Book 20- "Rilla of Ingleside" by L.M. Montgomery

I finally pulled out of my Rhett Gone with the Wind funk long enough to read another book before I go out of town. I was a little apprehensive since I did not appreciate the previous book as much and I was worried that this one would be similar. But this one was much, much better.

When Rainbow Valley ended the author made a reference to WW1. I didn't think much of it, because life on Prince Edward Island seemed so remote and not close to the real world at all that it didn't seem likely that something real world would affect it.

It was ironic to read this book right after GWTW because Rilla initially reminded me a lot of Scarlett (ugh). She was beautiful and liked having boys fawn over her, and wanted to just have a good time and have her way. She was just 14 when World War 1 broke out. Her brothers enlisted throughout the war (Jem initially, Walter later, and Shirley towards the end of the war), Nan and Di went to be nurses at training camp, and Rilla stayed at home to help the cause from there. The biggest thing that happened was when she was going around the town trying to collect donations. She found a house where the dad was English and had sailed straight to England to fight, leaving the mom home alone when she was about to have a baby. Well, when Rilla showed up the mom had just barely died from a broken heart and left the 2 week old baby. There was a woman there who was watching over them, but not very well and Rilla knew the baby wouldn't make it without some extra help. So she carried him home (in a soup tureen) and raised him herself. She helped to plan a war-wedding (without the father of the bride's permission), began a "Junior Red Cross" movement in their town, and raised many funds for the war. She had a boy who wanted her to wait for him until the end of the war, and she did but was never quite sure what that meant. Sadly, her brother Walter was killed in one of the battles, and that was a devastating blow. Then her brother Jem was reported missing, and her 2 friends Jerry and Carl were both injured. So even when those boys who survived came home, it was obviously never going to be the same.

So as I said initially Rilla reminded me of Scarlett. However, throughout the course of the book she grew in the right way. The war took away her youth similarly to how the Civil War took away Scarlett's youth, but Rilla was a little less dramatic and more realistic about it. She did not pine after Ken (the boy). She didn't allow her losses to make her unkind or hardened. Even when she had to give Jims (the war baby she took) back to his father, she just allowed him to go because she knew she could see him again.

Overall, one of my favorite books of the series! I stayed up too later last night to finish it.

SERIES AS A WHOLE:

Well, I had never read one of those books until August. And I have to say, I am so glad I did. I don't know how much more I will like the movies, but I will give them another shot (without Brandon, of course). I like Anne more and more as she grows up, because she still has her imagination and love of life but she is also much more realistic. And while I wish there were more books told from her perspective I did like seeing how her children were growing up. I am sad about Walter though, he was my favorite boy.

Book 19- "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

So this was classic number 9, and a part of the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge! "A book that intimidates you". And really. any book that is 1,000 pages of small print is intimidating. But I got through it pretty quickly! I can tell when I really like a book because when I am done I feel kind of mopey. Like I don't want to start another book right away.
So, just to warn. I didn't know much of the plot when I started the book, so I don't want to give spoilers away. So if you don't know what happens stop reading!

I don't know how to attack the whole book, so I will just write based on the main points and characters.
Scarlett. That was a name I really liked for a girl. But after reading this, I'm glad we didn't pick it (it is still a really cute name, don't worry!) because she is so annoying! Through the whole book you wonder when she will get her act together and stop thinking only of herself and dumb Ashley (more on him later). She was a spoiled little girl at the beginning of the book, who couldn't shake her "love" to Ashley just because he was marrying someone else. She managed to alienate herself from everyone who loved and cared about her, and didn't seem to care about it until the last 10 pages of the book or so. But by then it was way too late. The only girl who would defend her died thinking they were friends (when she was just using her because she was Ashley's wife) and Scarlett realized that she did really care about her. Similarly, Rhett was patient and pursued her for years, only to get his heart broken again and again. She didn't care about her children, because they were just nuisances. She only treated people well when she wanted to manipulate them, and it never failed which just fueled her selfish desires.
She did go through a lot in the course of the book. 3 marriages (2 of which were for the wrong reasons), the Civil War, Reconstruction, nearly starving to death, General Sherman's "March to the Sea", keeping her family's plantation alive, and she did learn a lot. But she never lost her selfish stubborn streak where she only looked for what she could get, and ultimately that ruined her.
Rhett. I liked Rhett. He was the only man in the book who didn't care about propriety, and treated people the way they deserved to be treated. He was Scarlett's equal, and as he said in the end "they were meant for each other". He loved her so much, and followed her around for 12 years before leaving her in the end. He was an alluring character, because you knew there was always something under the surface. While he wasn't seen as a "gentleman" because of his bad conduct, he was the man that I could relate to the most. And while he was generally a selfish man and in it for himself he also was very generous with his money. He sponsored people in many ways, and when Scarlett's second husband and Ashley was in trouble with the Klan he stretched his neck to save them and many of the other people in the town.
It was so sad at the end of the book when his spirit was broken. He had hoped that his marriage to Scarlett would improve, but after her miscarriage and the death of their child he realized that it would never happen. He loved his daughter, and her death just about did him in. He ultimately just gave up, and his love for her died. And, when Scarlett asked what she would do with him gone he said his most famous line, "My dear, I don't..." you know how it ends.
These two had something great! Dang it, Scarlett. You're the worst.
Ashley. He is such a ninny. He wouldn't even be that big of a character, if Scarlett hadn't been so obsessed with him. He was ultimately saved by Rhett, even though he knew that would continue Scarlett's obsession. He doesn't even seem like that great of a guy. He is so philosophical and flighty that he should have never lasted in the post-war era. He wouldn't have, if it weren't for Scarlett. But his spirit was broken and he was resigned to the fact that his way of life was dead.
Melanie. She is the unsung hero of "Gone with the Wind". The entire book Scarlett treats her with contempt, and only puts up with her because she wants to stay close to Ashley. But she sees the good in everyone and everything, which makes her so great. She is the epitome of what a Southern lady should be, which is why she was so popular in the end and Scarlett was an outcast. She was frail and having her first baby almost killed her (it doesn't help that it was right when Sherman and his troops came and leveled the city), and having a miscarriage actually did kill her. But she was willing to stand and fight for the people she loved as long as she physically could.
The social culture. When I'm asked "what time period would you want to live in, if you had to choose?" I used to always say antebellum times. The clothes seem so exciting, and life was good in the South then. But I've realized it was only good for the rich white men. The first bit is Scarlett having to conform to the lady's proper "place" in a barbecue, where she couldn't eat. That is NOT something I want to be a part of! And the woman couldn't speak her mind. Women weren't supposed to learn math. They couldn't work in a business, unless they were "white trash" and couldn't be supported by their husband. Marriage was often done for convenience, and never for love. They were supposed to sit there and look pretty, and swoon and faint if something indelicate was discussed. And pregnancy was something to be ashamed of. When you were pregnant, you barely told anyone, and you hid it from the public. I can't imagine having to live like that! I would feel more like Scarlett than the rest of the women. Even after the Civil War was over, they tried so hard to keep their traditions alive that they fought the new trends.
Growing up we learned about the Civil War, but I don't feel like they described the destruction to the South enough to give it justice. Even in the best of circles, Georgia got destroyed. The wealthiest had to keep their dresses and mend them, and many people starved to death because they didn't know how to work. Or they were run out of town. One of the most intense scenes (which starts about 300 pages of intensity) was when Melanie had her baby just as the Yankee soldiers were coming to Atlanta. She was nearly dead from the struggle, and her baby just a few hours old when they had to leave town. Scarlett had to find Rhett to ask him to help them escape. Fortunately Rhett wasn't too much of a gentleman, because he had his horse stolen by the army. But he stole a horse and carriage back to help them get to Scarlett's home. They barely survived the 25 mile drive, and found that almost everyone's plantation was burned to the ground and leveled. Fortunately Tara was not, but it had been used as a Yankee headquarter. Now, when I heard about the Civil War, I don't remember hearing about this. I know that the war was the ultimate downfall of the south, and that it never really recovered to its full glory. But once the war was over it was not just over. There were thousands of people who lost loved ones and friends, and their homes and way of life. They needed to find a way to rebuild, and to do that without the slaves that they no longer had proved to be a great challenge. Essentially the only people who came out ok were people who got their money through illicit activities, like Rhett.
The racial tension. It made me so uncomfortable to read the racial slurs that many times. My 21st century ears (eyes) aren't used to that. And it was interesting to see the different side of what happened after the Emancipation Proclamation. Usually you just hear that the slaves were freed and it was great! AND IT WAS, just so nobody misreads me. I think slavery is completely morally wrong. For many of these people it was a better way of life than with a brutal slave owner. But it must have been difficult to be turned out of the style of life that you were used to, from zero freedom to total freedom. And many people did take advantage of that, which did not ease any tension between them and the white people in the south.


I seriously loved this book. I am just SO frustrated with how it ended. She should have ended up with Rhett. She realized it, but far too little too late. I would like to think that after this book ended, Scarlett did grow up a little bit and Rhett came back. Because 1,024 pages is way too many pages to invest in a relationship without something lasting coming out of it.

Book 18- "The Revenant" by Michael Punke

This was another book I had to finish before I go out to California, because I can't renew it again. It was a pretty quick read!

Like everyone else, I heard about this book after the movie came out, which is now famous for winning Leo DiCaprio his first Oscar. The movie is rated R, but it is based on a bear mauling so I decided to tread carefully. But besides the bloody description (and I'm sure horrific portrayal on the screen) of Leo's attack, it was a very clean book.

This is based on the legend of Hugh Glass, who a fur trapper that was attacked by a bear and left to die. His wounds were partially stitched up and taken care of, but he was essentially scalped and had his throat torn open so it didn't look good. He was robbed by the two men who were left behind to help bury him when he died, and he recovered by the sheer willpower and the desire for revenge. He crawled across hundreds of miles until he was strong enough to walk, and survived 2 attacks by the Native Americans. He somehow managed to catch up with his original fur trapping crew, but the man who was behind his being robbed had already deserted the crew. So he set off for them. Somehow Hugh outlasted 2 whole crews of men that went with him on different missions.

While this is obviously very much fictional, it is amazing to think that this was based on a real man who actually did survive a bear attack. He had no knife, no gun, nothing and he still made it. I won't say if he caught up with the man who robbed him (because that's his whole mission so you need to read it all!), but it is a thriller for sure.

Book 17- "Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin

So, I am working on "Gone with the Wind" (which is quite the undertaking) but I had this checked out and I saw that someone else wants it so I had to finish it before it was due. It is a book that a recent movie was based on, that was nominated for a few awards.

Eilis Lacey is a girl from Ireland. She lives with her mother and her sister Rose, and has been struggling to find work. Her dad has passed away, and her three brothers all moved to England to work. Eilis has struggled to find a job, and finally gets one that is far beneath her skill set. A priest comes and talks to her, saying he is from Brooklyn and that she should move there to have a better life. Her family helps her decide that she needs to go, and she sails across the ocean. She lives with a landlady and five other tenants, but struggles to find friends. She has a job, and enrolls in night classes to work on her bookkeeping so that she can become an accountant. She meets and falls in love with an Italian boy named Tony, and they were almost ready to get married when she finds out her sister died suddenly. She decides that she needs to go home to see her mother, and Tony says that he wants to marry her before she leaves so that she will come back. (First of all, kind of manipulative, right?) Then she goes back to Ireland and gets set up with a guy. As her time in Ireland runs short HE wants to marry her, so she is caught in a quandary. Does she go back to Brooklyn with her Italian husband, or does she stay with this other man that she has been spending time with?

So, I liked about 3/4 of this book. Until she cheated on her husband. I was already wondering what she was going to decide with going to Brooklyn or not, but it left a bad taste in my mouth that she was so spineless that she couldn't tell someone that she didn't even know that she had a boyfriend back in America, let alone that she was married. It would have been so easy.

So overall, a decent book. Besides that.

Book 16- "Rainbow Valley" by L.M. Montgomery

Out of the whole series, this has been my least favorite book. It just didn't have the same appeal of the rest of them, because Anne was barely in it. I had really grown fond of her, and as funny as her kids are (and they aren't even the main characters), it isn't the same. However, the book focuses on the Blythe children's friends. They are the children of the local pastor, who is a widower. They get into all sorts of hijinks (shockingly enough), and scandalize the town. It is funny to think of what wasconsidered "scandalous" back then, like chewing gum in public. Now we have people taking naked pictures and nobody bats an eye. But in the process of the story, their dad realizes that he needs to find another wife so his children can be raised properly, and their house be taken care of. How romantic!

Book 15- "Quidditch Through the Ages" by Kennilworthy Whisp

This is another silly Harry Potter book, that is referenced quite a bit through the series. It has absolutely no purpose besides explaining the history of the game Quidditch. But still amusing, and worth the 100 pages.