The Penderwicks

by Jeanne Birdsall

I felt like I deserved some light reading after The Count of Monte Cristo, and this had a cute cover. (I know, I know, but it turned out alright.) The Penderwicks are a fairly nice family consisting of four sisters, their botanist father, and their dog Hound who is rather inclined to barf. The oldest sister, Rosalind, is twelve, and it goes from there to Skye, Jane, and Batty (short for Elizabeth), who’s four.

It was kind of like a more modern, girls-only version of the Bastables; much that the Penderwicks do goes wrong despite the best of intentions, and Skye rarely has the best of intentions. The family is vacationing for three weeks at a cottage located on the large estate of Mrs. Tifton, whose husband ran off long ago, leaving her with a son, Jeffrey. None of the Penderwick girls like Mrs. Tifton but they do befriend Jeffrey, and most of their efforts during the vacation center on making his life better.

I’m starting to think that I just can’t be happy with a book, because of course it was the ending that disappointed me. It was too rushed. There was tons of dramatic buildup, the Penderwicks were leaving in the morning, nothing was resolved, and then suddenly – as they were in the driveway ready to go – Jeffrey ran up and explained how he and his mother had talked and come to an agreement about his life. Everything got fixed! Hooray!

Well, regardless of that, the four sisters are really adorable, and I enjoyed how the author was able to give them such distinct personalities. My favorite: Batty wears a pair of butterfly wings everywhere she goes. If only I had been so cool!

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

Can I just say how proud I am of myself for finishing this book in only a year and a half? And especially for getting through 900 of the 1400+ pages in the past week?

Yes, it was an excessively long book. The longest I have ever read in my life. Since I enjoyed the abridged version (about 500 pages) so much, I promised myself I’d someday make it through the entire unabridged book. It’s been several years since I read the abridged, so it was usually hard to tell what story lines were left out; I did finally find a few parts that were completely new to me this time, and they were really enjoyable. In all fairness, the book could easily have been 300 pages shorter simply by reducing the amount of tedious description; however, I get the impression that books were written differently in the 1800s (Moby Dick, anyone?).

Wasteful descriptions aside, The Count of Monte Cristo is an amazing story of a man who feels it is his duty to punish the wicked and reward the righteous – but who discovers that such punishments and rewards don’t always have their intended effects, and the wicked and the righteous are not always so easy to distinguish.

My only other complaint with the book is the Count’s odd relationship with his Greek slave. Suddenly realizing that you’re in love with the girl you’ve adopted as your daughter (and who is plenty young enough to be) is just kind of weird. I suppose there is one other thing I disliked, and that was the Romeo & Juliet storyline at the very end.

However, the faults are fewer than the strengths, and I feel it was worth my time and energy to understand the Count and his sufferings. Dumas does an excellent job of demonstrating that only God can fairly punish and reward; the best efforts of man are usually misguided.

If you feel up to it, by all means, read the unabridged version. For a much shorter read, try the abridged; if you just want a story with a few of the same characters (some bearing only the same name and no other qualities), please watch the movie, which is excellent in its own right.

Hey! I finished a really long book! Hooray for me!

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

The second book in a humorous re-imagining of Peter Pan, I found Peter and the Shadow Thieves quite a bit more interesting than its predecessor (Peter and the Starcatchers). Hard to go wrong when the book begins like this:

“A mango,” thought Peter. “The perfect weapon.”

Although the entire idea of starstuff is still utterly ridiculous to me (and really makes me think of the movie Stardust), I was able to ignore that premise for most of the book – even though it’s a key plot element. Nice to be able to not focus on it, though. I did like Peter’s “translation” of what Tinker Bell said; being a somewhat vicious and jealous fairy, she didn’t usually say anything nice. Peter always managed to make it sound acceptable, even if he had to say something opposite of her true sentiments.

It was also fun to see George Darling make an appearance. I expect the authors will write another book, where everyone else has grown up (Molly and George will be married, and have three children – Wendy, John, and Michael) but Peter is, of course, the same age. If not, at least we found out how the Darlings got together.

Not the best book ever, but definitely fun, quick, and better than suffering through Robert Jordan. Try it!