Hattie and Grandma: Two Book Series about The Olden Days

Re-reading old favorite children's books provides an interesting opportunity to revisit childhood experiences and evaluate them from an older perspective. This can sometimes backfire; I may have loved something as a child, but as an adult, the allure is replaced by an underwhelming sense as all its flaws are now more evident. However, I would say the majority of the time it's pleasant to re-read books from Way Back When, especially when it turns out that these books are "Actually pretty good." 

(Past-tense Me, being able to hear this approval from Present-tense Me, can't help but feel vindicated in her choice of literature when this happens.)

“The Swiss Family Robinson,” where the Flamingo and the Penguin Shall Dwell Together, Apparently

As a child, the Disney adaptation of The Swiss Family Robinson was one of my favorites movies my grandma had at her house. Because she only had one or two other VHS to choose from, I ended up watching this movie a lot. There’s just something alluring about a treehouse, and having wild animals as pets, and fighting off pirates.

My mom read the book aloud for school, but I only remembered one part where one of the boys, Ernst, asks to be left in solitude so he can pretend to be Robinson Crusoe, and his dad says he’s already gotten enough experience.

In re-reading it this year, I came to the unfortunate realization that there was a reason this was the only thing I remembered. The book is overall boring.

And, for those who like the movie and haven’t read the book, spoilers: there are no pirates.

Modern Medieval: The Literature of Chretien de Troyes

As I’ve written before--probably more than once--Erec et Enide is one of my favorite Arthurian stories. I was excited to begin reading other Arthurian romances by the same author, Chrétien de Troyes:

• Cliges
• Lancelot
• Yvain
• Perceval

And, for the most part, he lived up to the hype. One thing that de Troyes does (that I haven’t noticed much in other “original” Arthurian tales) is give his characters introspection. For instance, when Cliges first meets his true love, Fenice, de Troyes devotes several pages to each of them, relating their inner dialog in almost stream-of-consciousness fluidity.

Finding New Friends in Elizabeth Goudge’s “A Book of Comfort”

In school my mom had me keep a copybook—a notebook filled with favorite or classic quotations, poems, and excerpts from books, all copied out in my best handwriting. Even though she reads this blog and it might go badly for me, I must admit that I didn’t enjoy this, at least not until halfway through high school. In college, though, I found myself still keeping a copybook of sorts, as I would jot down powerful or poignant lines from the literature I was reading in class.

In reading Elizabeth Goudge’s A Book of Comfort I got the distinct impression that this was her copybook. It’s the first of her collections that I’ve tried, and although it’s not technically her writing, the experience of reading it was similar. One has to approach a Goudge novel (and collection, apparently) with patience, allowing it to unfold until one can appreciate its meaning.