Bjace sings The Great American Songbook

Forum2014 Category Challenge

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Bjace sings The Great American Songbook

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1Bjace
Aug. 30, 2013, 11:40 am

A bunch of us seem to be doing song-related items, so I'm going to adopt The Great American Song book (with a few additions) as my theme. During 2014, I will be reading books by American authors. I will do 12 books in each of 14 categories. Actually, I intend to do two challenges--a 14 by 14 and a 75 to accommodate mysteries.

2Bjace
Bearbeitet: Aug. 30, 2013, 1:34 pm

I will read 12 books in each of these 14 categories:

1. Fly me to the moon--Science fiction
2. You're the top--Books that won awards and the ML 100
3. In a mountain greenery--Books about the American landscape and natural world
4. Take me out to the ball game--Books about baseball, the American game
5. On the banks of the Wabash far away--Books by Indiana authors
6. Has anybody seen my girl?--Books by American gals
7. God bless America--Books about the Christian lifestyle
8. You must have been a beautiful baby--Children's books
9. As time goes by--Books on American history
10. A wonderful guy--Novels by male authors
11. Ol' man river--The American muse; poetry and ideas
12. People--Books about amazing American lives
13. I could write a book--Books written in 1914
14. Anything goes--For those times when I just want to read what I want to read.

3Bjace
Bearbeitet: Dez. 25, 2013, 12:12 pm

Category 1: Fly me to the moon--Science fiction
(September)

"Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars"

My nephew thinks I don't read enough SciFi, so I decided to try a category this year in his honor.

Possibles:

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Golden apples of the sun by Ray Bradbury
I sing the body electric by Ray Bradbury
No man in Eden by Harold Myra
Time and again by Jack Finney
Doomsday book by Connie Willis
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Through the Arch by Elmore Hammes
Moon is a harsh mistress by Robert Heinlein
Cat who walks through walls by Robert Heinlein
Do androids dream of electric sheep by Philip K. Dick
Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller

4Bjace
Bearbeitet: Feb. 10, 2014, 4:07 pm

Category 2: You're the top--Awards and the Modern Library 100
(January)

"You're a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeare sonnet"

Celebrating the best books by Americans.

Possibles:

The round house by Louise Erdrich
The orphan master's son by Adam Johnson
Death comes for the archbishop by Willa Cather
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
The reivers by William Faulkner
Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson
Portnoy's complaint by Philip Roth

Read:

Messer Marco Polo by Donn Byrne--**
One of ours by Willa Cather--***1/2
The ambassadors by Henry James--***

5Bjace
Bearbeitet: Feb. 8, 2014, 10:03 am

Category 3: In a mountain greenery--Books on the American landscape
(May)

"In a mountain greenery
Where God paints the scenery . . ."

Possibles:

Down the great river by Willard Glazier
Basin and range by John McPhee
Walking the dead diamond river by Edward Hoagland
Fire mountain by William Boly
Summer places by Brendan Gill
Journey into summer by Edwin Way Teale
Perfect storm by Sebastian Junger
Walden by Henry Thoreau
Coming into the country by John McPhee
A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry Thoreau

READ

Land of little rain by Mary Austin--***
A thousand mile walk to the Gulf by John Muir--***

6Bjace
Bearbeitet: Dez. 25, 2013, 12:27 pm

Category 4: Take me out to the ball game--Books about baseball
(June)

"For it's root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame . . ."

Base-ball is our game: the American game: I connect it with our national character.--Walt Whitman

Possibles:

Eight men out by Eliot Asinof
Heart of the order by Thomas Boswell
Glory of their times by Lawrence Ritter
Ball four by Jim Bouton
Long season by Jim Brosnan
Last good season by Michael Shapiro
Sal Maglie by Julia Testa
Perfect season by Tim McCarver
My life in baseball by Ty Cobb
Cracking the show by Thomas Boswell
Babe by Robert Creamer
Luckiest man by Jonathan Eig

7Bjace
Bearbeitet: Aug. 7, 2014, 11:40 am

Category 5: On the banks of the Wabash--Books by Indiana authors
(November)

"O, the moonlight's fair tonight upon the Wabash . . ."

Possibles:

Indiana as seen by early travelers by Harlow Lindley
Mary's neck by Booth Tarkington
Sit-down in Anderson by Claude Hoffman
Hoosier folk legends by Ronald Baker
The killdeer by Dorothy Hamilton
Murder in their hearts by David Thomas Murphy
The Hoosiers by Meredith Nicholson
The ripest moments by Norbert Krapf
Lynching in the heartland by James Madison
Country roads of Indiana by Sally McKinney

Read

In the arena by Booth Tarkington--***1/2
Through Charley's door by Emily Kimbrough--***

8Bjace
Bearbeitet: Okt. 24, 2014, 6:29 pm

Category 6: Has anybody seen my girl? Books by American women
(March, Women's history month)

"If you run into a 5'2
Covered with furs
Diamond rings
All those things
Bet you life it isn't her"

Possibles:

Boston adventure by Jean Stafford
Winter wheat by Mildred Walker
Girls from five great valleys by Elizabeth Savage
Two part invention by Madeleine L'Engle
Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion
Gentlemen prefer blondes by Anita Loos
Three Junes by Julia Glass
Sunday Jews by Hortense Callisher
Secret history by Donna Tartt
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig
Their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Christy by Catherine Marshall
Ghost of Monsieur Scarron by Janet Lewis

Read:

Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber--**1/2
Master of the vineyard by Myrtle Reed--*
Work by Louisa May Alcott--***1/2
The hidden hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth--***1/2
Do I wake or sleep? by Isabel Bolton--***

9Bjace
Bearbeitet: Sept. 1, 2013, 8:05 pm

Category 7: God bless America--Books about the Christian lifestyle

"God bless America . . . Stand beside her and guide her"

Possibles:

God who is there by Francis Schaeffer
Christianity is for the tough-minded by John W. Montgomery
What more can God say by Ray Stedman
Telling yourself the truth by William Backus
The burden is light by Eugenia Price
Involvement by John R. Stott
Gentle persuasion by Joseph Aldrich
Disciplines of a Godly man by R. Kent Hughes
Kingdoms in conflict by Charles Colson
Witnessing without fear by Bill Bright
Flying closer to the flame by Charles Swindoll
Abba's child by Brendan Manning
Always ready by Greg Bahnsen
God's outrageous claims by Lee Strobel

10Bjace
Bearbeitet: Okt. 2, 2014, 10:50 pm

Category 8: You must have been a beautiful baby--American children's books
(February)

"When it came to winning blue ribbons,
I bet you showed the other kids how"

"Dreams can grow wild born inside an American child--Phil Vassar, American child

Possibles:

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Many moons by James Thurber
Nacar, the white deer by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
Up a road slowly by Irene Hunt
An acceptable time by Madeleine L'Engle
Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle
Half magic by Edward Eager
My side of the mountain by Jean Craighead George
Thimble summer by Elizabeth Enright
Island of the blue dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Black stallion by Walter Farley
Here lies the librarian by Richard Peck
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

READ

Valentine box by Maud Hart Lovelace--**1/2
What Cabrillo found by Maud Hart Lovelace--***
How many miles to Sundown by Patricia Beatty--***
Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes--***1/2
The marvelous land of Oz by L. Frank Baum--***1/2
Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright--***

11Bjace
Bearbeitet: Jan. 31, 2014, 2:41 pm

Category 9: As time goes by--Books on American History
(October)

"You must remember this"

Flowering of New England by Van Wyck Brooks
Stillness at Appomatox by Bruce Catton
Stillwell and the American experience in China by Barbara Tuchman
The Great bridge by David McCullough
First salute by Barbara Tuchman
Good war by Studs Terkel
House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
Undaunted courage by Stephen Ambrose
Indian captivity narratives
Mutual contempt by Jeff Shesol
Isaac's storm by Erik Larson
All the daring of the soldier by Elizabeth D. Leonard
Pioneers, engineers and scoundrels by Beverly Kimes
Unwise passions by Alan P. Crawford
American nations by Colin Woodward
Hot time in the old town by Edward P. Kohn
Path between the seas by David McCullough

12Bjace
Bearbeitet: Dez. 6, 2014, 2:18 pm

Category 10: A wonderful guy--Books by American men
(December)

"I'm in love with a wonderful guy"

Possibles:

Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts
Memoirs of Hectate County by Edmund Wilson
Drums along the Mohawk by Walter Edmonds
Moveable feast by Ernest Hemingway
Summer in Williamsburg by Daniel Fuchs
Never come morning by Nelson Algren
Mawrdew Czgowchwz by James McCourt
Sermons and soda-water by John O'Hara
Open heart by Frederick Buechner
How Come Christmas by Roark Bradford
Bonfire of the vanities by Tom Wolfe
Stranger in the kingdom by Howard Mosher
Big rock candy mountain by Wallace Stegner
Education of Oscar Fairfax by Louis Auchincloss
Going after Cacciato by Tim O'Brien
Last hurrah by Edwin O'Connor
House behind the cedars Charles Chesnutt
Inside of the cup by Winston Churchill
Through the wheat by Thomas Boyd
Pencil man by Don McAllister
Tell me how long this train's been gone by James Baldwin
Wheat that springeth green by J. F. Powers

Read:

The red badge of courage--by Stephen Crane--***1/2
Mollie Peer by Van Reid--***1/2
Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain--***

13Bjace
Bearbeitet: Jul. 13, 2014, 4:41 pm

Category 11: Ol' man river--American poetry, essays and philosophy
(April, Poetry month)

"I will fall in love with a Salem tree
And a rawhide quirt from Santa Cruz
I will get me a bottle of Boston sea
And a blue gum darky to sing me blues
I am tired of loving a foreign muse"

American Names, Stephen Vincent Benet

Possibles:

Leaves of grass by Walt Whitman
Thurber country by James Thurber
Songs for a little house by Christopher Morley
In the American grain by William Carlos Williams
Blueberry pie and other stories by Thyra Winslow
Chips off the old Benchley by Robert Benchley
Here lies: the collected stories of Dorothy Parker
John Brown's body by Stephen Vincent Benet
Book of Americans by Stephen Vincent Benet
Up in the old hotel by Joseph Mitchell
Diamond as big as the Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Neon wilderness by Nelson Algren
Slouching toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Edgar Allen Poe's Complete Poetical works
True believer by Eric Hoffer
Wampeters, foma and granfaloons by Kurt Vonnegut
Common sense by Thomas Paine
Free to choose by Milton Friedman
Culture of disbelief by Stephen Carter
Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner
Why we can't wait by Martin Luther King, Jr.

READ

Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard--**
Benchley lost and found by Robert Benchley--***1/2
Civil disobedience by Henry David Thoreau--***

14Bjace
Bearbeitet: Dez. 20, 2014, 1:41 am

Category 12: People: Books about amazing American lives
(July)

Possibles:

Cavett by Dick Cavett
Lyndon Johnson: the path to power by Robert A. Caro
Born again by Charles Colson
Means of ascent by Robert Caro
Seven storey mountain by Thomas Merton
Mornings on horseback by David McCullough
Story of my life by Helen Keller
Bold spirit by Linda Hunt
The mysterious private Thompson by Laura Gansler
Eden's outcasts by John Matteson
Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
Nurse and spy in the Union Army by Sarah Emma Edmons
Passionate sage by Joseph Ellis
American sphinx by Joseph Ellis

READ

Royko: a life in print by F. Richard Ciccone--***
Anybody can do anything by Betty MacDonald--***1/2

15Bjace
Bearbeitet: Dez. 15, 2014, 2:06 pm

Category 13: I could write a book--Books published in 1914
(August)

A holdover from 2013, one of my favorite categories.

Possibles:

Titan by Theodore Dreiser
Insurgent Mexico by John Reed
Our Mr. Wrenn by Sinclair Lewis
Muse's tragedy by Edith Wharton
Vandover and the brute by Frank Norris
Letters of a woman homesteader by Elinoire Pruitt Stewart
Three sisters by May Sinclair
Through the Brazillian wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt

Read:

Dark hollow by Anna Katharine Green--**
Personality plus by Edna Ferber--**1/2
Congo and other poems by Vachel Lindsay--***
Street of seven stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart--**

16Bjace
Bearbeitet: Okt. 5, 2014, 5:32 pm

Category 14: Anything goes--For anything I want to read whenever

"In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on a something shocking,
Now Heaven knows
Anything goes"

READ

The cuckoo clock by Mrs. Molesworth--***
Belles on their toes by Frank Gilbreth, Jr.--***
Death of a policeman by M. C. Beaton--***1/2
Ursule Mirouet by Honore de Balzac--***
1001 books for every mood by Hallie Ephron--***
Case of the Baker Street Irregulars by Anthony Boucher--***1/2

17mamzel
Aug. 30, 2013, 3:49 pm

I see some very interesting titles in your lists. I hope you have a smashing year in books!

18rabbitprincess
Aug. 30, 2013, 5:44 pm

Very important to have an anything goes category! I love how musical our group is this year :) Great choices.

19cbl_tn
Aug. 30, 2013, 7:09 pm

I like your Indiana category and I'll be keeping an eye out for books I need to add to my own collection!

20christina_reads
Aug. 30, 2013, 10:56 pm

Yay for another music-related theme! :) Looks like you already have a ton of great possibilities lined up, but I have to suggest Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig for your baseball category. It's one of my top reads of 2013, and I'm not even really a fan of baseball!

21Bjace
Aug. 31, 2013, 7:26 am

Thanks, Christina. I'll put it in. If I can read about Ty Cobb, the ultimate baseball baddy, surely I can read about Gehrig as well.

22christina_reads
Aug. 31, 2013, 9:26 am

Ty Cobb even makes a few appearances in the Gehrig book! :)

23lindapanzo
Aug. 31, 2013, 9:41 pm

I love the theme and your categories should be interesting, as well.

Naturally, I'm most interested to see what you'll read in your baseball category.

24-Eva-
Aug. 31, 2013, 11:58 pm

Another thread where I come away humming a song - looking good!!

25majkia
Sept. 1, 2013, 10:19 am

I'm not sure which is worse. Earwigs or BookBullets....

26LittleTaiko
Sept. 6, 2013, 10:08 pm

Love the song choices!

27DeltaQueen50
Sept. 7, 2013, 7:45 pm

Looks like you have a great year of reading ahead of you, Beth. I am looking forward to following along!

28lkernagh
Sept. 15, 2013, 8:03 pm

Take me out to the Ballgame - what a classic song and already has me wishing that spring was on its way! I see I will be introduced to a number of new to me authors as I follow your reading.... looking forward to that!

29paruline
Sept. 17, 2013, 5:49 am

Lots of great reads planned again this year!

30thornton37814
Sept. 20, 2013, 8:59 am

You've got some good categories set up.

31casvelyn
Bearbeitet: Sept. 23, 2013, 9:39 pm

I'm doing a Hoosier author category as well! I haven't really thought about possibilities yet, but I know I'm going to read The Hoosiers, since I already own it. I'm also planning on Rachel Peden (my favorite Hoosier author), Charles Major, and Booth Tarkington. I'm also probably due for a reread of Alice of Old Vincennes, which is a long-standing family favorite, since my family's lived near Vincennes for over 200 years.

ETA: How could I forget Gene Stratton-Porter?! I once polished the floors and woodwork in her house. (It was part of my grad program's annual public service day, and it makes a nice "tell us a random fact about yourself, because really, how many people have waxed a famous person's floors?)

32Bjace
Sept. 23, 2013, 10:22 pm

#31, Casvelyn, I'm continuing in my efforts to read the Indiana authors that the customers ask about. I figure I'll get done about the time I retire.

If you've never read her and happen upon one of her books, try something by Esther Kellner of the New Castle/Richmond area. The Devil and Aunt Serena is a joy.

I'll have to look into Rachel Peden, who I've never read.

33casvelyn
Sept. 23, 2013, 10:36 pm

Rachel Peden was a newspaper columnist, conservationist, and farm wife who wrote about her life and experiences in rural Indiana (outside Bloomington) from her childhood in the early twentieth century right up until her death in 1975. Her three books were recently republished by an imprint of IU Press--I personally like her newspaper columns better, but unless you have access to the editorial page of the Indianapolis Star from 1946 to 1975, her books are really the only way to access her work. Her work is in some ways similar to that of Aldo Leopold or Edwin Way Teale (another Hoosier), with a bit of Wendell Berry. She's also the sister of philanthropist and newspaper editor Nina Mason Pulliam and children's author Miriam Mason.

34cyderry
Sept. 24, 2013, 8:53 am

I did a song theme in 2013 and debating whether to do it again. Yours look fun!

35Bjace
Jan. 2, 2014, 8:05 pm

Starting out, with not much confidence. I didn't complete last year's challenge, but I'm looking forward to reading. I've decided to concentrate on American authors this year and I hope this will go well.

36Bjace
Jan. 2, 2014, 8:08 pm

Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard--**
Category: Anything goes

Polemic about initiative and dedication. While I like the line, "all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous", the whole thing reads like it was written by Rush Limbaugh.

37cbl_tn
Jan. 2, 2014, 8:12 pm

It's good to see you back for 2014!

38Bjace
Jan. 4, 2014, 11:26 am

The cuckoo clock by Mrs. Molesworth--***
Category: Anything goes

This is a holdover from 2013, an English children's book recommended by 1001 Children's books to read before you die. The book is a hybrid (and let me explain what I mean by that.) The best English children's authors always understand that children aren't angels and give them tempers and various other flaws. Grizelda, the heroine of The cuckoo clock, is a motherless girl who is sent to two of her father's elderly aunts to be raised. She is lonely despite the aunts' beautiful home and devoted attentions and begins to be cranky, bored and uncooperative. Her attention is taken by the family's cuckoo clock. The cuckoo is magic and he begins talking to Grizelda and takes her on several magical adventures. The adventures are charming and beautifully imaged, but the talking is more like nagging and the author outlines the behavior amendments required with a slightly heavy hand. Still, it's less preachy than most other children's book of the period and the fantasy is fun.

39Bjace
Jan. 5, 2014, 10:20 pm

The red badge of courage by Stephen Crane--***1/2
Category: I'm in love with a wonderful guy

Stephen Crane wrote a few influential American novels in a short, tuberculosis-laden life and this is probably the best known. I found hard to read and amazingly written. Crane's prose is royal purple and full of images both beautiful and horrible. The story of Henry, a fairly ignorant young Civil War soldier and how he faces his first battle, takes the reader through a horrific journey. Henry fights, deserts, returns, fights again and comes to terms with himself and his actions.

40Bjace
Jan. 6, 2014, 12:41 am

Messer Marco Polo by Donn Byrne--**
Category: You're the top

Early Pulitzer Prize winner. Odd little novel, which presents the life of Marco Polo as a story told by an Irish bard. The Polo material has more to do with Coleridge's poem than history and creates a romance between Marco Polo and Kubla Khan's daughter. Does not stand up well.

41electrice
Bearbeitet: Jan. 6, 2014, 6:29 am

Hi Beth, great review of The red badge of courage. I'll put it on the candidate list for my category Historical fiction vs War fiction. Thanks :)

42Bjace
Jan. 7, 2014, 9:53 am

Personality plus by Edna Ferber--**1/2
Category: I could write a book (Books published in 1914)

Single mother Emma McChesney watches anxiously over her son Jock as he begins his advertising career. Always afraid that he might turn out like his cad father, she sees his brash confidence falter at times, watches him develop some business ethics the hard way and is both pleased and a little downcast at his early success when it leaves her with an empty nest. Pleasant little story, with well-drawn characters.

43Bjace
Jan. 9, 2014, 11:52 pm

Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber--**1/2
Category: Has anybody seen that girl?

Emma McChesney, single mom and former traveling saleswoman, has climbed the corporate ladder and is now a partner in a women's clothing firm. Rather than rest on her laurels, she expands her market to South America and designs a new skirt when the fashions change. A series of sketches shows Emma as she settles in to a new life.

This is the third book in the series and is less compelling than the other two. The best parts of the book are when Emma muses on the issues that absorb working women--work vs. marriage, clothes and relationships vs. the job. These were fun to read, though.

44thornton37814
Jan. 10, 2014, 7:08 pm

I remember trying to read an Edna Ferber book back in high school. I hated it. I just remember everything being frozen in it. I think my teacher let me switch to a different book since it was one you could select from a list. It wasn't the type of book I thought it was.

45DeltaQueen50
Jan. 11, 2014, 5:26 pm

I actually fell in love with Edna Ferber when I was a teenager. I found her on my own and remember devouring So Big, Giant, Show Boat and others. Sometimes I think the worst thing is to be force fed an author in school.

46Bjace
Jan. 11, 2014, 10:18 pm

I just kind of fell into Edna Ferber. The Emma McChesney books are light and pleasant fun. I agree about being force fed an author. I can't think of either Lord of the flies or Silas Marner without wincing.

47Bjace
Bearbeitet: Jan. 18, 2014, 7:24 am

Master of the vineyard by Myrtle Reed--*
Category: Has anybody seen my gal?

Occasionally I like to read a really awful book. Not just mediocre, as though an author had a good premise and just couldn't execute it, but really bad. Master of the vineyard filled the bill very nicely. Alden Marsh, the master of the vineyard, is a spoiled brat who hates grapes and is only hanging around because his mother manipulated him into it. He becomes engaged to Rosemary, a hearty young girl badly in need of a makeover, chiefly because she's the only female creature between 20 and 50 that he knows. He is then immediately captivated by a mysterious and beautiful stranger, with whom he shares some sort of weird telepathic connection. They fall in love, but she is duty bound to return to her husband. He is reconciled to grapes and to Rosemary after pages of turgid prose.

The best thing about the novel are the two villains of the piece--Rosemary's grandmother and aunt. Reed had a real comic gift, especially with lower-class characters, and the two women have several ignorant panel discussions about items in the newspaper that are actually quite funny. But basically this is an awful example of an early 20th century romantic novel.

48Merryann
Jan. 13, 2014, 11:00 am

Poor Rosemary! I wanna read the sequel in which she grows self-esteem, clears out his bank account, and runs off with the dude down the road.

49electrice
Jan. 14, 2014, 1:26 pm

>47 Bjace: Occasionally I like to read a really awful book. Not just mediocre, as though an author had a good premise and just couldn't execute it, but really bad. Hi Beth, I like to do that too but with movie and TV show. I never thought of doing this with book but why not !?

50Bjace
Bearbeitet: Jan. 30, 2014, 4:29 pm

In the arena by Booth Tarkington--***1/2
Category: On the banks of the Wabash

Booth Tarkington, the great Hoosier author, was amazingly prolific. This collection of vignettes about politics and the human faces behind the scenes and around the edges was probably inspired by Tarkington's one term in the Indiana General Assembly. This is a surprisingly good collection, funny in a home-spun way, poignant and tragic, especially the story about an Italian vendor who loved a German waitress with sad consequences. Good stuff from an author who's all but forgotten.

51Bjace
Bearbeitet: Feb. 12, 2014, 7:15 am

Work by Louisa May Alcott--***1/2
Category: Has anybody seen my gal?

Louisa May Alcott came from a family of professional busybodies (in a good way); they were temperance advocates, abolitionists and feminists. In most of Alcott's books for young people, she endeavors to show female characters that are hard-working, educated and striving to better themselves. She had as much contempt for a society that kept well-to-do young women empty-headed, vain and idle as she did compassion for women whose poverty forced them to endless toil.

Work is the story of Christie Devon, a New England orphan brought up by her kind aunt and hard-hearted uncle. Rather than be dependent on (and beholden to) her relatives all her life, she strikes out on her own, determined to work and make an independent life for herself. Christie moves through a series of careers, is proposed to by a rich man (who she refuses) and gets herself into trouble standing up for a friend who has been a "fallen woman." This loses Christie her job; she steadily declines into melancholy until she is helped by kind people. She falls in love and marries, only to lose her husband in the Civil War. Her short marriage brings her a child, which inspires her to work once more, so that she can not only give her daughter a better life but help other women.

Alcott's prose is hearty and somewhat syrupy. I liked the book for its realistic understanding of the lot of women in the 19th century. Christie Devon isn't a Horatio Alger-type hero; she can't be, because no matter how much of a will most 19th century women brought to work, the decks were stacked against them. They had too little practical training, too few opportunities and the margin for error was far too thin. (Illness or a moral slip brought almost certain disaster.) I found the story pleasant and interesting. Alcott even gets to indulge her taste for melodrama in one chapter in which Christie works for a family with hereditary madness in their genes.

I've read three of Alcott's autobiographical items so far and have enjoyed them all. She was more interesting than any character she ever created.

52Bjace
Jan. 20, 2014, 11:24 pm

One of ours by Willa Cather--***1/2
1922 Pulitzer Prize winner
Category: You're the top

Reading Willa Cather is like listening to a story told by a wise old woman. One of ours is the story of Claude Wheeler, the son of a Nebraska farmer. While bright and capable, nothing has ever gone quite right for Claude. He has to leave college to farm. He marries disastrously. He feels that he can do great things, but nothing ever seems to happen in his life. When the US enters WWI, he enlists and finds himself as a leader of men.

I really enjoyed this book, but it was in some ways agonizing to read. The first half of the book is set in the Nebraska farm country and Cather creates a vivid, compelling group of characters who are completely abandoned in the second half, which is too bad. I would like to know what happened to Claude's frigid wife who has gone off to China to nurse her missionary sister and his happy-go-lucky brother and the school teacher who loves him. Waiting to see if Claude will survive or not was agonizing.

Cather supplies a little of the jingoistic propaganda that Americans believed about their participation in WWI, but it's kept to a minimum. More interesting is her depiction of German immigrants in Nebraska and how their neighbors reacted to their reluctance to completely abandon Germany and entirely approve of a war that many Americans thought we had no business in.

53whitewavedarling
Jan. 21, 2014, 11:27 am

Did you ever come across and read Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott? I never got interested in her more well-known fiction (though, maybe I should retry it now that I'm older...?), but I read some of the thrillers in the Behind a Mask collection, and really enjoyed them. They're made up of the thrillers she wrote to actually make money along the way (long short story/novella length), and I mean to read all of them one of these days--I was between stories, and the collection ended up getting put down during a move and not picked back up, as things do.

54DeltaQueen50
Jan. 21, 2014, 3:36 pm

#52 - A very good review of One of Ours, Beth. I also wondered about his wife as she is just not mentioned once Claude goes off to war. I wonder did she write? Did she ever come home from China? I didn't have much patience with Claude in the first half of the book, he seemed to have very little substance and just drifted through life. Although perhaps that was her point.

55Bjace
Jan. 22, 2014, 5:18 pm

#53, have never had any inclination to read Alcott's thrillers, though I may change my mind about that. Am enjoying reading her books written for adults. #52, Judy, I always like Willa Cather, but wasn't familiar with One of ours until recently. I'm reading mostly American books this year by choice and would like to read My Antonia, The song of the lark and Death comes for the archbishop as well, but perhaps that's too ambitious.

56DeltaQueen50
Jan. 22, 2014, 11:36 pm

I picked up Song of the Lark and O Pioneers for the Kindle today, I don't know if I will be able to fit either one in this year, but I feel better just knowing I have them for the future.

57Bjace
Jan. 23, 2014, 12:24 pm

Royko: a life in print by F. Richard Ciccone--***
Category: People

I've been a Mike Royko fan for years and have always wanted to read something about him that he didn't write. This is a good, competent biography--a bit heavier on the comments on the American journalistic scene than I would have liked, but well done. Ciccone knew Royko well, but this doesn't read like a personal memoir of a famous person, which is heavily in its favor. I always like reading Royko because he said things very much like my father and uncles would have. I am, however, glad I didn't have him as a father or uncle. For all his gifts, he comes across as an angry guy.

58Bjace
Jan. 23, 2014, 12:25 pm

#56, Judy, I read O pioneers last year and liked it very much. It goes fairly quickly, more so than One of ours did.

59electrice
Jan. 25, 2014, 12:59 am

>51 Bjace: Hi Beth, good review. I've read three of Alcott's autobiographical items so far and have enjoyed them all. Which one will you recommend ?

60Bjace
Jan. 25, 2014, 9:45 am

#59, Electrice, Transcendental wild oats and Hospital sketches are both short. Hospital sketches was Alcott's first published work and it's a little rough, plus I think she wasn't especially candid. She tried to make being a war nurse in a hospital sound like a cheery, positive thing and it couldn't have been. Work is the best of the three.

61electrice
Jan. 25, 2014, 9:49 am

>60 Bjace: Thanks Beth, the touchstone for Work is the wrong one, it redirect me to Dave Eggers book ...

62Bjace
Bearbeitet: Feb. 12, 2014, 7:11 am

Land of little rain by Mary Austin--***
Category: In a mountain greenery

Lyrical description of life in the southern California desert country around the turn of the 20th century. I enjoyed just reading the essays and letting the word pictures pass through my mind. Actually, the best essays are those about people and towns. Beautifully written and easy to read, but I doubt if I'll remember it for long.

63Bjace
Jan. 30, 2014, 1:24 pm

The hidden hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth--***1/2
Category: Has anybody seen that gal?

E.D.E.N. Southworth was a well-educated young woman who was deserted by her husband and needed to support herself and her children. To do that, she turned to writing books. If my reaction to this book is any indication, she was wildly successful. Hands down, The hidden hand is my favorite book this month. The hidden hand is the story of Capitola, who has no last name. She has grown up in the slums of New York city. Abandoned, she dresses as a boy to keep herself safe. One day she meets a Southern gentleman; he later saves her from being sent to the orphanage and takes her as his ward to his fine home in Virginia. He, like everyone in this novel, has a secret in his past.

The plot unrolls from there. The book, although set in the antebellum South, is relatively kind to both slave and slaveowner. The Mas'r threatens all manner of harm to his slaves, but never hurts anyone. Capitola is a wonderful character. She has principles, but also literally doesn't care what anyone thinks of what she does and she's likely to do anything. There are a couple serious villains in the piece of the mustache-twirling, cheat-the-widow-and-orphan type and it also has its share of stalwart young men and pretty, intelligent young women.

The best thing about this is that it was 400 pages long in Ebook and I raced through it in a morning. It's not politically correct, but it's enormous fun.

64Bjace
Jan. 30, 2014, 1:35 pm

How many miles to Sundown? by Patricia Beatty
Category: You must have been a beautiful baby

Patricia Beatty wrote two types of historical fiction for children--American historical, frequently centered on a female character, and English, which she wrote with her husband. How many miles to Sundown, set in the early 1880's, is the story of Beulah Land Quiney, who travels with her brother and another young man from her home in Texas to Sundown in California. She is more or less shanghaied into it when her brother steals her horse and she follows him on his horse with her pet longhorn steer in tow. When it comes to strong female characters, Beulah breaks the mold: she is more often than not mistaken for a boy and her brother is afraid of her. The trio has adventures with outlaws, Native Americans and circus performers and Beatty creates a realistic picture of the West at that time.

This book is something of a sequel to Long way to Whiskey Creek by the same author and has some of the same characters.

65Bjace
Jan. 30, 2014, 1:39 pm

What Cabrillo found by Maud Hart Lovelace--***
Category: You must have been a beautiful baby

Maud Hart Lovelace is famous for her Betsy-Tacy series of books, but she also wrote other children's books as well. This book is a history of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and the discovery of California by the Spanish in the 16th century. It's written in a way that is sympathetic to both the Spanish and to Native Americans and is both factual and readable. If Ms. Lovelace hadn't had a better gig, she could have written children's histories and biographies quite successfully.

66Bjace
Jan. 30, 2014, 1:45 pm

The valentine box by Maud Hart Lovelace--**1/2
Category: You must have been a beautiful baby

The most interesting thing about this story is the illustrations and what ISN'T in the text. Janice is a new girl in school and feeling lonely. She has not been able to make friends and is afraid she will receive no valentines at the class valentine party. On the way back to school, she helps a girl in her class out and they become friends. Standard story done well, sweet but not cloying.

What isn't even mentioned in the text is that Janice is African-American and that her classmates are white, which puts a whole different slant on it. It also makes me wonder what the author's intention was and whether the interracial angle was the author's, the illustrator's or the publisher's.

67Bjace
Feb. 3, 2014, 5:02 pm

January recap
Books read: 16
Favorite: The hidden hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth, a dandy adventure starring an early feminist prototype.
Least favorite: Master of the vineyard by Myrtle Reed, a truly awful romance. I need to stop buying books at the library book sale.
Up in February: Continuing to read The ambassadors by Henry James. I had a good HJ reading experience last year, but I may have gone a book too far. Starting Leaves of grass by Walt Whitman and am determined to finish it this year.

68Bjace
Feb. 8, 2014, 10:13 am

Thousand mile walk to the gulf by John Muir--***
Category: In a mountain greenery, books about the American landscape

In 1867, John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, decided to walk from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico, studying plants along the way. His diary of his trip through an American South only a few years after the Civil War, is almost more interesting for what it tells about the people he met than the plants which were his focus. Muir saw everything through a lyrical, worshipful eye and he was endlessly fascinated by the natural world of the continent, while being mostly kind about the squalor that some of its people lived in. He was probably decent to the African-Americans he met although he comes across as patronizing in his written thoughts. The last chapter and a half are tacked on from letters that Muir wrote later and have nothing to do with his Southern trip.

69Bjace
Feb. 8, 2014, 10:21 am

Congo and other poems by Vachel Lindsay--***
Category: I could write a book; Books published in 1914

What a difference a century makes. The title poem, The Congo, was probably considered daring and innovative in 1913. As the poem deals with the effect of a primitive inheritance on the African-American soul and contains lines like "Mumbo jumbo will hoodoo you", my guess is that today Lindsay would be villified and boycotted. There's some nice stuff in this collection. He wrote well for children. I hadn't realized that "The moon's the north wind's cookie" was once of his and his whole 22-poem sequence on the moon is very nice. The last section of the book is patriotic and dreadful. World War I began in August of 1914 and Lindsay wrote 4 or 5 poems expressing his outrage over German-Austrian aggression. He must have written them quickly to make his publishing date and it shows. His heart's in the right place, but the poetry's not very good.

I like poetry and plan to read more of it this year.

70Bjace
Bearbeitet: Feb. 12, 2014, 7:09 am

The ambassadors by Henry James--***
Category: You're the top, American prize winners and MLA 100 books

Does anyone ever behave like a Henry James character except in a Henry James novel? In the very last chapter of The Ambassadors, Lambert Streether, the Ambassador, who has come to Paris to convince his fiancee's son to come home and go into advertising, is in dire straights. He is headed home to America to meet with his now ex-fiancee. He has not much money and no particular desire to leave. A woman he has met more or less offers him a future with her in Paris and he rejects her for some super-sensitive reason. Do real people do this?

Add the convoluted (and, I suspect, constipated) prose and the obscure dialog and The Ambassadors can be a bit indigestible. James does pull a rather nifty trick in the last part of the book and I enjoyed it more than I expected, but it will be quite a while before I try nibbling through any of his books again.

71thornton37814
Feb. 10, 2014, 6:21 pm

70> Does anyone ever behave like a Henry James character except in a Henry James novel?

You made me smile! It's been a long time since I've read anything by James. I really ought to, but you know . . . "so many books, so little time."

72Bjace
Feb. 10, 2014, 6:38 pm

Lori, I used to not bother with Henry James. I thought life was too short to read all that hyper-sensitive meandering. Then last year I read Portrait of a lady, which I really liked. After this book, however, I'm returning to my former attitude. Life is too short to mess with Henry James novels.

73thornton37814
Feb. 10, 2014, 6:50 pm

I think I've read Portrait of a Lady and Washington Square. I want to at least try Daisy Miller at some point.

74Bjace
Feb. 10, 2014, 7:14 pm

Daisy Miller is short and I liked it very much.

75Bjace
Feb. 11, 2014, 9:23 pm

Benchley lost and found by Robert Benchley--***1/2
Category: Old man river, American poems, essays and philosophy

In some ways, Robert Benchley is the closest American equivalent to P. G. Wodehouse that I know. Benchley specialized in short pieces that were pure broad burlesque. This collection of Benchley's magazine pieces from Liberty Magazine, early 1930s, is a hoot. Benchley writes about vitamins, children's literature and candy, sea serpents and other topics of American goofiness. This is not the best Benchley collection I've read, but you should get at least one LOL moment per piece.

76cbl_tn
Feb. 11, 2014, 10:15 pm

I haven't read Benchley, but it sounds like I should. On to the wishlist he goes!

77Bjace
Feb. 11, 2014, 10:55 pm

He can be really hilarious. If you can find it, try to get The Benchley roundup which is a list of his best pieces selected by his son.

78Bjace
Feb. 15, 2014, 4:09 pm

Belles on their toes by Frank Gilbreth--***
Category: Anything goes

Sequel to Cheaper by the dozen, it tells the story of the Gilbreth family after the death of Frank Gilbreth, a motion-study expert. The key character is their mother, Lillian Moeller Gilbreth, who was her husband's business partner and took over his business after his death, and deals mostly with the first few years after her husband's death, when she was struggling to re-start the company and raise 11 children on her own. Inspiring story, charming book.

79Bjace
Feb. 25, 2014, 9:51 pm

Death of a policeman by M. C. Beaton--***1/2
Category: Anything goes

When Inspector Blair's latest attempt to shut Hamish Macbeth's police station results in the death of a police officer, Hamish, Jimmy Anderson and his constable must sort out a mess of drug and human trafficking and the possibility that police higher-ups may be involved. Both Hamish and his constable are still unlucky in love. I enjoyed this latest book more than the 2 or 3 previous. I didn't suspect the murderer and should have.

80lindapanzo
Feb. 26, 2014, 5:32 pm

After 28 books, I've sworn off reading Hamish. I'd gotten really, really tired of this series.

Maybe I should re-start on these?

81Bjace
Feb. 26, 2014, 8:33 pm

Linda, I thought this was better than the last 3 or 4 I'd read.

82-Eva-
Feb. 28, 2014, 11:53 pm

I've not read any of the Hamish Macbeths, but after watching the TV-series I bought a few - not sure I'll make it to 28, though! :)

83Bjace
Bearbeitet: Sept. 25, 2014, 11:20 am

The marvelous land of Oz by L. Frank Baum--***1/2
Category: You must have been a beautiful baby

I had read The wonderful wizard of Oz several years ago and found it rather clunky. The movie took all of the good ideas and left out the dull parts. I wasn't expecting much when I decided to read the sequel, but the book is fey and charming. Tip, the servant of a nasty old witch, accidentally brings a wooden body with a pumpkin head to life and flees with him and a magical sawhorse brought to life. When trying to enlist the help of the Scarecrow, both he and the Scarecrow are trapped by a very peculiar army of girls (whose weapons are knitting needles) who have come to conquer the Emerald City so that they can pry the emeralds out of the streets. They escape to the Tin Man and the whole enterprise comes down to find a hidden princess named Ozma, who is the real hereditary ruler of Oz. There is also a charming character called a Highly Magnified Woggle Bug, who makes atrocius puns. This was really fun book and I may go on to read more Oz books.

84Bjace
Sept. 22, 2014, 12:49 pm

Do I wake or sleep? by Isabel Bolton--***
Category: Has anybody seen that gal?

36 hours in the life of a minor writer on the New York scene. Europe is about to erupt into World War II. A young friend of the writer, a charming young woman who is more adventuress than not, has a quarter-Jewish child who is caught in Europe and an older male novelist (who doesn't have the money) is willing to go to any lengths to bribe her out. The whole story is bounded by alcohol-fueled lunches, dinners and parties and when a small but violent incident occurs, the world of the two older novelists is seriously fractured. This was an interesting book, but the main character is somewhat ambivalent and a good minority of the text is taken up with impressionist ramblings which I wasn't that interested in.

85Bjace
Sept. 24, 2014, 9:40 pm

Ursule Mirouet by Honore de Balzac--***
Category: Anything goes

I hadn't read any Balzac since the mid-80's when I devoured the 500+ page Cousine Bette in 2-3 days and I was looking forward to this one. Ursule is the darling of her rich uncle. She is beautiful, devout, well-educated and charming, but because her father was illegitimate her ability to inherit her uncle's fortune is doubtful. The man she loves and who loves her is the son of an aristocrat who believes that Ursule's heritage makes her unworthy. She is surrounded by human sharks in her French provincial town, who hate her because she is likely to inherit a penny that they feel should be theirs. When her uncle dies, a train of events is set in motion which comes to an unpredictable (and unlikely) end. There's a somewhat silly subplot involving mesmerism and mediums, but Balzac is unequaled at portraying the French bourgeoisie in all its practicality and greed. Not what I expected, but a good read.

86Bjace
Sept. 24, 2014, 9:42 pm

1001 books for every mood by Hallie Ephron--***
Category: Anything goes

I devour bibliographies and books full of suggestions about what to read next. This one was good, not great. Lots of good books are covered, but the author's not as good as Nancy Pearl. I felt good because I'd read more than 10% of the suggested books--146 out of the 1001.

87Bjace
Okt. 2, 2014, 10:54 pm

Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright--***
Category: You must have been a beautiful baby

This sequel to Elizabeth Enright's delightful Gone-Away Lake is nearly as delightful as the original. Portia and her family buy a decrepit house at a run-down former resort community and redo it. Not much happens, but it's full of nice characters and pleasant situations.

88thornton37814
Okt. 3, 2014, 9:39 pm

>87 Bjace: I remember Gone-Away Lake, but I think I'd have to re-read it before I could read the sequel. Sounds fun though.

89Bjace
Dez. 8, 2014, 11:49 am

I didn't finish this and here's why. In late March, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I have had surgery and chemotherapy and, while I am not yet cancer-free, I am feeling much better and have faith in God. When I was so sick, I really couldn't read much. I had to reduce my household and most of my books were sold or given away. (It's something I still won't let myself think about.) Many of the books I had planned to read were scattered to the four winds. I'm going to try a '15 challenge because I still love to read and I missed all of you.

90mamzel
Dez. 8, 2014, 3:04 pm

So sorry to hear of your troubles and I hope you'll have clear sailing here on. I'm glad, however, that you are staying with us.

91rabbitprincess
Dez. 8, 2014, 6:06 pm

Oh no! That sounds like a very rough year for you. But it is good to see you back.

92cbl_tn
Dez. 8, 2014, 6:13 pm

>89 Bjace: I'm sorry to hear of your ordeal. I'm glad that your health has improved from your low point and I'll be praying that you continue to get better. I've missed your presence on the threads this year and I'm glad you'll be back with us for the 2015 challenge.

93AHS-Wolfy
Dez. 8, 2014, 7:37 pm

>89 Bjace: Sad to hear of your health issues but good to see that you're on an upswing. I really hope that continues and you're given the all-clear soon.

94-Eva-
Dez. 8, 2014, 11:40 pm

Oh, that's terrible to hear! I am, however, happy to hear you're feeling a little better and send all my well-wishes for your health to continue to improve!! A shame that the books had to go, but they can be replaced - you can't! Good to hear you'll be staying with us.

95DeltaQueen50
Dez. 8, 2014, 11:48 pm

So sorry to hear of the difficult year you've had, but I am very happy to read that you are going to be participating in the 2015 Challenge.

96christina_reads
Dez. 9, 2014, 10:06 am

>89 Bjace: It's good to have you back, and I will be praying for your continued recovery.

97Bjace
Bearbeitet: Dez. 15, 2014, 9:39 pm

Dark hollow by Anna Katharine Green--**
Category: I could write a book

Green was the author of The Leavenworth case, which is considered to be an American mystery classic of sorts, but this book is just plain indigestible. The story centers around a the murder of a respectable citizen. His murderer, a disreputable tavern owner with a reputation for violence, is caught, tried and hanged, but the lives of the central figures around the trial--the judge, who was also the victim's best friend, the tavern owner's wife and child, the judge's son--are never the same again. After some years, the widow returns, convinced that her husband was not guilty and seeking justice for him and respectability for her daughter, begins to open old wounds.

If that sounds interesting in theory, the execution wrings every drop of movement from the story. The prose is turgid and melodramatic. By the end of the novel, only one possible suspect could have done it and the conclusion is mildly interesting but not worth dragging yourself through the book for. I found it icky and depressing.

98paruline
Dez. 15, 2014, 6:57 pm

Here's hoping that you continue to improve and that you are surrounded by love and support.

99lindapanzo
Dez. 16, 2014, 4:22 pm

Oh no!! So sorry to hear about your ovarian cancer but hope that every day is an improvement and that your outlook is bright. Best wishes to you.

100thornton37814
Dez. 16, 2014, 10:26 pm

Sorry to hear about your health struggles, but I'm glad that your faith has kept you strong.

101Bjace
Dez. 20, 2014, 2:00 am

Anybody can do anything by Betty MacDonald--***1/2
Category: People

Recipe for surviving The Great Depression when you have no money, 2 children and have just left your husband:

1. Move in with your mother, brother & 3 sisters
2. Be willing to try pretty much anything
3. Get fired a lot
4. Keep trying

This is either the 2nd or 3rd of MacDonald's 4 autobiographical series and it deals with surviving the Depression and how MacDonald came to be a writer. MacDonald is sort of a cheerful curmudgeon with a tendency to mock everything. Not as good as The egg and I, but close.