Four books

1. So after recommending My Antonia to Katy, I went back and read it again. Delightful. I'm glad I own this book. The more I see of life, the richer this book becomes to me. When I read it the first time, at the sagacious age of twenty, I didn't get much of it. Or, rather, I hadn't met even real people to see the truth in Cather's characters. But experience is a powerful magnifying glass: so reading about people who grow up and move away, and ambition that comes to fruition, and memories of past friendships that grow sweeter with the passage of time, and some women who are happy to make hearty meals and have people eat them . . . true, all true, I say. If you haven't read My Antonia in the past five years, give it another go.

2. I am happily making my way through Essays of E.B. White, by the same E.B. White of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. No children's book, this one. But charming and poignant all the same. Charm, really, and strong, graceful writing. Non-fiction, personal essays of E.B. White's musings. I'm going to buy a copy of this for my shelves. It's going to be on my "Can you recommend a good book?" list. And the format is fun because you can sit down and read an essay all by itself, and feel like you've had a good literary feast.

Liz, go find a copy. You'll love this book.

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. When my sister Liz told me I should read this one and described it: a woman tells of her neglectful parents and deprived childhood, it sounded too dark for me. Liz tried to tell me that no, really, there was light in it . . . I was silly and put off reading it. I just couldn't handle an "I hate my parents and I was a victim growing up" book.

But I finally read it, and Liz was right (Liz usually is right, and she usually thinks that I'm right, yet another reason that we get along.) This is about Walls's neglected upbringing. But it's also about the innonence of the world through the eyes of a trusting child. And as Walls grows up, that innocence melts away. But what is left is compassion and love, not bitterness. (OK, a little bitterness, but in a justified way, not in a whiney way.)

And the writing is just plain good.

So thumbs up on that one.

4. Queen's Own Fool by Jane Yolen and Robert Harris (probably mostly by Harris). YA lit, fiction. Good. Jenny, Emma might like this since she's been having such fun with Shakespeare. Might be nice to have her read some historical fiction from the time period: 1559-1568. This novel is about Mary Queen of Scots, and about her fool/jester/confidante/friend. I liked it. I've never been driven to dive deep into Scottish history, and this was a tantalizing taste. A perfect place to start.

Clean, not sketchy. I'd let my kids read it (both my own and my students). The writing is better than most YA lit writing, and the story moves along. Not too history heavy. Just right.