Book #55: Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

While I was in Ithaca, I was telling my grandma about the books I was reading and she recommended a few to me as well. This was one of them. My mom also told me about it, and it sounded cute and intriguing enough that I checked it out from the library at the same time as all of those Georgette Heyer books. It's a memoir of Mildred Kalish's time growing up in rural Iowa during the Great Depression, when she was a young girl. She details all of the things they had to do in their everyday life, all of which is fascinating because of how time intensive and pioneer-ish it all sounds to us living our cushy modern life today. It's been probably a decade since I last read Little House on the Prairie (and reading this makes me want to revisit them . . . maybe I will!), but it's amazing how much this book reminded me of the lifestyle that the pioneers had to live, bringing most of their food in from off their farm and living very much by all of their own self-sufficiency. And yet this was nearly a century later! Mildred Kalish is (probably) still alive today! My grandpa grew up on a farm in Montana and had a life very similar to this--and it's no wonder that there is a huge generational difference in how they see things and how people who have grown up worlds away from them in terms of work expectations see things.

Kalish makes it very clear (by repeating over and over again, "Can you imagine young children doing this today?") that modern kids and people are totally spoiled and not at all held up to the same standards of work ethic and expectations that they were back then. (And it's true--I CAN'T imagine a five-year-old today being handed a pig's head and told to clean it and help make the headcheese out of it.) I like how she tries hard to represent the good and the bad about their lives then, and she very honestly writes about her feelings about her childhood as she's considered it and grown older (both positive and negative). She writes at the end that she was probably sugarcoating a lot of stuff about her childhood, but that she really does remember a lot of it as a very free, independent, and wonderful time, despite the hardships that she wasn't even aware of until she was older and looked back on her experiences.

I was a little bit bored by some of the chapters, particularly when she started including all of her family's old recipes for things (although I can understand her desires to include them). I wished she'd given more details and stories about her family--she hardly ever even named her brothers and sister and when she wrote about them it was always just in passing. I didn't really have the sense of what her siblings were like and they obviously featured a lot in her adventures growing up and I wanted to know more about them. I feel like it would have been a more compelling story if there had been a better balance of personal stories and explanation of what Life Was Like Back Then, which is what the book seemed to lean heavily towards.

Book #54: The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer

This Heyer novel is the first one that I've read that doesn't end in a marriage. Instead, it starts with a marriage, one based solely on money and status and "convenience," as the title of the book would suggest, and then the husband and wife grow to love and care for each other after they are married. The Earl of Rule proposes to the eldest Miss Winwood, who is already in love with someone else. So her younger, very fiery and impish sister Horatia goes to talk to the Earl and to offer herself as a wife instead. The Earl is enchanted and accepts that switch and eventually falls in love with "Horry" (what a terrible nickname!), while she gets into some scrapes and needs his help to get out of them. I liked this story, now that I've finished it, but I was bugged by certain points in the story as I went on, like how stubborn and childish Horry was. I also hated how Horry had a stutter--why make the heroine of the book have a stutter? It was obnoxious to read and obnoxious to imagine. But it was funny to read through the comedy of errors (at one point her brother dresses up and gets together with some highwaymen to try to rob someone for her, and it was really hilarious) and I enjoyed it all in the end.

Book #53: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

I've heard a lot about this book, like everyone else, and I read a lot of articles and arguments that people have written about. So I finally decided to get to actually reading the book itself, and checked it out from the library. Sandberg's "feminist manifesto" of sorts is not as dramatic as many people made it sound (but that of course is probably because I have already read so much about it so I was already familiar with her argument). She argues that in addition to all of the external obstacles that women face to success, there are also internal obstacles and de-motivators that women struggle with and need to overcome before we can live in a world that's truly equal. The first few chapters are outlining the main problems women are facing (within themselves and without) and the rest of the book is Sandberg's suggestions for how working women can solve those problems and what they can do to become leaders and reach the point in the career that they want. She sprinkles personal anecdotes throughout the book to illustrate points that she makes, which I found to be compelling and interesting. It definitely was illuminating to read about her lifestyle and her experiences working at the U.S. Treasury, Google, and Facebook.

I think Sandberg makes some really important points, and I feel like she was gives all women, whatever their career path, leeway to apply her points to their lives. I appreciate how fair she tried to be to women who chose to work, chose not to work, or chose to scale back on their work. All the same, it was interesting to read this book as a non-working woman, who isn't necessarily planning on a big career. I think she is really writing this book for women who want to be CEOs of companies (and are able to consider that as a career goal)--which, she points out, there are far too few of in our society. And on the one hand, I agree with her. She lists many, many depressing statistics about how few women there are in leadership positions and how women are viewed in workplaces for exhibiting ambitions and aggressive, hard-working habits that are usually associated with men. And I feel strongly, like Sandberg, that those inequalities should be evened out and that the world would be a better place if things were more fair in all of those situations. But then, I also think that it's hard when you get down to individual situations. I imagine most of the business school colleagues that she talks about who end up dropping out of the workforce and having children would agree with her, but they also did what they wanted to do (hopefully) by deciding to stay home. As a current stay-at-home mom myself, I think that things should be evened out--but I'm happy for other people to do that while I do what I'm doing. I want gender norms to be equal in the workplace, but I don't want to have to do it. It's a lazy position to be in, but it doesn't work to shame people who aren't participating (not that I think Sandberg is doing that at all--she definitely seems fair and even-minded to whatever choices women decide to make).

I did really enjoy her chapter on making your husband (or partner) a real partner in all of the childcare and homemaking responsibilities. One point she stresses is that men should be respected for staying at home as much as their wives might be, and also that men and women need to balance their careers together so that both the father and mother are helping pick kids up from school when is needed. I think that's always true--even when one parent is staying at home. (And of course, Tommy is a great example of doing this--just to clarify!)

Book #52: False Colours by Georgette Heyer

Don't worry, I don't have any more Heyer novels checked out from the library! (Although there might be one or two more waiting for me on hold there.) I read this one today while watching Dane and Indie play happily on the floor together. (And might I just say--they have finally, happily, made the turn to playing together instead of whining and crying the whole time they're with each other? Or at least, it seems like they have? We'll see how they hold up . . . but I am very happy about how they were today.) I liked how this book was different than the others, not focused on the romance between the main heroine and her lover specifically, but actually on the male character instead. Christopher "Kit" Fancourt returns home from living abroad to be forced into impersonating his twin brother to his new fiancee--and eventually, of course, they get into all sorts of situations and scrapes with the mix-up. Spoiler alert!--Kit falls in love with Cressy, his brother's fiancee, and they have to work things out with each other. This was a fun read, and I am glad to have worked my way through it. I think I'll read a couple of different books next before I read any more Heyers--I need a change of pace.

Book #51: These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer

Man, I am really busting through these Georgette Heyer books! I guess that's a good sign that I'm enjoying them and that they're very nice, easy, quick reads. (Although I am reading Anna Karenina as well--just much more slowly!) I started (and finished) These Old Shades last night, and I have to say right off--I did not love it as much as I did The Grand Sophy or Frederica. The heroines in those novels were much more realistic and believable, and the hero in this one absolutely not lovable at all.

Here's the basic storyline: the Duke of Avon, while in Paris, buys a random peasant boy he finds on the street to be his page. The boy, Leon, turns out to actually be a girl, Leonie, who's been forced to dress as a boy for years (starting to get weird, right?). He makes her his ward, his adopted daughter, and introduces her to Paris society and figures out about her family who she didn't know. The Duke is this terrible, evil person whom everyone calls Satan, but Leonie is totally devoted to him and thinks he's perfect. Eventually he falls in love with her too and after a bunch of stuff, they get married.

First off, the storyline is just too weird. She was dressed up as a boy for the first 100 pages of the book, and then you find out she's actually a girl. And then you find out she actually has good parentage and this whole crazy story behind her upbringing, which the Duke just figured out by just guessing. And secondly, the Duke of Avon is 20 years older than her, and her guardian, and this seriously bad guy, according to everyone, including his friends. He isn't the sort of person you want to root for, even after he starts helping Leonie out. I more wanted Leonie to fall in love with his younger brother, Rupert, who was much more human. And thirdly, Leonie was really pretty boring as a character. She was outspoken, and impish, and beautiful, but there really wasn't anything there for me to make me like her. I wouldn't really recommend this one as much as I would the other two Heyer novels I've read so far.

Book #50: Frederica by Georgette Heyer

I finished The Grand Sophy yesterday, and then started and finished this one yesterday too! (It was a rainy day, so all we were doing was hanging out inside, and I got to read while sitting next to Dane playing with his toys on the floor. And also he took two good long naps yesterday, giving me plenty of reading time.) This was a fun read along the same lines as The Grand Sophy, with a fun, determined heroine who somehow ends up catching the hero at the end. But it's fun to compare how they are different too: Sophy planned everything that was happening in the book--she was in complete control; she planned on her cousin falling in love with her; she wasn't surprised when it happened. Frederica, on the other hand, had no thoughts of marriage and was only focused on taking care of her siblings, since they had all been orphaned a few years ago. She was the oldest of the five siblings, and brought them all to London in order to help her stunningly beautiful sister Charis have her "season" in London society. All of her goals centered around Charis being comfortably married and taking care of her younger brothers, which unselfishness was appealing enough in her character. Of course, the distant relative she applies for help to, the Marquis of Alverstoke, who is the most eligible bachelor in town and has long been considered the most selfish and uncaring man in society, discovers that Frederica and her younger brothers are some of the first people he's ever met who don't bore him excessively and he gradually falls in love with her.

So far, after reading two Heyer novels, I've found that I love how she includes events that seem totally out of the regular path of everyday life in her stories. In this novel, one of the climactic events is when Frederica and family go watch a hot-air balloon lift-off from one of the main parks in London (and all sorts of chaos ensue with Frederica's youngest brother!). It just is such a novel event to read about in a story set in this time period, when all of Jane Austen's novels are very centered on the regular, everyday lives that people lead (which I very much enjoy too--I just appreciate the contrast). I loved Frederica as the heroine and I also very much liked the Marquis of Alverstoke--he's a semi-despicable rake at the beginning of the novel but you can kind of see why, through his circumstances and surroundings. He becomes much more approachable and less self-centered through his attachment to Frederica and her family, and leads to a happy ending.

Book #49: The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

I've never read any of Georgette Heyer's books before, but I've checked out five of them from the library and I'm planning on working my way through them in the next few days. My sister-in-law Melissa recommended them to me (after I mentioned my Jane Austen kick), and I looked up what her best books were on Goodreads. The Grand Sophy was the highest rated, so I wanted to read it first.

Sophy gets dropped off to visit her aunt and uncle and finds out that their family has a number of problems they need help fixing: Charles, her oldest cousin, is engaged to a meddling bluestocking; Cecilia, her cousin her age, is in love with a poet who has no idea of how to make a living; Hubert, another cousin, has lost a lot of money gambling and has no idea where to go. The great thing for them is that Sophy knows exactly how to fix all of these situations and decides to help all of her relatives through her own matchmaking and problem-solving. She does end up fixing all of these problems in her aunt's family, to the most wonderful solutions for everyone, and through the most unexpected means. Sophy is an extremely lovable character--she is opinionated and strong-willed but only uses her stubbornness for the best efforts and most helpful causes. You can't help loving her determination to do what she wants to do and laughing at how well everything turns out for her through all of her hard work.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this Regency romance--I liked how Heyer's style is a mix between the formality of Jane Austen and the informality of today. Sophy seemed like a very modern heroine (even though Heyer was writing in 1950) and not at all encumbered by the concerns for propriety that seems so important to all of Austen's heroines. Sophy's last desperate measures she takes to make Charles and Cecilia break off their engagements to marry the right people absolutely do not fit in with my understanding of the culture at the time. It seems like it would have been far too improper for any woman to pretend to elope with someone for anyone to even think about taking it on. But of course, if anyone would do it, it would be Sophy.

Book #48: Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

I emailed my sisters-in-law and told them about the two Mr. Darcy books I read last week, and got a few good book recommendations in return from them. Kristen said she was reading this one, and that it was a Jane Austen-esque novel and that it was "heartpoundingly romantic!" So of course I requested it at the library and read it tonight while Tommy was at Priesthood session. (Yeah, it was that quick! I love it when books go by that fast.) It's a Regency-era romance novel, with a modern style and plot pacing. Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl doesn't like boy, girl falls in love with boy, something bad happens, boy saves girl, boy and girl get engaged. That's basically the whole plot. It was a cute story, and I liked the main character, Marianne, even though she kept saying how she was so plain but her love interest is always telling her how he thinks she's so beautiful. Stop being all boring and talking about how ugly you are all the time, Marianne!

The one thing about this book was that it all seemed very cliche. I knew what was going to happen before it happened. And I wasn't really convinced about why Philip should have fallen in love with Marianne so quickly and desperately in the first place. After about three days of knowing each other, he was already writing her love letters about how much he loved her and blah blah blah. Not believable at all. And the most un-believable part was the plotline about the guy who first dressed up as a highwayman and tried to kidnap Marianne for her newfound inheritance, and then randomly came to her house and called on her and proposed to her, and then eventually kidnapped her and stole her away. Seriously? That was completely unconvincing to me and seemed so random and out of place. I think the whole story would have been stronger without any of that extra random added drama that the author clearly just included to make it move along faster or something like that.

But all in all, I liked the book (really, I did!). Even though some of the dialogue made me cringe and some of the story was kind of out there, I liked the characters and I'll be happy thinking about them and the story for the rest of the evening at least.