Let's Bust a Recap : The Scarlet Pimpernel

Okay, so the very first book I drew out of the TBR Jar was actually a book that was on my 2023 book list but I didn't get around to reading it last year, and that is: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. What are the odds?! I don't have an exact count on how many slips of paper I put in my TBR Jar but let's just say about 1 in 500.

And I'm so glad because this is one of the books I was slightly bummed I didn't get to last year. So many of my real-life friends have recommended this 1905 classic to me, and I totally get it. It was a page-turner. 

The Scarlet Pimpernel was originally a play co-written by the Baroness Emma Magdalena Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci and her husband Henry George Montagu MacLean Barstow—phew!—which opened in London's West End in 1903. The success of the play spurred on the success of the novel which allowed Emmuska and her husband to live out their lives in luxury. Emmuska (the name used by our authoress' friends and family meaning "little Emma") was born in Hungary and lived in Budapest, Brussels, and Paris before finally settling with her family in London when she was 14 years old. 

The Scarlet Pimpernel is set during the bloody French Revolution and centers on our titular hero who is a mysterious Englishman who, with his League of nineteen other brave men, cunningly sneaks in and out of France to rescue aristocrats from Madame la Guillotine and smuggle them into England. The novel also features our heroine Lady Marguerite Blakeney, a French actress and comedienne who has married Sir Percy and is the fashionable darling of British high society during all of this intrigue with the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. She is put into an impossible position when a French agent demands that she help him learn the Scarlet Pimpernel's secret identity in exchange for the promise of her brother's safety. What results is an adventure of epic proportions and I loved every page of this daring, clever, romantic story. 

With this play/novel, Orczy established the "hero with a secret identity" in popular culture and her Scarlet Pimpernel quickly led to the rise of such famous characters as Zorro, the Shadow, Superman, Batman, and countless others, and the trope remains a popular one in serial fiction today. Even Stan Lee who read this novel as a boy, said the Scarlet Pimpernel was "the first character who could be called a superhero."

I would easily recommend The Scarlet Pimpernel to anyone who is looking to read more classic literature but isn't sure where to start. This novel clocks in at under 250 pages, it keeps you turning them, and the language isn't too difficult to get into. Which makes sense given that English was not Orczy's native tongue. The prose is simple, even repetitive at times, and easy to read. I said it once already and I'll say it again: I loved this book, and I'm so glad it cropped up out of the TBR Jar this year. 

What's your favorite classic?

Let's Bust a Recap : Tom Lake

Tom Lake is a brand new release from seasoned author Ann Patchett. It just came out this past August, and it's going to be a tricky one for me to review so let me go ahead and issue a spoiler warning right here and now, because my opinion of this novel turned on one point towards the end of the book, and there's no way for me to write this review without discussing that one sticking point. 

So first of all, one of my longest and truest friends chose this book for our book club after she listened to the audiobook version narrated by Meryl Streep and loved it. I fully expected to love it too, and I did. Until I didn't. And then I really didn't. 

But before I get too far ahead of myself: Tom Lake is set during the spring of 2020, and our main character Lara's three grown daughters have all returned home to their cherry farm in Michigan in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. As mother and daughters work on harvesting the cherries together, her girls coax her to tell them the story of her summer romance with famous actor Peter Duke when she was in a summer stock production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town at Tom Lake. The entire novel pivots back and forth between Lara's young life and the present day as she relates it to her daughters while they work. 

Here's the thing: I loved Lara telling this story to her daughters. I was living for every scene where the four of them were together. I was in stitches every time one of the girls tried to correct their mother about her own life story. I teared up at Lara's tenderness with them as they tried to make sense of this hard world we live in. As for Lara's story: meh. I could take it or leave it. She made a lot of terrible choices, but we all do. While I didn't agree with the worldview any of the characters seemed to hold, I could enjoy the story because I don't have to agree with everyone else's worldviews or have them agree with mine. 

But then, in a twenty-one chapter book, we came to chapter twenty and the entire novel was completely ruined for me. In this particular chapter, Lara has finished telling her story to her daughters, but she privately reminisces on one other event in her life that she has never shared with anyone—not even her husband—and never intends to share with anyone. Except for us, the unfortunate readers. While the entire chapter was extremely off-putting and—there's really no other way to say it—disgusting, I could have forgiven its inclusion in the book had it not culminated in Lara having an abortion. When I got to this chapter and it ended with this tiny paragraph that all seemed so out of place in this story, I felt duped. I felt like the entire purpose of Tom Lake was for the author to respond to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. and I had just read this entire novel to get slapped with the author's political agenda. 

And I was not happy about it. I will say that it led to some really great discussion in our book club, but I cannot recommend this book to anyone unless you're the type of person who can actually skip a chapter of a book with no curiosity. (And if that's you: how?) I realize I just said in this very review that we don't all have to agree on everything, and I stand by that, but for me personally, abortion without any thoughtful exploration or commentary is an absolute dealbreaker and it soured me on Tom Lake and Ann Patchett which is triply unfortunate as I own two of her other books that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. (Bel Canto and The Dutch House, for any interested parties.) I may still read those one day, but if I do I'll go in with a certain amount of wariness I wouldn't have had before reading Tom Lake.  

All said, Tom Lake was a miss for me, and I can't forgive Ann Patchett for chapter twenty. 

Do you have any absolute dealbreakers that will ruin a book for you? 

Let's Bust a Recap : The Wingfeather Saga

So at the beginning of the month, I gave a little series update detailing books in series I'm reading that can stand alone. But today, we're going to talk about the other kind, the kind you can't stop reading until you get to the end. Cody and I read this quartet of books aloud together last year, and we both give it an enthusiastic two thumbs up. 

The Wingfeather Saga by singer-songwriter Andrew Peterson consists of four books: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness published in 2008, North! Or Be Eaten published in 2009, The Monster in the Hollows published in 2011, and The Warden and the Wolf King published in 2014. The books chronicle the adventures and transformations of the Igiby family in the fantasy world of Aerwiar as they discover secrets of their family history, flee the evil Fangs of Dang who are occupying their country, seek their place and identity in the world, and make a stand against the mysterious ruler Gnag the Nameless. The principal characters are the three Igiby siblings—Janner, Tink, and Leeli—but the series is peppered with other lovable personalities like Podo Helmer, Peet the Sock-Man, Sara Cobbler, the Florid Sword, Maraly Weaver, and Oskar N. Reteep to name a few. 

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, the first book in the series, starts off very whimsical and playful, introducing the world of Aerwiar and the Igiby family with lots of footnotes giving you quite a bit of history. (And don't miss those footnotes throughout all four books—they're a riot!) As the books progress and Peterson narrows in on the crux of the plot, however, each book matures until, by the end, I would classify this story as a new All-Time Favorite. I loved discovering this beautiful story along with Cody, and it is one I will come back to. 

We had several friends continue to recommend this series to us, until one of them finally just bought them for us (thanks Greg!) which was the final nudge we needed to actually pick them up and start reading. The Wingfeather Saga has been compared to The Chronicles of Narnia which, I'll be honest, was a bit off-putting to me. In my opinion, The Chronicles of Narnia are in a class of their own and my friends were not doing Wingfeather any favors in my eyes by trying to put them in that class. To be entirely transparent with you: I still think Narnia is in its own class, but I would put Wingfeather in the same class with The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Fantastic in every sense of the word. 

For the sake of my friend Sheree over at Keeping Up With the Penguins, I do just have to warn you that there is a devastating dog death in this series, and Cody and I majorly stalled when we hit it. When I tell you I bawled my eyes out and berated every friend that had recommended Wingfeather to me, I tell you the truth. But ultimately, The Wingfeather Saga proved its worth, and my dad is reading the first book now on my wholehearted recommendation. 

All the stars for Andrew Peterson and his magnificent Wingfeather Saga. We loved it.

Let's Bust a Recap : Oh My Stars

Sometime before Christmas back in 2022, I was browsing a secondhand bookshop and came across this cute little number. When I peeked inside it and read the opening lines of the book, I was sold.

"And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from my mother that I would be playing the Virgin Mary in the Dollar General drive-through Nativity whether I liked it or not. Never mind the fact that my name was not Mary, that I was not a teen, and, most importantly, not a virgin. Still, decrees from my mother were similar to those from Caesar Augustus: both had to be obeyed."

I figured I'd bring it home and read it during the Christmas season, but then the World Cup started and pretty much all reading was forgotten. But last month, after I finished up Miracles by C.S. Lewis, I decided to pull this one off the shelf and ended up finishing it the day after Christmas. This 2018 offering from Sally Kilpatrick follows your basic Christmas Hallmark movie storyline—big city doctor comes back to his small hometown and falls in love with the town's young widow after the two of them find an abandoned baby in the drive-through Nativity's manger while they're portraying Mary and Joseph together. 

Hannah! Spoilers! I know, I know, but seriously? You can see every "plot twist" coming from a mile away in this book, and you are very aware of where Kilpatrick is taking this story from the first chapter.

Even having said that, Oh My Stars was a much more enjoyable reading experience than my last Hallmark book fiasco. The characters were much better drawn, I liked the alternating viewpoints between our male lead Gabe and our female lead Ivy, and, although the ending of this story might not have been entirely realistic, it worked for me. I appreciated the way Kilpatrick created flawed but likable characters and the way she developed the whole story (even though it was totally predictable). Her writing isn't great, her storytelling leaves something to be desired, but she had the bones of a good idea and I was with her on the journey. 

On a personal note regarding a pet peeve of mine: the editor has some explaining to do. This book was riddled with common spelling and grammatical errors on nearly every page which definitely detracted from my reading experience. But I don't blame Sally Kilpatrick for that. 

All said, this was a fun book to pick up during the holiday season, and I wouldn't not recommend it, but I would probably steer you to something better if you asked for my opinion. 

Do you like reading holiday-themed books during the holidays?

Let’s Bust a Recap : Miracles

Y'all. For the life of me, I tried to make this picture live so you could see the steam curling up out of that mug, but I can not do it. Your girl is stuck in the 20th century, and 97% of the time, I'm happy to stay there, but why couldn't this picture just do the little loopy thing it does on my phone and look all cute and cozy and steamy? 

It's fine. We're over it and we're moving on. 

Miracles by C.S. Lewis was originally published in 1947 and revised in 1960, and the book covers the probability of whether Christian miracles recorded in the Bible really happened. While Lewis does talk about a lot of the principal New Testament miracles in this book, the bulk of his argument stems from the question of whether miracles are even logically possible from a philosophical point of view. Once establishing that, he then covers actual recorded miracles in the last three chapters. 

And it's all brilliant. Even though a good two-thirds of this book is spent in defining terms and clarifying the difference between a "naturalist" and a "supernaturalist", every word is worth its weight in gold. I'm sure I'm getting to sound like a broken record when it comes to Lewis, but I'm just always so dumbfounded by how smart he was. I'm certainly not the only one. English theatre critic and writer and one of Lewis' contemporaries Kenneth Tynan expressed his admiration for Lewis' genius saying, "If I were ever to stray into the Christian camp, it would be because of Lewis' arguments as expressed in books like Miracles." I can't think of much higher praise than that. Whether or not you agree with Lewis' beliefs, you have to respect the logic of his arguments. He is one of the most thorough thinkers and writers I've ever had the privilege of reading. He always follows a thought all the way through and argues it from every possible viewpoint. I always feel smarter and dumber after I've read something he's written. It's a gift. 

There are also two appendices at the end of this book, and the second one—"On 'Special Providences'"—is worth the price of the whole book. In it, Lewis details the value of prayer and this dovetailed so nicely with A Praying Life by Paul Miller which I also read last year. If you happen to be browsing a bookstore and you come across a copy of Miracles, flip to the back and just read Appendix B. You won't be sorry.

I hope C.S. Lewis pops out of the TBR Jar at some point this year. I think I threw his Space Trilogy in there, but it's hard to remember what all I put in that thing. Are there any authors you read that somehow manage to make you feel smarter and dumber all at once?

Let's Bust a Recap : Series Update

Over the past few years, I have started reading through several of the series I've accumulated. Some series are tailor-made to be binged like your favorite TV show on Netflix. Finish one book, pick the next one up till you've reached the satisfying, final conclusion. (I'm lookin' at you Harry Potter, Lunar Chronicles, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Penderwicks.) I love a good immersive, unputdownable series. But then there are others. Books that feature the same spunky protagonist(s), but that don't necessarily need to be read in order. Each book can stand on its own. And when you come to the end of one, you can wait a while before you visit with that character again. These are the series I want to look at today. I kept putting this post off hoping to finish another Flavia and/or Jeeves book by the end of the year, but it didn't happen and what with 2024 being the year of the TBR Jar, I'm ready to put these books back on the shelf and see where the winds take me.

First up: Flavia de Luce. I picked up the first Flavia book back in March of 2021 right as we were in the thick of selling our house in Florida and packing up to move to North Carolina. I loved this little mischievous 11 year old right off the bat, and I ended up reading the second installment in her series in November of 2022. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (pictured above) was published in 2010, a year after the debut The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. In this episode of Flavia's exploits, a famous puppeteer turns up dead at the end of his own puppet show, and Flavia figures out that his murder is somehow connected to the suspicious death of a little boy from several years before. Can our feisty, poison-loving protagonist solve both cases? Of course she can, and Flavia was just as charming in this second novel as she was in the first, but I'll admit it took me a bit longer to get into this one. Because one of the cases involves the hanging of a five year old little boy, The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag was decidedly darker than The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. But even so, I'm still a fan of the series and looking forward to continuing it. I wasn't able to get to the third book—A Red Herring Without Mustard—last year, but we'll see if the TBR Jar turns it up in 2024. 

Next up, we have the fourth installment in the Maisie Dobbs series. I first started Maisie Dobbs right after the world shut down in 2020. My parents have since read all seventeen books in the series, but I've steadily read one a year and am thoroughly enjoying them as they come. Messenger of Truth was published in 2006. Jacqueline Winspear has done a pretty admirable job of cranking a new one out almost every year since she started writing them and the final novel is set to be published this year. In this fourth chapter, if you will, Maisie is approached by an artist's twin sister after he falls to his death from some scaffolding on the eve of his major art exhibit. The police have ruled his death as an accident, but given the fact that the masterpiece of his show is missing, and no one knows what it even is, his sister is convinced there is more to his death. Here's the thing I'm coming to realize about the Maisie Dobbs books: they are set after the Great War and so far all of the mysteries that Maisie has been commissioned to solve are closely connected to the war. Without exception, these first four books have all made me deeply sad when I reach the end of them. I can't imagine that changing as we get closer and closer to the second world war. But despite the melancholy I feel when I read Maisie Dobbs—or perhaps even because of it—I think it's a phenomenal series, and taking it one book per year is the perfect pace for me. 

Finally, I read the first book in The Mysterious Benedict Society series this year. This first book in what is now a series of five was published in 2007 and remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for over a year. I saw these books all over the place and finally added them to my wishlist after my sister Caroline recommended them after reading the first two aloud with my niece and nephews. My other sister Lyndsey promptly got them for me for my birthday, and Bob's your uncle, I was reading the first one last year. The Mysterious Benedict Society chronicles the adventures of four clever children who are brought together by the eccentric Mr. Benedict and given a top-secret mission which basically amounts to them saving the known world. While I did really enjoy this middle-grade novel and all the fun riddles the kids have to solve in their audition to join the Society, it took me a while to get into it and ultimately took me over two months to read. There was definitely a turning point where I had to know what happens but it took a while to get there. 

All in all, I'd recommend any of these series and I'd love to see any of these come out of the TBR Jar this year. 

How do you approach book series? Do you like to binge them as fast as possible? Or stretch it out as long as you can?

2024 Book List

Let's all take a deep, cleansing breath, shall we? Another year is gone and a brand new year is upon us. If you joined me yesterday in looking back at what I read in 2023, you know that I read more quantitatively than I ever have before. 

And to be honest? It felt like it. A bit overloaded, borderline frantically trying to hit my secret goal each month. I read a lot of great books. I enjoyed re-reading my Christy Millers. Becoming a more frequent library patron was fun. But as I looked over what I'd read, I felt bummed about the books I didn't get to. 

What?!

It's time for a reset. I've decided to bring back an idea that seems like a lot of fun, but didn't work very well for me on the first go-around. 

That's right. We're bringing back the TBR Jar. I toyed around with this concept in 2019, but it didn't go very well. I tried to do too much. I made myself a list, I attempted my first online reading challenge, and I threw in the idea of this TBR Jar, and I ultimately only drew one title out of it all year long. So I scrapped it. But I still love the idea of drawing a title at random and letting fate guide my reading life. I went through my shelves and wrote down hundreds of titles that I haven't gotten around to reading yet and threw them all in the jar. (Or bucket as my brother laughingly called it when he saw it.) I made myself a teeny tiny skeleton list, á la 2021, to stay on track with my presidents and Shakespeare, but for everything else, I'll either be plucking a slip of paper from the Jar or cozying up with a favorite re-read (and—let's be real—probably a few books from the library). It ought to be real interesting, and I'm excited to see where the winds take me in 2024. Here's the skeleton list:

Franklin Pierce : Michael F. Holt

President James Buchanan : Philip Shriver Klein

The Merchant of Venice : William Shakespeare

Timon of Athens : William Shakespeare

Cody and I have also chosen a few books we'd like to read aloud together, and I'll be reading through the New International Version of the Bible this year too. I'd like to get through about 24 books in 2024. There are several doorstops in the TBR Jar (like Les Mis, War and Peace, Moby Dick to name a few) so aiming for about two books a month seems like the most reasonable goal. We'll see what happens though. It's time to slow down and settle back in to a cozier reading rhythm and I'm looking forward to it. 

Cheers to you and cheers to 2024! 

Do you like to make resolutions at the beginning of a new year?