The Great Gatsby review

Title:  The Great Gatsby

Author:  F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ch: 9

Pg:  208

Series:

Genre:  Classic

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher: Penguin 

 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of my favorite classics in high school. And with this reread that hasn’t changed. This short novel only 9 chapters wasn’t popular during Fitzgerald’s lifetime, and would have slipped away if it hadn’t been for WWII and the troops loving the book.

My thoughts about the characters haven’t changed I still feel the same about the characters as I did in high school. The villain of the story isn’t obvious to first time readers but on a second read and maybe as an older reader this time I can tell easily who the villain is.

If you go into this book thinking it’s a romance does both the book and the reader a disservice.

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone. 

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery book review

Title:  The Blue Castle

Author: L.M. Montgomery

Chapters: 45

Pages: 218

Genre: Classics

Rating: 5 stars

I can't believe I waited so long to read The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.  It was my mom's favorite L.M. Montgomery book and she was the one that got me started reading the Anne books.  So it was kind of bitter sweet reading it now that she's gone.  But after reading it I realized that I read the book at the right time for me. Had I read it earlier I wouldn't have been able to appreciate what Valancy went through and what it took for her to grow.  Being just a few years older than Valancy is in the book and like her being consider and "old maid" by members of my extended family I could relate to how her family and so of the town treated her.  Had I read this book as a teenager I wouldn't have had the same respect and view of Valancy as I do as an adult. 

Like Valancy did, sometimes it takes shocking news for you to realize that it's your life. You've got to live it for yourself and stopped hiding your dreams because you’re afraid of what everyone might think.  Anne Shirley is a heroine for young girls, but Valancy Stirling is a heroine for women.   

Review of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Title: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Author: Barbara Robinson

 

Chapters: 7

Pages: 70

Genre: Children’s Christmas fiction

Rating: 4 stars

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was my favorite Christmas book as a child. I had to read it every year.  To me it was the perfect Christmas book for a child.  It is a novel about a Church putting on the Christmas Pageant, and how members don’t want the Herman’s to have any roles in the pageant. However looking back as an adult reading the book I realize that the Herman’s needed to be a part of the pageant. They needed to hear the Christmas story, those kids the kids that the town had basically written the Herman’s off as throw away kids. That they where outcast, but it was these people that need to know the love of Jesus that the baby born was the Savior. That the Gospel message is somewhat hidden in this novel for kids. 

Review of Heidi

Title: Heidi

Author: Johanna Spyri

Series:   no

Chapters: Part one: Ch 14 Part Two: Ch 9

Pages: 322

Genre: Kids Classics

Rating: 5 stars

     Heidi was one of my favorite books as a child; so much that my childhood copy is now held together with book tape. Heidi was the book that I always wanted my grandpa to read to me. As a child I could relate to Heidi in the sense that she was so close to her grandfather.

     Heidi is an orphan girl that was sent to live with her grandfather. She makes herself at home and settles into life on the mountain with her grandfather, Peter and the goats. Till her aunt comes to take her to be a companion to a young girl in Frankfurt. Once there Heidi longs to return to her beloved mountain and the grandfather that she loves.

*Spoiler alert*

If you haven’t read Heidi proceed with caution.

     My father part of the book is when Heidi leads her grandfather back to God and his faith. Oh the child-like faith of a child.

     My favorite movie version of Heidi is  the one with Shirley Temple in it.