What I Read on my Autumn Vacation

[kcobweb]

A Girl From Yamhill, by Beverly Cleary. This was awesome. You can totally see why Beverly grew up to write amazing children's books: because she has boundless empathy for children and still remembers Exactly what it's like to be a kid and how kids think. She talks a little about her pioneer ancestors and then about her earliest memories (she remembers the end of WWI - she was 2). Growing up on an Oregon farm. When she was 7 or 8 her family moved to Portland, and the tone of the book changes a little bit - she talks about her struggles with school (mostly battles with teachers), and about the difficulties of the Depression. As she grows, she and her mother end up battling quite a bit, and she occasionally writes something like "I've always wondered why Mother said that" or "...felt she had to do such-and-such." She even has a weird stalker-y boyfriend, and her mother eggs him on. The ending feels sudden, though it's a natural stopping place - when she left home to go to college. I had so many questions still! Fortunately, she's written another memoir, which seems to pick up where this one left off, so I've already requested that from the library. :)

75 Short Masterpieces - This was a book club selection, and I didn't quite finish it, but I'm noting it down anyway. As I think I've said here before, I am generally not a short story person, but peer pressure got me to read this (or most of it) - and it wasn't all bad. :) Overall, many of these stories were very dark - I detected a running "life sucks" theme - but there were definitely ones I liked. So that's not all bad. We'll call it progress in my short-story-education/rehabilitation.

I switched from the book I was devouring on the rest of vacation to the short stories to try and finish it before last night's meeting. And I have another as well (started before vacation, actually). So I'm currently two-thirds of the way through two books I'm enjoying *very* much, and it's killing me to sacrifice one to the other. I want to read both! At the same time! Why isn't that possible?


In other news - I made bread today, and it smells yummy (I hope the texture matches the smell and appearance - I'm new to this, and unsure about my kneading and rising and baking times *grin*). Soup is now being made to go with. Whoo.