book reviews

Large stacks of books have been waiting for me to get my office cleaned out. Now that I have (and it looks lovely!), here we go!

L.M. Montgomery, Jane of Lantern Hill. I find this one delightful. Jane is both more downtrodden and more cheerful than most of Montgomery's heroines. She's a resourceful sort, and the worlds she lives in are well drawn.

Irene Hunt, Across Five Aprils. This is such a simple book, but classic for all that. In spare, authentic language, it tells the story of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of one young boy, with all the depths of feelings that cataclysm brought forth. An utter classic.

Tara Ariano/Sarah D. Bunting, Television without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (and Hate to Love) about TV. Containing all the snark that used to be such a hallmark of the TwoP site (now sadly owned by Bravo and a bland imitation of its former self), this book was a clever sendup of many of the best and worst things about TV. Sadly, it's also quite outdated, having been published in 2006. It's amazing how fast things move in the world of entertainment.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter. I can't tell you how many times I've read this book, and I discover something new in it every time. It has only been in recent years that I've realized that what seems an innocent family tale is actually a chronicle of a family slowly starving to death, and the miracle that they actually survived.