A Lost Lady by Willa Cather.

“If her image flashed into his mind, it came with a brightness of dark eyes, her pale triangular cheeks with long earrings, and her many-coloured laugh.  When he was dull, dull and tired of everything, he used to think that if he could hear that long-lost lady laugh again, he would be gay."

It has been quite some time since I read Cather, which saddens me. Cather has not always been a favorite of mine (I disliked My Antonia in high school), but over the last few years, I've come to cherish her work and her vision of the American frontier. 

For this #15in31 challenge, I wanted to make sure I incorporated some classics in my reading. We all know that a good YA novel or a thriller can fly by and keep us motivated, but I didn't want my month to be dominated by those books. I also wanted things of substance-books to savor and love and remind me why I love the classics so much. So a couple of Cather's shorter works ended up in my challenge pile, and this slim little volume found it's way into my hands as the fourth book for this reading challenge.

In A Lost Lady, our narrator, Neil, tells us the story of the last 30 years and his memories of Mrs. Forrester, second wife to a well-off railroad man. In Sweet Water, the Forresters were the well-to-do city folk who built a grand house for the summer and would invite their city friends to visit. They were seen as grander than the rest of the town's population and as a boy, Neil idolized Mrs. Forrester. She was a beautiful woman and carried herself with so much grace that she stood out as an anomaly in the country. 

Over time, Neil became a part of the Forresters' world. He dined at their home frequently with his uncle, and learned to see both of the Forresters as great people.

Until he doesn't. 

The older Neil gets, he begins to see that our illusions and impressions of the people around us change. And while we think people may be a certain way, well, we learn their true colors. 

Mr. Forrester falls on hard times. The bank where he had saved most of their money goes under, and then he suffers a stroke. The couple falls into hard financial times and Neil stays home from college to help them-taking care of Mr. Forrester and keeping Mrs. Forrester company.

This is when Neil sees the truth about Mrs. Forrester and his good opinion changes. She shuns the people who used to help her and pulls away, relaying on shady individuals who only seek to profit. It saddens Neil, who truly believes that the grandeur of a lady like Mrs. Forrester has been lost.

The book also spotlights the change in America going on in this time. Old businesses, like the railroading companies that Mr. Forrester had been involved with, were dying. The frontier and all of its promises was no longer a beacon for hope for many. Instead, people were moving back to the cities for work and hard times. The beauty and glory of the countryside was gone, and moments like those in the Forrester house were becoming few and far between.

Cather's work here really depicts that change in American culture-from the seemingly simple life in the country dying as the American dream, to the harsh realities of the city. The Forresters certainly reflect that change as the old way of living dies out. It's a fabulous juxtaposition of two worlds. And Neil's narration glides us through that change and the ending of an era.

This is certainly one of my favorites by Cather now. While different than some of her larger novels, My Antonia or O Pioneers!, it contains many of the same ideas-life on the American frontier, family, and the changing of eras. 

“He came to be very glad that he had known her, and that she had had a hand in breaking him in to life. He has known pretty women and clever ones since then,-- but never one like her, as she was in her best days. Her eyes, when they laughed for a moment into one`s own, seemed to promise a wild delight that he has not found in life. "I know where it is," they seemed to say, "I could show you!"

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

“Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?"

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is one of those books I saw EVERYWHERE on the blogs a few years ago. I had remembered the name, and the mostly positive feedback about the novel, so when I was scouring the media center's bookshelves last week for this #15in31 challenge, I snatched it, thinking it would make a quick read and break up some of the other titles.

So, I read it. And it was mostly enjoyable because it delivered on what it promises to be-a YA contemporary romance with a happy ending. Every once in awhile, we need that. Not everything can be all doom and gloom!

The novel opens with Anna Oliphant (really, her name...) being left at an American school in Paris by her parents for her senior year of high school. Her father, a writer very similar to that Nicholas Sparks fellow, determined that being away in Paris would be good for Anna, even though she doesn't speak any French.

Anyway, Anna struggles through the first few days and weeks, but falls in with a great friend group. There's Meredith, who lives next door to her in the dorms. Josh, who's a fabulous artist but not so keen on all the school nonsense. His girlfriend, Rashmi, is probably my favorite secondary character because girl doesn't put up with nonsense. And last, the beautiful Etienne St. Clair, an American with a British accent and a French father.

The novel basically follows Anna and her friend group through the year, as well as Anna's growing feelings for St. Clair who has a girlfriend. The novel takes the readers to many of the sights in Paris, which provides an amazing backdrop to the story. As someone who has no interest in going to France (for many reasons), it was nice to see the city in a different way.

The story has a lot of elements of your traditional YA romance. Boy meets girl. Girl has feelings for boy. Boy is already taken. But that doesn't stop a friendship from growing. Obstacles stand in their way. They kiss. They fight. They find their way back together.

It's adorable. And it's done well. I mean, what else would you expect? It's a book that delivers on it's promise of story, and the writing is well done and entertaining, so the book itself was fun to read. It's just one of those books that delivers well and leaves you all warm and fuzzy feeling because it ended the way it should. Sometimes we need that.

There are two companion novels to Anna and the French Kiss, which I may pick up at some point in the future if I need a similar warm, fuzzy feeling. And if you need a light read, I highly suggest giving this a try. 

“I mean, really. Who sends their kid to boarding school? It's so Hogwarts. Only mine doesn't have cute boy wizards or magic candy or flying lessons.” 

^That line slayed me. :)

**This was my third read for my #15in31 challenge! HUZZAH!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

“I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.”

I'm going to be perfectly frank and say that I had absolutely no interest in reading The Girl on the Train when it debuted. I'm not a huge fan of thrillers, and even though I was told that this was a really good one, it wasn't something I had to pick up.

And after reading it, I stand by my initial thoughts. 

It isn't that The Girl on the Train isn't a fast read because it is. I flew through it in just a few hours when I was home sick last week. But had I not been sick and focused on finishing on a book for #15in31, I think this would have dragged for me. I also don't think the book is bad, it just isn't my usual cup of tea.

The biggest reason why I didn't feel so in love with it was the main character-Rachel. Very soon into the story we learn that Rachel's life isn't all that great. She's unemployed, but still pretends to go to work every day, she's recently divorced and insanely jealous of her ex-husband Tom's new family, and she's a pretty big alcoholic. And while there are reasons for all of those things and her very negative outlook on life, it's hard to like her. To feel any kind of sympathy when she does completely moronic things.

And all 3 of the main female characters have those flaws. I wouldn't classify any of them as strong females, and that was hard for me to jump on board with. Rachel was by far the worst, but Anna was also a weak female. As Tom's new wife, she just blindly goes along with everything and sees herself as better than Rachel (sorry, you helped a man cheat on his wife. That's something I am never okay with and I hate when that tries to be "justified"). And Megan, well...she had a lot of issues and was, like the other two females, weak.

I kind of wanted to give them all a good shake.

I digress.

The story does move quickly, and I am sure that fans of thrillers will soak this one right up. However, there weren't a ton of twists to the story and I figured out the ending long before it arrived-perhaps that's why I didn't enjoy it as much?

In any case, I am glad I read it to see what all the fuss was about, but I think I'll stick to my gut next time around and read what I think fits my style.

“I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.”

*This was my second book read for the #15in31 challenge! Huzzah!

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck.

“No matter how good a man is, there's always some horse can pitch him.” 

For my #15in31 challenge, I decided to start small, with a slim volume by John Steinbeck called The Red Pony. It has been a long time since I've read any Steinbeck, but I went through a phase a couple years ago where I bought a bunch of his titles in hopes of reading his complete works (a goal I still want to accomplish, perhaps when I finish with Cather). In any case, this is a slim little volume about the same size as Of Mice and Men, so I thought it would make a great starting point for my challenge (see this post if you're lost).

Truthfully, I didn't know much about The Red Pony before reading it, which was probably a good thing. When I started, I thought it reminded me of Black Beauty, but that vibe slowly disappeared as I flew through the novella.

I actually don't see The Red Pony as a complete novel/novella. It reads more as 4 related parts loosely connected with similar character names. There is no real connective plotline, just characters who are reintroduced in each of the 4 chapters.

But there is a connective theme. This is definitely a coming of age story, as young Jody Tiflin learns about life on the ranch and the cycle of life and death. He also learns that adults he once thought were infallible aren't, and that you can be disappointed by life.

The characters are all well-defined from the beginning. Jody stars in all of the chapters, as a young boy who is facing the harsh reality of life on a ranch and growing up. His mother is a strong and constant presence in all 4 chapters, as she tries to protect Jody from some harsh realities, while also allowing him the opportunities to grow up when things don't go as planned. Jody's father, Carl, is a tough man with no outward love for his son. He's bogged down by the responsibilities of running a ranch and having a little boy running around. But he does his best to provide and give opportunities to Jody.

Billy Buck was my favorite character, and perhaps the most complex. As the hired hand on the ranch, Billy Buck is also the man with all the old-school knowledge-about horses, life, the weather, etc. Jody idolizes him and respects his opinions as fact, until Billy Buck fails. And while Steinbeck doesn't dwell on the harshness of the realization for Jody or Billy, it lingers in the remaining pages, reminding us that we all had moments where we realized the adults around us can't always fix everything.

It was a short, quick read, but definitely as complex as Steinbeck's other works. It left me thinking and eager to read more Steinbeck...perhaps this month for my challenge. I know I have Cannery Row sitting on my bookshelf, so you might see more Steinbeck coming up soon.

What did you think of The Red Pony? Any other Steinbeck you would recommend? I haven't read a great deal by him, but I'm eager to read more (I think I've only read Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, The Winter of our Discontent, and The Pearl in addition to this title).

Weekly Wrap-up for October 4, 2015: On Being Busy and #15in31.

Hi everyone!

It has been a little while since I've done a weekly wrap-up kind of a post, so I thought it would be good to jump on this morning and catch up. I have a lot to get done today, now that I'm finally feeling semi-human, but I'm seeing this as a bit of a priority.

The truth is, during the school year, school and the work that goes into being a high school English teacher, takes precedence over everything else in my life. I determine what I can actually do at night based on what grading I have to do. I plan weekend activities around how much school work I have to do. It's really quite sad.

I have noticed that the last couple of years my at-home workload has gotten lighter. Probably because I am creating less new material to use in my classes (that's what happens when you teach a class multiple times-you have lots of things stored up, so you're not creating a lesson from scratch for every day of the week). I've also become a lot better about cramming in work at school and being more productive. That's hard for me because I don't really grade while the kids are working (I can't concentrate, and I inevitably get called on to help, which is fine because that's my job). In any case, I'm still working to create that work/home balance.

This year I made a goal to leave by 3:30 every day. That has yet to happen. Truthfully, I'm productive when I'm at the building after school. It's quiet because most teachers go home, and I have free reign of the copier! But I'm working towards getting my stuff done at school and bringing less home at night, with the exception of weekends. That's a hard balance, but I'm trying.

I'm telling you all this because for my own sanity, I do need to reestablish some time for myself, and that's the goal I have moving forward. I love my job, I'm good at it, but I need to spend some time doing other things.

The biggest thing that has fallen apart since getting a fulltime teaching job is reading. There are some days where I come home so mentally drained that the idea of picking up a book fills me with dread. That's when I binge-watch a show. But I'm okay with that. I'm not okay with going a month without picking up a book. So I'm trying to remedy that.

When the #15in31 challenge popped up in my Instagram feed, I debated for a moment before joining in. I know it's crazy. I rarely read 15 books in a month during the summer, so how would I do it during the school year? Ha! But why not try? So I am. I think this challenge is a great way to inspire myself to keep pushing forward with that work/home balance and jump back into the things I love doing-reading and writing about books.

I think it'll also serve as a great warm-up to November and NaNoWriMo. It's been a few years since I've participated, but I'm jumping in this year.

In any case, I had a great weekend of reading. Truthfully, the only reason it was so successful was because I was super-sick Thursday and Friday (I came home from school on Thursday with a 102 fever, so I called in for Friday and stayed in bed coughing and sneezing all day). But that meant a lot of time to read and relax and take a little pressure off myself. I ended up reading 4 books! You'll see reviews for them in the next couple weeks because I've already written them (look at me go!)

Anyway, I'm hoping I keep this balance going so that I can do more of the things I love doing. :)

Have a fabulous week!