series and it featured a new narrator, Anne Undeland. She was a pleasant narrator.

·       This was only the original Little Women and did not contain part 2, which is Good Wives.  I learned that the United States packages these books together, but they are separate in the UK.  The original novel goes one year from Christmas to Christmas and ends happily.

·       There was a nice interview between Alison Larkin and Anne Undeland at the end of the audiobook.  They went over the life of Louisa May Alcott.

·       I was struck again in this reread how Marmee struggled with her anger and had to really work on being the calm loving mother we all know.  Jo noticed her tell of tightening her lips and leaving the room when she felt anger building, especially when Aunt March was in a rant.  It was so relatable, especially now that I am a mother.

·       I loved all four sisters and their distinct personalities.

·       Meg feels teen pressure for being a governess, not having money for finery, for her family sticking to their believes, and for her family’s relationship with Mr. Lawrence.  It was relatable to anyone who has been a teen.

·       Amy was also a teen feeling pressure with her lime collection to be like all of the other girls.  The discipline from her teacher was excessive.

·       This was the March read for What the Dickens Book Club. I started it in March but finished it in April.  There was a great online discussion with this group on the book.

Overall, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is an enjoyable book that is a joy to read at all stages of life.  It’s a wonderful classic.

Do you have a favorite movie version of Little Women?  The 1994 version will always be my favorite, but I have loved every version.  I grew up watching an anime version!

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

 

Title:  The Sweetness of Water

Author:  Nathan Harris

Narrated by:  William DeMeritt

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 10 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com with physical book checked out from the Kewaunee Public Library.

What flowers are blooming in your area?  I was happy to return home from Michigan last week and discover daffodils blooming in my yard.

At the end of the Civil War in Georgia, two brothers, Prentis and Landry have been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, but they don’t know where to go or how to support themselves.  George Walker finds them on his land and offers them a job with a decent wage to help him clear land and to plant a peanut field.  This act sets the town against George and his family.  George and his wife Isabelle are mourning the loss of their son Caleb in the Civil War.  When Caleb returns home and is labeled a coward, the Walkers must make a stand and find a way forward.  Caleb has a forbidden love with a childhood friend and fellow soldier, August.  Will the Walker family and Prentis and Landy be able to navigate reconstruction to live in a better world?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was the April pick for the Page-turner’s Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  It provided a great discussion for book club.  I enjoyed the discussion, and it furthered my enjoyment of the book.

·       This novel was also an Oprah Book Club pick in 2021.

·       The novel was slow moving for the first half, but the action really picked up in the second half.

·       It made me really ponder what happened after the Civil War.  Society had gone through a giant upheaval.  How do you go back to “normal?”  What is the new “normal?”

·       This novel was character driven rather than plot driven.  The characters were all very interesting.  How far will you go to do what is right?

·       I felt like this was a coming-of-age story for Caleb, Landry, and George.

·       The novel had beautiful writing with rich language.

·       The Sweetness of Water was author Nathan Harris’s debut novel.  It was an excellent book and so well written, it was hard to believe it was a first novel.

·       I loved how all the main characters had to find courage to move forward.

·       I liked the ending.  It was positive, but realist.

·       Trigger warning:  The climax had brutal violence that was heartbreaking. 

·       This was an excellent audiobook.

Overall, The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris was a beautifully written, deeply moving character study set during reconstruction. 

Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule

 

Title:  Robert E. Lee and Me

Author:  Ty Seidule

Narrated by:  Ty Seidule

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 45 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

What is the last book that was recommended to you?  Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule was recommended to me by one of my favorite high school teachers, Mrs. Parkison.  She was a great history and health teacher!

Ty Seidule is a Professor Emeritus of History at West Point.  He served 2/3 of life in Army.   He grew up in Virginia revering Robert E. Lee.  He attended Washington & Lee University and then was in the military.  As he grew older and served in the military himself, he had a reckoning with the legacy of Robert E. Lee, the Civil War, and the lost cause myth.  He realized that Lee had signed an oath to the United States just days before he turned against his own country and fought against it.  Lee profited from slavery, and he had members of his own family that went against him when he became a traitor and resigned from the United States military.   His actions was directly responsible the deaths of many American citizens.  After the Civil War, the lost cause myth started.  “The Lost Cause became a movement, an ideology, a myth, even a civil religion that would unite first the white south and eventually the nation around the meaning of the Civil War.”

Siedule also states that history is dangerous.  When you go against people’s long-standing views, such as the lost cause myth, they can react very angrily and sometimes violently.  It’s always interesting to me that people stick so firmly to views that were passed down to them, even when they don’t match actual historical accounts from the time period. 

This book was part memoir and part a history lesson.  It was a very interesting audiobook to listen to and it made me wish I had him for an instructor.  I liked that he narrated the book himself. 

The Audiobook has a great interview with the author at the end.

 

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

 

Gone with the Wind was a spring read for the Back to the Classics Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  This was my third time reading this novel in my life.  I read it first in middle school and last time in my later twenties.  I seem to have a different perspective and learn something new every time I read it.  One thing I realized this time is that it works a lot better for me to read it straight through rather than to read half of it for one book club discussion and then finish it a couple of months later for the second book club discussion.

Gone With the Wind is an epic, layered novel with some of the greatest characters in literature.  Scarlett O’Hara is a heroine that you disdain at times, but you can’t stop reading about her.  Rhett Butler is a scoundrel that you root for, and at his heart, he truly loves Scarlett.  There are so many good characters in this story. 

In this reading of the classic tale, I was struck by how both Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes are realistic about the Civil War.  They both talk about how politicians and people with money have riled up the populace to fight in a war that they can’t win and that doesn’t benefit most of the people of the south.  I loved this quote by Rhett Butler, “All wars are sacred to those who have to fight them. If the people who started wars didn't make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight? But, no matter what rallying cries the orators give to the idiots who fight, no matter what noble purposes they assign to wars, there is never but one reason for war. And that is money. All wars are in reality money squabbles. But so, few people ever realize it. Their ears are too full of bugles and drums and fine words from stay-at-home orators. Sometimes the rallying cry is 'Save the Tomb of Christ from the Heathen!' Sometimes it's 'Down with Popery!' and sometimes 'Liberty!' and sometimes 'Cotton, slavery, and States' Rights!'”  Some things don’t change.  I totally didn’t remember these views in Gone with the Wind.

It was an interesting look at how the war changed everything in Georgia.  It does show how the war came right to where they lived and changed their lives forever.  The siege of Atlanta was one of the most thrilling sections of a book that I have ever read.  It was sad as characters you’ve grown to know died seemingly senseless deaths.

The book does paint a fantasy version of the perfect South that never really existed.  For instance, the black characters in the story are all happy slaves before the war.  After the war, free black people are not looked too kindly upon.  The most troubling aspect of the novel is that pretty much everyone Scarlett knows is in the Ku Klux Klan and it’s painted as a great organization that is protecting the women of the south.  It’s a very strange thing to read, especially knowing that Scarlett is Catholic and the KKK does not look too kindly upon Catholics.  This must be how the author in the 1930s South rationalized the KKK and its existence. 

I’ve recently been disturbed to see people who have never read this novel stating on my classic book club pages that you are racist if you’ve read this novel or enjoyed this novel.  I find that troubling as well.  You will never learn about the past and take a good look at what was bad and good if you just label things as racist without reading them and having discussions on them.  If we can’t look at the past to learn from our mistakes, I don’t know how we will move forward.

Book Source:  I own two copies of this book.  One is a June 1936 edition that I bought at an auction (sadly May 1936 is the first edition) and the other that I got at a half off bookstore.  It’s a beautiful copy as well.  This time around, I read it on my Kindle.

Lincoln’s Spies by Douglas Waller

 

Title:  Lincoln’s Spies:  Their Secret War to Save a Nation

Author:  Douglas Waller

Narrated by:  Danny Campbell

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 18 hours and 53 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

 Do you listen to audiobooks when you are on a long drive?  If so, what types of audiobooks do you like to listen to?

 We had a family discussion and picked Lincoln’s Spies by Douglas Waller for our audiobook to listen to on our family vacation to Gettysburg, Washington DC, and the Williamsburg area.  It was the perfect book to listen to as it went well with our stops in Gettysburg, at the Spy Museum, and our Lincoln Assassination Tour. 

 We thought this nonfiction book was going to be a look at four different spies during the war, Allan Pinkerton, George Sharpe, Elizabeth Van Lew, and Lafayette Baker.  While these four spies were certainly prominent, the book instead was more of a deep dive look into how intelligence or the lack thereof was the deciding factor in so many battles during the Civil War.  Lincoln was a great interpreter of the information he received from spies to determine what to do next.  This book focuses mostly on Union spies and the Eastern front.  It was great research and a very interesting different look into the Civil War. 

 Danny Campbell was a good narrator and this book was interesting to listen to on our journey.  The boys were vested in it and wanted to keep listening to it as we traveled.

 

News of the World by Paulette Giles

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd undertakes a 400-mile journey to deliver Johanna, a child kidnapped by Kiowa raiders, back to her relatives near San Antonio.  Reconstruction Texas is a dangerous place after the Civil War.  Settlers are constantly at war with the Kiowa and Comanche as they take over the native territory.  Settlers are also at war with themselves over politics.  Captain Kidd must take Johanna through this dangerous territory on an epic journey.  Johanna only speaks the Kiowa language and does not understand why she has been separated from her Kiowa family.  Captain Kidd must build a relationship with her and help her to learn English.  He also must earn money along the way.  He lost his printing press and money with Confederate bonds at the end of the war and now earns his living reading the newspapers from the East to audiences in each town that he stops by.  He doesn’t read local news as it can become too heated.  Will Captain Kidd and Johanna make it safely back to San Antonio?

 It took me a bit to get into this book with the almost stream of consciousness narrative and lack of punctuation.  Once I got into the story, I couldn’t put it down.  Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a wonderful character, a compassionate honorable man with an interesting history of his own.  I felt for Johanna as well and loved her progression as a character.  Contrasting Captain Kidd and Johanna with the world that they inhabited made me very nervous for the both of them.  This book ended perfectly.  It was a great story.

 Have you watched the movie yet?  I’m still waiting to watch it.  I would like to buy it rather than rent it.  We did just watch the Searchers with John Wayne this past weekend.  It is a beautiful movie but has a lot of troubling racism in it.  It did make me wonder though about children that were kidnapped by Native American tribes and what happened to them overall.  Would they be accepted and be able to adapt back to their old lives?  How would they be treated?  The note at the end of News of the World makes me believe it was not a happy ever after for them.  It also made me wonder about the reverse scenario, Native American children that were taken from their families and assimilated into pioneer culture.  How did they fair in the long run?

 I had read Simon the Fiddler last spring and I was happy to see him and Doris as minor characters in this novel.  It even concluded with what would happen with them in the future.  It was like getting to visit with old friends again.

 Favorite Quotes:

“This was how the Captain knew that the things of the imagination were often as real as those you laid your hand upon.”

 “If people had true knowledge of the world perhaps, they would not take up arms and so perhaps he could be an aggregator of information from distant places and then the world would be a more peaceful place.”

 “Men had lost the ability to discuss any political event in Texas in a reasonable manner.  There is no debate, only force.”

 “Some people were born unsupplied with a human conscience and those people needed killing.”

 Overall, News of the World is an excellent novel.  I highly recommend it.  I loved the characters and the story.  I loved the story of an honorable man in a not so honorable world.

 Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow. Thank-you!

Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles (TLC Book Tour)

In 1865, Simon Boudlin has managed to evade conscription by the Confederate Army as he travels around the South earning his living through playing beautiful and rousing tunes on his fiddle.  His luck runs out and he is conscripted at the end of the war into the Confederate Army as a fiddler and takes part in one last battle, the Battle of Los Palmitos.  Afterwards, Simon puts together a rag tag band of former confederates and union soldiers to earn a living playing at a variety of events.  At one such event, Simon sees Doris Mary Dillon and is instantly smitten.  Doris is an Irish governess for a Union Colonel’s family. She is indentured under a three-year contract and has to endure harsh treatment from the Colonel.  Simon dreams of owning his own piece of land and of marrying Doris.  Will Simon be able to fulfill his dreams?

I loved this book. It was beautifully written; I liked to slowly read and savor each sentence. It was told in a style of vignettes of different points in Simon’s journey through Texas.  I loved how times were harsh, but Simon and his band had to pull things together to survive.  Will they have enough food?  Will yellow fever carry them all off?  Where will they live?  What will they do without papers showing a formal dismissal from the army?  I also loved Doris’s journey.  It would be strange to be an immigrant in a strange land under the control of someone who has anger issues and that you have to be worried about trying to molest or rape you.  She had joy in life and was tamped down by the Colonel.  The old fashion romance between her and Simon through letters was very enjoyable.  The story was mostly told through Simon’s point of view, but also was told through her point of view as well.  I enjoyed how the story unfolded and gave us deeper background on characters as the story progressed.  I also loved the map on the inside cover of the book.  I looked at it often to think about and visualize Simon’s journey.

I have not read Jiles’s novel News of the World, but I need to move it further up my to read list.  The only downfall of Simon the Fiddler was that it ended.  I wanted to continue the journey of Simon and Doris.

What are your favorite novels of the Civil War, musicians, or the frontier?

Favorite Quotes:

“They were living in a world of returned soldiers who had fought, had seen death and destruction, suffered hunger and want, and were not afraid of Satan himself.”

“The Long Battle cries of the war had faded and now life settled down the way a bombed building settles down, extinguishing all the lamps as the walls fold in and it was a every man for himself, a kind of societal darkness or twilight that would take a long time to lift.”

“He was born into a world of horse traders and was well acquainted with deception and the need for caution at every step when it came to buying and selling.”

“He saw all the hard road before them unrolling like a scroll and their names there, for better or for worse, written in the Book of Life.”

Overall, Simon the Fiddler was a beautifully written novel with unforgettable characters set at the end of the Civil War.  During uncertain times, Simon was able to realize what he truly wanted out of life and was able to work towards that goal no matter what hurdles life threw at him.  This is a quintessential American story.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow for being a part of the TLC Book Tour. Thank-you!  For more stops on this tour, check out this link.

About Simon the Fiddler

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (April 14, 2020)

 The critically acclaimed, bestselling author of News of the World and Enemy Women returns to Texas in this atmospheric story, set at the end of the Civil War, about an itinerant fiddle player, a ragtag band of musicians with whom he travels trying to make a living, and the charming young Irish lass who steals his heart.

 In March 1865, the long and bitter War between the States is winding down. Till now, twenty-three-year-old Simon Boudlin has evaded military duty thanks to his slight stature, youthful appearance, and utter lack of compunction about bending the truth. But following a barroom brawl in Victoria, Texas, Simon finds himself conscripted, however belatedly, into the Confederate Army. Luckily his talent with a fiddle gets him a comparatively easy position in a regimental band.

Weeks later, on the eve of the Confederate surrender, Simon and his bandmates are called to play for officers and their families from both sides of the conflict. There the quick-thinking, audacious fiddler can’t help but notice the lovely Doris Mary Dillon, an indentured girl from Ireland, who is governess to a Union colonel’s daughter.

After the surrender, Simon and Doris go their separate ways. He will travel around Texas seeking fame and fortune as a musician. She must accompany the colonel’s family to finish her three years of service. But Simon cannot forget the fair Irish maiden, and vows that someday he will find her again.

Incandescent in its beauty, told in Paulette Jiles’s trademark spare yet lilting style, Simon the Fiddler is a captivating, bittersweet tale of the chances a devoted man will take, and the lengths he will go to fulfill his heart’s yearning. 

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Paulette Jiles

Paulette Jiles is a novelist, poet, and memoirist. She is the author of Cousins, a memoir, and the novels Enemy Women, Stormy Weather, The Color of Lightning, Lighthouse Island, and News of the World, which was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award. She lives on a ranch near San Antonio, Texas. Find out more about Paulette at her website.

 Photo by Jill Gann