A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, by  Betty Smith

The title of this book refers to a persistent little tree that is growing through the concrete in the Brooklyn neighborhood that Francie is growing up in.  The tree comes around time and time again as an analogy to Francie’s life.  What is great about Francie is that she sees everything with these big, innocent eyes.  She gets excited about every little thing, when the fact is her life kind of sucks.  Her family is pretty much shot:  she has this tragic, alcoholic father, a crazy aunt, a favored brother… and she just continues to see life as totally magical.  It’s wonderful.

Of course, I loved Francie too because she was a big old book nerd.  One of my all time favorite quotes comes from this book:

“From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography. On that day when she first knew she could read, she made a vow to read one book a day as long as she lived.”

The whole book is just funny and sweet and kind of perfect.  This is another one of those great-girl-heroine books that I read about a dozen and a half times growing up.  So good.

Also:  From the minute I read this book until this very second I LOVE the name Francie.  LOVE IT. If we have a girl, this is going to be on our list of potential names.  It is one of my all time favorites.  That’s all.

To participate in Flashback Friday, head over here to get the info on what’s going on.  After posting your flashback, come back here and comment with a link to your blog so everyone can enjoy!

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

I told you guys a couple of months a go that I am a crier when it comes to books.  To be honest, I’m kind of a crier when it comes to anything, but books are one of my favorite things to cry over. This is one that has destroyed me more than once.

This is one of those books that we had to read in high school.  I was one of those kids who didn’t have to try very hard to make passable grades and I was perfectly fine with being mediocre in my schooling.  I loved to read but I never really got into what we were reading for any class and I was far to cool to show that I cared about anything that was going on around me…. and then we read Of Mice and Men in high school english class.

From the very first word, I was totally sold.  I was all the way in love with George and Lennie.  Their talk by the river when they were on their way to the farm is one of my absolute favorite scenes in any book I’ve ever read.  From that point on, I was into it.  I was reading ahead. I was talking about it and thinking about it outside of class. Crazy, right?

Some chapters we’d be assigned to read outside of class and some chapters we would read aloud during class.  I plowed through the book in the first few days after it was given to us and then slowed down and read along with the class.  When the teacher announced that we’d read the last couple of chapters aloud in class I was so excited because I wanted to catch everyone’s expressions at the “big twist” at the end.   That didn’t happen at all.  For some reason, even though I knew how it ended, hearing it read aloud just tugged at my heartstrings.  I started crying and I was kind of embarrassed, but I didn’t think anyone noticed.  The teacher kept reading and I totally lost it.  I was sobbing crying.  I felt like an idiot but I looked around and realized that there were several girls in various stages of having breakdowns.

Looking back at how cavalier I was about everything but how much this tore me up, I’m totally impressed.  That has to say something about his level of skill, that John Steinbeck could write something that could reach across the decades and truly touch a mean, hormonal teenager.  That’s incredible, right?

To participate in Flashback Friday, head over here to get the info on what’s going on.  After posting your flashback, come back here and comment with a link to your blog so everyone can enjoy!

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

I struggled with whether or not this should be included as a “flashback,” mostly because I make it a habit to read this one just about every time I fall into a book rut.  I do count this, though, as one of the books that really made me fall in love with reading, so I think that it is perfect flashback material.

I grew up with an older brother and a younger brother.  I love them both dearly, but have always dreamed of what it would have been like to grow up with sisters.  In my dreams, my sisters are the March girls.  Also, in my dreams, I am Jo.  I just absolutely loved their plays and their creativity and their get-through-it-ness during tough times.  I loved how they encouraged each other and were just good sisters.  This, for whatever reason, still makes me a little teary eyed to think about. I just love it.

Reading it as and adult, I see things that I completely missed as a kid: the undercurrent of “the goal of a woman’s life is to marry” and how they totally ignore the effect that the Civil War would have had on a family of the time.  But this is a flashback, so there.  When I was a kid, I really just saw this innocence and a family that was fully functional, which mine was not.

I remember reading this one over and over and over when I was growing up.  The story never got old for me. Since then I’ve read a few “spin-offs” of the book, and have to say that March by Geraldine Brooks is truly a great book, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Little Women fan. It’s good stuff.

To participate in Flashback Friday, head over here to get the info on what’s going on.  After posting your flashback, come back here and comment with a link to your blog so everyone can enjoy!

The Book: Matchless: An Illumination of Hans Christian Anderson’s Classic “The Little Match Girl”, by Gregory Maguire

The Story: The first part of this story introduces a young boy who is very poor.  He is struggling to help keep his stove lit at the house that he and his mother share.  It is important that it not go out because they have used their last match.  We are also shown his “escape”.  In his upstairs room, he has used bits and pieces that he’s found in the street to make a little miniature city.  He is always on the lookout for new parts for his little town.

Part Two really is just a retelling of the classic story, The Little Match Girl.  She is trying to sell matches, no one will buy them.  She loses her shoe.  She sits in an alley and lights matches and sees visions.  The author changed very, very little from the original.

The second half shows these stories intertwining in an unexpected and beautiful way.  I’m not even going to give away a smidge!

What I Thought: When I was younger, one of the books that my mom read to us a lot was The Little Match Girl.  I remember once in high school, it was unpacked with our Christmas stuff and was laying on the table.  A friend asked what it was about, so I read it out loud to him.  He cried.  He was like, “How is that a children’s story? Why would parents read that to their children? It is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”  And it is.

This version, while still very sad, adds a little bit of hope with the addition of the boy and his story.

I loved it. I loved how it was written and I loved how the original story was left alone, but that there was still innovation taken to expand the story.

One page I marked and read out loud to my husband. “The family was still hard-pressed for money, and dreamed of savory treats to eat, but they had the warmth of one another, and enough on which to live, and in most parts of the world that is called plenty.” I love that.  Pefection.

Conclusion: If you’ve never heard the original, read it first.  Then read this.  It is really short and easy to read.  You could probably read it standing in the bookstore, but I recommend under a blanket in front of a Christmas tree.