Anne of Green Gables #1 - Review

What a delightful read. I had watched the movies, but had skipped the books.  I will definitely come back to this book just to enjoy the ride of reading through the sentences and getting my eyes refreshed to appreciate nature, and beauty and life with al that comes with it. I can’t wait to get to the second one in the series and to read it with my daughter.

I think this is a great character-building story in so, so many ways. One I’d like to highlight is the great illustration of “Beauty being on the eye of the beholder”. We all need a little more “Scope for imagination” to color our everyday realities and grow in contentment and gratefulness. I think this book is a good place to stir some of that scope. I totally recommend it for women of all ages. These are a couple of my favorites lines I wish not to forget:

 “Wouldn’t you just love to be rich, girls?”…”We are rich,” said Anne staunchly. “Why, we have 16 years to our credit, and we are happy as queens, and we’ve all got imaginations, more or less.  Look at the sea, girls -all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen.  We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes and diamonds…”Well, I don’t want to be anyone but myself, even if I go uncomforted by diamonds all my life,” declared Anne.  “I’m quite content to be Anne of Green Gables, with my string of pearl beads.  I know Matthew gave me as much love with them as ever went with Madame the Pink Lady’s jewels.”

“Ever since I came to Green Gables, I’ve been making mistakes, and each mistake has helped to cure me of some great shortcoming.  The affair of the amethyst brooch cured me of meddling with things that didn’t belong to me.  The haunted wood mistake cured me of letting my imagination run away with me.  The liniment cake mistake cured me of carelessness in cooking.  Dyeing my hair cured me of vanity..and today’s mistake is going to cure me of being too romantic.”

Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His wife - My book review:

Wow, what a nice surprise of a read. I picked this book just out of curiosity from the title thinking it was an inspirational book about marriage. How much more did I get! It definitely had plenty of word pictures of the dynamics of a Christian marriage and piles of wisdom about God’s intend for it as a portrait of the gospel to the world, however, I encountered far more than just that. I was introduced to the life of a hero and an American legend which I was not aware enough of.

One of the greatest insights I got from this book is God’s providence in placing a Christian leader like Jackson in the midst of the bloodiest war in American History. One of my favorite take-aways from this book, it’s Anna, Jackson’s wife’s recount of his campaigns: “Within forty days he had marched 400 miles, fought 4 pitched battles, defeated 4 separate armies, with numerous combats and skirmishes, sent to the rear 3,000, 500 prisoners, killed and wounded a still larger number of the enemy, and defeated or neutralized forces 3 times as numerous as his own upon his proper theater of war.” Further I like to take away his regard to this as he replies to Robert E. Lee’s remarks while Jackson laid of is death bed after a mortal wound: -Lee: “I should have chosen for the good of our country to have been disabled in your stead… I congratulate you upon the victory which is due to your skill and energy.”…To which Jackson replied: “General Lee is very kind, but he should give praise to God”.

There is actually an account of a revival in the midst of the civil war. I am grateful that God strategically used Jackson’s influential life along that of many others in his church during that time to bring the gospel to the hundreds of thousands of men facing death in the battlefields. These quotes from Jackson give a little glimpse on his heart for the advance of God’s kingdom in the middle of war. This he said after the ordered destruction of property to help neutralize the enemy: “-If the cost of the property may have been expended in disseminating the gospel of the prince of peace. How much greater good might have been expected.” And here’s Anna’s recount of the last service attended by Jackson: ” -In front of the tent, under the canopy of heaven, were spread out in dense masses the soldiers, sitting upon benches or standing. The preaching was earnest and edifying, the singing one grand volume of song, and the attention and good behavior of the assembly remarkable.”

I do really recommend this book and any other books on the subject of the life of Stonewall Jackson for your own personal enrichment and for the inspiration of children, specially boys in their endeavor to become men of character, valor and eternal perspective.

Here some more of my take-aways from this book to wet your appetite for wisdom. Stonewall Jackson’s large collection of maxims and quotes are highly regarded and sought after:

-“L.t. Jackson cast aside all his former reluctance and excuses and devoted his life to seeking the glory of God and obedience to biblical precepts."

-“How delightful it is to feel that we have such a friend, who changes not! The Christian recognition of God in all his works greatly enhances his enjoyment.”

-“You must not be discouraged at the slowness of recovery. Look up to him who giveth liberally for faith to be resigned to his divide will, and trust Him for that measure of health which will most glorify Him and advance to the greatest extend your own real happiness.”

-“See if you cannot spend a short time looking out your window into space, and meditating upon heaven, with all its joys unspeakable and full of glory and think of what the savior relinquished in glory when he came to earth.”

-“He showed that in Adam’s fall we had been raised from the position of servants to that of children of God. He represented man as redeemed being at the day of judgement, standing nearest to the throne, the angels being farther removed. And why? Because is sitting upon the throne he is a nearer relation to Christ than the angels. And his being the righteousness of God himself”.

-“Try to live near Jesus and secure that peace which flows like a river.”

-“Look, men, there is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer!”

-“I know that the first brigade was the first to meet and pass our retreating forces – to push on with no other aid than the smiles of God..”

-“Was not such a heavenly vision enough to make him forgetful of his sufferings? He beautifully and forcibly described the death of the righteous, and as forcibly that of the wicked”.

-“What I need is a more grateful heart to the “Giver of every good and perfect gift.”

-“Over the next 2 months Jackson would rewrite the military history books in an audacious and brilliant campaign that is still studied in the military schools around de world.”

-“Your sickness give me great concern, but so live that it, and all your trials, may be sanctified to you, remembering that our light afflictions which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

-“There was something very striking in his prayers. He did not pray to men, but to God. His tones were deep, solemn, tremulous. He seemed to realize that he was speaking to Heaven’s King.”

-“Make our nation that people whose God is the Lord, is my earnest and oft-repeated prayer. While we attach so much importance to being free from temporal bondage, we must attach far more to being free from the bondage of sin.”

-“Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth: a stranger, and not thine own lips.”

-“We can sympathize with her, and I wish I could comfort her, but not human comfort can fully meet her case; only the Redeemer can, and I trust that she finds Jesus precious, most precious, in this her sad hour of trial.”

-“How kind is God to us! Oh that I were more grateful!”

-“How delightful will be our heavenly home, where everything is sanctified!”

-“He also rejoiced that the Sabbath days could now be kept regularly and deeply appreciated the preaching and prayer meetings of the army.”

-“Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.”

I'm enjoying going over this review again. Grateful for this book.

Persuasion by Jane Austen. My book review:

Well, this was the first time I read a Jane Austen’s book. I have to confess that "Romantic novels" are not my favorite genre, so I am not sure if this spoils my review. And I am not a book critic by any measure.

Ok. I will start with some the positives. For the most part, (With the exception of the extremely wordy descriptions placed mercilessly right on the tension points along the plot) I enjoyed the richness of the language. Sometimes even as you have to plod through really long sentences, the wording itself is quite interesting. I also liked very much the highlight on the importance of quality relationships over the empty exchange of aristocratic circles. What a great reminder to our present world which propelled in part by social media and crowded schedules frequently feels as spiraling downwards towards shallow relationships.

I also enjoyed the contrast in character between the female roles in the story. I think Jane Austeen, and I assume many other 19th century female writers used their novel characters as voices to enlighten the culture of the time about the value of women, and their transcending role in society. I think this may have had a significant catalytic role in the civil rights movement, opening the door for a much-needed holistic appreciation of women. I enjoyed how Austen made Anne Elliot a truly “heroine” by embodying among many other things the tenderness required to engage and truly care for children, the respect and compassion required to appreciate the unfortunate, the wisdom and patience to highly regard the views and needs of the elderly, the curiosity and mental rigor to cultivate an educated mind, the sensibility to appreciate beauty, and the prudence and selflessness to care for the fate of others as much as her own.

With that said, I will point now to some of the things that I didn’t love as much. First, I think the plot was not as robust as I expected. I was frequently distracted by turns in the events that didn’t feel as natural. (I came to this novel, with the expectations of “Little women” which to me has a much stronger plot). Also, even as persuasion was a strong force applied to the decision making of the main characters, I was often frustrated on the over-reliance of perception and third-party opinions instead of plain open communication. I guess that it’s a malady that we all have to get over with. And I guess the older one gets the more aware of it. Thus, I call that a life lesson, and probably another plus instead.

I was also a little bothered by the frequent borderline “self-deprecating” assessments of Anne. I sure wouldn’t like my daughter to employ that self-talk pattern at all. However, I think it’s fair to say that we all struggle with that sometimes. Finally, I was not happy with the resolution of the story. Even as they end up together and living happily ever after, the turns of events that brought them together felt somewhat abrupt, rushed and unnatural. Also, I missed the fervent and sensible confessions of mutual affection which I truly enjoyed in “Great Expectations” or “Jane Eyre”. I think “Persuasion” was a good piece of literature, very timely for its era, with a significant entertainment value and a few good life lessons. However, it didn’t make it to the shelve of the books that I look up for inspiration and character building. Now will I read "Pride and Prejudice" even as I had already watched the movie? Many people say it's much better. So we'll see.