Laura McDonald
“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
Today’s reader might find some aspects of the novel moralistic–however Alcott is never preachy. She broaches subjects such as etiquette, feminine behavior, and the roles of the parent, spouse and child in a happy home. These moral teachings can be used by the reader or disregarded, but the completely genuine way Alcott presents her subject matter makes it easy to digest. If you are open to the advice she is giving, Little Women makes for a wonderful self-help book for women and men of all ages.
“Night and Day” by Virginia Woolf
Originally published in 1919, Night and Day contrasts the daily lives of four major characters while examining the relationships between love, marriage, happiness, and success. Like Virginia Woolf’s first novel The Voyage Out, Night and Day is a more traditional narrative than her later novels. Unlike her first novel, however, Night and Day relies much more on its characters’ internal struggles to push the its plot forward.
Contemporary Fiction on Girlebooks
We now have two contemporary authors who have posted their books for free download on Girlebooks. Both novels are available in several ebook formats from our ebook catalog. We thank these two authors for graciously contributing their books to our site. In other news, the full length adaptation of Sense and Sensibility directed by Ang Lee’s is available free, online at Hulu.com.
$100 Off Kindle Through Chase Promotion
I just got an email this morning that Amazon is offering $100 off their Kindle electronic reading device. But there’s a catch, of course. You have to apply for their Amazon Rewards credit card. Still, it’s a good deal if you are open to applying for a new credit card. Here’s the link (see the [...]
“The Voyage Out” by Virginia Woolf
While Woolf can easily be criticized for neglecting to research the technical details and for writing only about the upper classes and their manias, to dwell on these issues would be entirely beside the point. E. M. Forster put it best when he described The Voyage Out as “…a strange, tragic, inspired book whose scene is a South America not found on any map and reached by a boat which would not float on any sea, an America whose spiritual boundaries touch Xanadu and Atlantis.”
“The Professor’s House” by Willa Cather
The Professor’s House by Willa Cather was first published in 1925. Split into three parts, the first and last take place in a small college town on Lake Michigan. These two parts tell the story of Professor St. Peter and the changing relationships within his family. The middle section is Tom Outland’s narrative about his adventures in the Southwest where we enter with him into a world of desert mesas and long hidden civilizations.
“Anne of the Island” by LM Montgomery
If the prior two books lacked romance, this one makes up for it. Anne and two college friends share a quaint house in Kingsport, and there is a constant stream of “beaus” coming through the door. One of the friends, Phillippa Gordon, is an excellent addition to the book. She is vain, but knows it, and that somehow makes her utter superficiality less annoying. Even she has her share of romance, happening upon it–as seems the theme of this novel–where she least expects to find it.
“One of Ours” by Willa Cather
A winner of the 1923 Pulitzer Prize, One of Ours tells the story of Claude Wheeler, a young Nebraska man who is struggling to find meaning in his life. The novel is divided thematically into two parts. The first part is set in the Nebraska wheat fields where Claude works on his father’s farm. The second part takes place in France where Claude serves in the American army during WWI.
