I got my read on in September!

So apparently, I decided I needed to read a lot of books this month. And most of them were re-reads. Actually, the majority of them were. So here goes!

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. This is a Newberry Medal winning book. For those of you who don't know much about children's literature, that's a big stinking deal. I'm just saying. This book is about an Eskimo girl named Julie/Miyax. She is orphaned, and when her aunt dies, she agrees to marry a fellow Eskimo boy in order to go back to the village of her childhood. As they are both 13, it's merely a marriage in words, not deeds. Until Daniel, her husband, is teased by his schoolmates. Rather than be raped by her boy-husband, Miyax leaves and runs away toward San Fransisco to find her pen pal. Along the way, she becomes part of a wolf pack. She is torn between the old ways and the new ways and eventually must make a choice between the two.

Tik Tok of Oz and The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Books eight and nine in the Oz series. I'm not really sure why some of these books have the names they have. Tik Tok wasn't the main character of the book, contrary to the title's implication. This one has the Nome King, who formerly tried to conquer Oz, ousted because he's such an evil man. We also have another little girl from our world who ends up in Oz. My favorite part? Toto, now living in Oz, can talk! Same goes for the ninth book- the Scarecrow doesn't come onto the scene until much later in the book. In this one, Cap'n Bill and Trot find their way to Oz from our world. Long story short- they have lots of adventures in a whole new part of Oz and eventually come to live in the Emerald City with all of the favorite characters who live there!

Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside by LM Montgomery. All of these (yep, the entire series is listed right here) were re-reads for me. I have been obsessed with Anne for as long as I can remember. Please refer to one of my prior blog entries about this obsession. Anyway, for those of you who have read the Anne of Green Gables series, you probably know how amazing these books are. For those of you who haven't read them, you are seriously missing out. SERIOUSLY. Anne's story begins in 1878, when Anne is 11 years old. The story ends with the end of World War 1. By the end of the series, Anne's children are more the focus. But Anne is still always present, always Anne. Throughout the years, Anne went from a desperate for love orphan to a beloved wife and mother. She became a teacher, she went to college, she became a principal, she married the love of her life (despite thinking she had fallen in love with her "ideal man"), she became "Mrs. Dr. Blythe," she gave birth to seven children (and sadly buried the first). She lost loved ones, made new friends, had new adventures and throughout it all, never seemed to lose her lust for life. Something she was able to pass on to her children. If only all of us had Anne's love of living. Maybe I need to rethink my life a little bit!

Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea by LM Montgomery. These are collections of short stories and yet another re-read for me. All of them take place in the Avonlea community and its surrounding towns. Some of them have Anne Shirley as a minor character. Some are from Anne's perspective. Some don't mention Anne at all. But all of them have that same wonderful Anne of Green Gables feeling that Montgomery does so well. The stories are quick and easy to read. Sweet without being saccharine. Feel good stories that you just want to read over and over again. I know this because I have read them over and over again.

Kilmeny of the Orchard by LM Montgomery. Yep- this month was clearly LM Montgomery month!! This is a beautiful love story about a young man who decides to help out a friend by teaching for him in a small town, and the lovely girl he loves. She is born unable to speak because her proud mother refused to speak and forgive her own father for hurtful words he said to her. A stain on her birth and a very proud family made her a girl who was a mystery to the town she grew up in. But this young man shows her what true love is. And eventually she is able to speak. Even though this story is very different than the Anne stories, there is something in the way Montgomery writes that is so appealing. She really might be my all-time favorite author!!

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. This was my book club book for the month. It's about the twin sons of a surgeon and a nun. Yes, I said nun. They are orphaned at birth by the death of their mother and the abandonment of their father. They are raised in a hospital in Ethiopia by the other two surgeons who had worked with their father. Originally inseparable, something happens that creates a distance between the brothers. Both become surgeons- one trained with a medical degree, the other not officially a doctor but a famous surgeon nonetheless. Eventually, circumstances bring the brothers back together and brings their father back into their lives. The book was long. And at first kind of difficult to get into. But eventually, I found the story to be amazing. Even though it was a work of fiction, some of the events actually did happen (although not in the same time and/or way the story described). Which was kind of cool to learn.

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. It was not what I expected. The movie was drastically different from the book. The biggest difference? Forrest is a 6'6", 250+ pound machine! Tom Hanks is a good actor, but he's not THAT good. Forrest also had some other adventures that aren't in the movie (he was an astronaut, a chess grand master, a "rassler," and a Senatorial candidate) His mom doesn't really play much of a role in the book. Bubba was a football teammate from Alabama, in addition to being a war buddy. He doesn't save Lt. Dan's life (but they do join forces after the war). He and Jenny frequently live together throughout the time they know each other (and that does imply a sexual relationship). Jenny does have a son, who is Forrest's child, but she marries someone else and doesn't die of AIDS. None of these differences really bothered me. The only thing I truly didn't like? The book was written the same way Forrest speaks. No proper English here. Just good ole Southern talk. Which is very difficult to read!