O. Henry: Springtime a la Carte

Pages: 7



Teaser: It was a day in March.



After this tabooed beginning, O. Henry crafts his comically touching story of a girl, engaged to a farmer's son. She planned to have spring wedding:"at the very first signs of spring." But it is March and the snows have not melted from the streets. Her whole existence has begun to feel rather hopeless...



...but no, you'll have to read it to find out what happens.

Something To Laugh At: To begin the story, O. Henry says that "it was a day in March," a comment he immediately tells all readers never to copy: it is boring, it is dry. It is an bad way to begin the story.

For an poor way to begin the story, he surely does manages to make it a good one!

Sense and Sensibility

I have been told often and much of the merits of the Jane Austen books, of their delicate femininity and beauty. So at last, I decided that I wanted to see if the reports were true. I bought Sense and Sensibilty .

The story is about the Dashwood sisters, their romances and their follies. Elinor, the eldest, is a wise girl, more level-headed than any of the rest of her family. Marianne is a few years younger, with a intense and loving heart. They live in the perfect setting for timeless romance: an English cottage in the beautiful and quaint English countryside of rolling hills, downs and dew. Now that I have got that in your head, dear reader, here are the romances. Elinor, who is cautious to a fault, though not wholly without heart, has found herself falling hesitantly in love with Edward Ferrars, an equally quiet young man. Though no real, legal attatchement occurs, everybody, even Elinor, are sure of the impending marriage of the two. For Marianne’s part, she falls passionately in love with the handsome and heroic John Willoughby, and it seems that he truly loves her in return. The two girls’s story is full of twists and turns, unexpected incidents and rivalry.

I was simply not expecting a lesson in the wisdom of courtship from this book, but there was one, and that surprised me quite a lot. Although it is not overt, the "moral" (if you must picture me as Mary Bennet, you must) is that a wise mentor to help guide you through the most important decision of your life is most definitely not to be scoffed at. The Dashwood sisters had no wise person to counsel them as to their courtships, the only interested, qualified people in their lives were just as impressionable and gullible as themselves. This made me realize that because not everybody is going to have a wise person to counsel them, having one should truly be counted as a blessing.

This book was Jane Austen's first novel, and as such I found that it often had trouble moving forward. Especially in comparison to Pride and Prejudice (which Austen herself called "her own darling child"). It tends to feel as if it is dragging in some places. However, this does not take away from the overall slendidly colorful portrait of regency England.

Top 10 Must-Reads

As what should be a requisite for all avid readers, I am now doing my very first Top 10 Must-Reads. I'm sure that it will not be my last. But for 2009, I must say that these are my favorites:

1.The Sherlock Holmes Series: the brightest, smartest, most brilliant, incredible detective of all time is Sherlock Holmes. If your mother asks why you are reading it in the middle of the week, just tell her that it is a wonderful logic course. I have found my unreasonable mind actually trying to observe and deduce. Amazing. I just finished the second volume (not a happy moment) and am very sad that all those wonderful mysteries are solved. If only Conan Doyle hadn't wasted so much time on other matters. This has become one book that I really could not live without. (Note: I was about to consider petitioning Sir Conan Doyle to resurrect Mr. Holmes yet again when I realized that--well--he's dead so it would be rather useless.)


2. A Tale of Two Cities: by Charles Dickens. Though this book starts out slowly, the supreme sacrifice and love in the end is worth anything. I am putting an excerpt here from the ending because it can certainly speak for itself. The setting is in a cart headed for the guillotine, the speakers are a young woman and a man.

"It cannot be, my child; there is no Time there [in Heaven], and no trouble there."

"You comfort me so much! I am so ignorant. Am I to kiss you now? Is the moment come?"

"Yes."

She kisses his lips; he kisses hers; and they solemnly bless each other... She goes next before him--is gone; the knitting women count Twenty-Two.

"I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."

...it swells forward in a mass, like one great heave of water, all flashes away. Twenty-Three.

Yes, this is a must-read.

3. David Copperfield: Arguably one of Charles Dickens' best novels, David Copperfield is loosely based on the author's own life. After surviving an abusive boyhood, David Copperfield narrates his journey to manhood, with many loves, losses and lessons .The plot is stellar and each character has a memorable personality--for good or bad.

4. Ivanhoe: is the well-known historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott. Set in the time of Richard Couer de Leon, this book paints a remarkable and exciting picture of life during the Middle Ages. With many memorable heroes and heroines, a dilemma between reputation and unrequited love, and many rousing fight sequences, this book ranks high.

5. Watership Down:Though a visceral reaction to this tale by Richard Adams might be "it's about...rabbits???" it really is a book that no library of the brain ought to be without. It is the tale of the journey of a band of dauntless rabbits who leave the safety of their home warren at the seeming whim of a young one who predicts tragedy. They make the harrowing journey to a paradise for rabbits. For more, please read my review.

6. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: a murder mystery written by Charles Dickens--up to the twenty-second chapter. It was sadly interrupted by the poorly-timed death of the author (after all, we'll never know how it was really supposed to end). It has been concluded many times but my favorite one (and dare I say the only one I've read) is by Leon Garfield. The ending is very startling yet--I'm just going to shut up now.

7. Mere Christianity: a book written by C.S Lewis--not a novel, yet a gripping read. It is written so well and so down-to-earth that you can almost hear Lewis' kindly English accent talking to you. It explores the many different facets of the Christian life, bringing new insights to dilemmas and discussing commonplace topics that everyone knows but doesn't give much intelligent thought to.

8. Around the World In 80 Days: the classic written by Jules Verne, Around the World in 80 Days will ring in your memory for many a year. It follows the extremely punctual (if not slightly eccentric) Englishman, Phileas Fogg on an impromptu journey round the world--with a return date exactly 80 days from departure. The book details the culture and geography of many countries in the world.

9. The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers: these three books are a series written by Rosemary Sutcliff. Starting with the Eagle of the Ninth, which is about a young Roman centurion, the books covers the history of Ancient Britain from the height of the Roman Empire's power over Britain to its fall and the rise of the real king Arthur. These books really fascinated me with the history of England, especially her Ancient times.

10. The Scarlet Pimpernel: This book by Baroness Orczy tells the tale of an Englishman who takes condemned Frenchmen from under the guillotine's shadow during the French Revolution. The rebel government employs an Englishwoman living in the center of London society to search out and reveal this man. A fascinating story, it has quite a lot of the flavor of A Tale of Two Cities and a dash of the mysterious content of Sherlock Holmes.



I hope that you've enjoyed this post, and I hope that it has inspired you to want to read these books.

I am also advertising for people who also have read and truly enjoyed these books...I would LOVE to discuss them!

Rebecca and Rowena : Rowena

As the beautiful and delicate protagonist in Ivanhoe, Rowena is the ward of Cedric the Saxon and the lady-love of the heroic Wilfred of Ivanhoe. When she is captured along with her guardian's household, two Jews and a mysterious invalid, she hopes for Ivanhoe to rescue her, but will he be able to?

After being taken captive, she is imprisoned in a Norman lord's castle. The way even her captors treat her in contrast to the way her counterpart, Rebecca is treated is striking. Though only a Saxon woman in the power of Normans, her wealth and rank hold sway over their conduct toward her. They are respectful and treat her with a semblance of the way they would their own, whereas Rebecca is regarded as little more than a slave. Over the course of the book, however, she is shown to have a compassionate nature, even toward what was thought of as the dregs of society: the Jews.

It can be argued that she is much too frigid and perfect to make a satisfactory heroine and bride of the hero; even after she is kidnapped en masse with her guardian's household, the two refugee Jews and their patient, she remains (only figuratively), above the fray. I can not say what her deeper personality could have been, this facade that is discernible could possibly only be because Sir Walter Scott did not see fit to put her in circumstances that were as desperate as Rebecca's. Therefore, her personality remains what I, the reader chooses: the icy, pious angel or the rather quiet heroine, misinterpreted because of lack of personality.


The second installment to this two-part post--Rebecca-- is due out sometime by next week. Please check back.

Watership Down

By Richard Adams
Age:13-14

I was supposed to read this book over the course of 36 weeks. It was so good that I couldn't put it down.

Set in the quaint countryside of England, Fiver has shown a surprising ability to know if something was safe or not, if something was going to end in disaster or be a blessing in disguise. One night he gets a feeling--a "mist" hanging over the entire warren (did I mention that they're rabbits?). He tells his brother, Hazel, convincing him that some unknown tragedy was going to overtake their home. Hazel pulls a small band of bucks together to make an emigration from the supposedly doomed warren to a place far away in the downs. The journey is harrowing and exciting, the fictitious culture and language of the rabbits fascinating, and the wit amusing.

There are mild expletives used in this book.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

By Charles Dickens CONCLUDED BY Leon Garfield
Rating: 10+
Recommended Reading Age: 15

This was the last book that Charles Dickens wrote, and he had only reached the twenty-second chapter when he died in 1870, leaving this book far from finished.

After Edwin Drood disappears, suspicion of murder is harbored toward two men: John Jasper, Edwin's uncle, and Neville Landless, a mysterious young man who has recently settled in the the town with his twin sister, Helena. For the next 11 months, dread and conjecture circulate in this book. Did someone kill Edwin Drood? If so, who and why? Or did he leave of his own accord?

As I neared the the twenty-second chapter of this book, I got the feeling that I get when something that I really love is about to be gone. As that chapter was the termination of Dicken's writing, I felt as if no great expectations could be held for the writing skill of this person Leon Garfield. However, I feel that he did an excellent job of simulating the signature style and wit of Dickens in his writing. At times I could not tell if it was the added author, or Dickens himself. Also, Mr. Garfield did an exceptionally imaginative job of resolving the mystery. I couldn't have done it myself.

Please note that there are other conclusions to this mystery, done by other authors, and I only review the one done by Leon Garfield.

Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott
Rating: 10
Recommended reading age: 10

This is a book that a book review blog really can't be without. I first read it at about the age of nine or ten. Though this is not one of my very favorite books--it's not a terribly challenging read for me at my age--but it still has a certain
amount of whimsy that is very refreshing. I could have some reserve because the author was a Unitarian, but most of the hints that are spiritual don't really lean that way, as far as I can tell. Even so, I would be on my guard when reading this book for false doctrine.

Many of the lessons in this book are useful, but more true-to- life than many a book written in that era. There are some hilarious parts, such as the one in "Amy's Will" where an impertinent parrot squawks out some very well-timed insults to various persons concerned. I found that very funny.

For those of you who have not read this book, and don't know the general story plot, here it is:

Taking place during the civil war, the book opens to the four March sisters complaining and being generally discontented about a meager Christmas. The rest of the book outlines various instances, trial and experiences that the March family goes through-- particularly the girls-- to come out as lovely "little women." This is, I think, a worthwhile read, if only for the interest of watching a semi-fictitious family go through their semi-fictitious life together. Of course, don't get stuck on this reading level or genre for ever, as other posts on this blog suggest. All the same, don't forget to read this one if you haven't.

The Bronze Bow

The Bronze Bow: by Elizabeth George Speare
Rating: 10
Recommended Reading Age: 12

Though not terribly challenging to read, this book is an excellent story about the time of Jesus. The story is about a young man who is part of a guerrilla rebel band. They are bitter about the Roman conquest of Israel and are waiting for the Messiah to come, who they envision as a great military leader coming to beat back the Romans.

The main character, Daniel, is one of the most bitter because of the cruelty inflicted on his family by the Romans. Through a complex series of events he is forced to leave the rebel band. He lives in the village, caring for his mentally troubled sister. He eventually meets Jesus and subsequently has to let go of his preconceived notion of a vengeance-wreaking Messiah. The climax is very touching (I don't usually cry with books, but I think that I cried at the end of this one). I really love this book, it has a wonderful plot as well as some good points to help understand this period of Ancient and Jewish history.