Burnett, Frances Hodgson "The Secret Garden"

Burnett, Frances Hodgson "The Secret Garden" - 1911

After reading "The Clockmaker's Daughter", I read a review by my faithful blog friend Judy from "Keep the Wisdom" about "The Forgotten Garden" by the same author, Kate Morton.

While discussing that book, I had to reveal that I never read "The Secret Garden" as a child, probably because it was not as popular in Germany as it was in the English-speaking world.

Why that would be the case … I have no idea. It is a sweet book. I know I would have enjoyed it as a child, probably even more than I did now.

It's a story about how important it is for children to love the outdoors, to have access to other children, to be loved. Even if it is just by a little robin.

I totally agree with Martha and Dickon's mother, Susan Sowerby, who says "Two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way - or always to have it". The latter is even worse than the former since there is no reason why you should always give in to a child. They will throw tantrums like a three-year-old even when they're in their nineties. She seems to have her act together anyway. I think I liked her most of all the characters in the novel.

In this story, an arrogant young girl who grew up in India, has to come and live with her uncle and her arrogant young cousin. Only through the discovery of a secret garden, do they manage to grow into lovely young children. Wouldn't it be nice if all children were given this chance?

The only story by Frances Hodgson Burnett that I know is "Little Lord Fauntleroy" because they turned it into a beautiful film and show it on German television every year at Christmas. No need to say that we have it on DVD now so we can watch the non-dubbed, original version.

I also remember seeing an adaptation of "A Little Princess" years and years ago.

Looks like it's time I read both those books, as well.

From the back cover:

"'One of the most delightful and enduring classics of children's literature, The Secret Garden by Victorian author Frances Hodgson Burnett has remained a firm favorite with children the world over ever since it made its first appearance. Initially published as a serial story in 1910 in The American Magazine, it was brought out in novel form in 1911.

The plot centers round Mary Lennox, a young English girl who returns to England from India, having suffered the immense trauma by losing both her parents in a cholera epidemic. However, her memories of her parents are not pleasant, as they were a selfish, neglectful and pleasure-seeking couple. Mary is given to the care of her uncle Archibald Craven, whom she has never met. She travels to his home, Misselthwaite Manor located in the gloomy Yorkshire, a vast change from the sunny and warm climate she was used to. When she arrives, she is a rude, stubborn and given to stormy temper tantrums. However, her nature undergoes a gradual transformation when she learns of the tragedies that have befallen her strict and disciplinarian uncle whom she earlier feared and despised. Once when he's away from home, Mary discovers a charming walled garden which is always kept locked. The mystery deepens when she hears sounds of sobbing from somewhere within her uncle's vast mansion. The kindly servants ignore her queries or pretend they haven't heard, spiking Mary's curiosity.

The Secret Garden appeals to both young and old alike. It has wonderful elements of mystery, spirituality, charming characters and an authentic rendering of childhood emotions and experiences. Commonsense, truth and kindness, compassion and a belief in the essential goodness of human beings lie at the heart of this unforgettable story. It is the best known of Frances Hodgson Burnett's works, though most of us have definitely heard of, if not read, her other novel Little Lord Fauntleroy.

The book has been adapted extensively on stage, film and television and translated into all the world's major languages. In 1991, a Japanese anime version was launched for television in Japan. It remains a popular and beloved story of a child's journey into maturity, and a must-read for every child, parent, teacher and anyone who would enjoy this fascinating glimpse of childhood. One of the most delightful and enduring classics of children's literature, The Secret Garden by Victorian author Frances Hodgson Burnett has remained a firm favorite with children the world over ever since it made its first appearance. Initially published as a serial story in 1910 in The American Magazine, it was brought out in novel form in 1911.'"

Book Quotes of the Week

Word cloud made with WordItOut

"The poet can only write the poems; it takes the reader to complete the meaning." Nikki Giovanni

"Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them." Lucy Maud Montgomery

"The good thing about writing books is that you can dream while you are awake." Haruki Murakami

"Comics are a gateway drug to literacy." Art Spiegelman

Find more book quotes here.

Bush, George W., Institute "We Are Afghan Women"

Bush, George W., Institute "We Are Afghan Women. Voices of Hope" - 2016

I have read a lot of books about Afghanistan, mostly about women in Afghanistan. And they are all heartbreaking.

In this edition, various women from Afghanistan raise their voices. There are teachers and doctors, girls (and even one guy) that come from the poorest areas in the country but were able to raise up and help their fellow countrywomen. They have a lot in common. Most of them had to flee the country either when the Russians occupied it or when the Taliban took over. Many of them stayed in Pakistan or Iran during a couple of years, some even went to the United States. They all found a job when coming back. Some weave carpets and support their families, others teach other women. They all have the hope that it will get better living in a country where women are regarded as the lowest of the lowest and have nothing to say.

But they have more in common than that. They are all incredibly strong and don't give up. Some had to stop their education three times but followed it up every time they had the chance to continue.

A brilliant account of how women in other parts of the world live. I might never get to a country like that but I will always try to understand what these women are going through and support them in any way I can, even if it's only by writing.

Reading a book like this makes me grateful that I am born and can live in Europe. We might have our own troubles but they are nothing compared to what these people are going through.

I didn't know much about the George W. Bush Institute before I read this book but they are certainly doing a good job in this part of the world.

A very deserving book. A quote that makes you think: "A person has two hands, left and right. In many societies the right is the man and the left hand is the woman. In Afghan society both right and left hand is the man." So true.

From the back cover:

"These are the voices of Afghanistan's women. Hear their inspiring, moving, courageous, and often heartbreaking stories. Discover a compelling portrait of the lives, struggles, and successes of these extraordinarily resilient women.

Afghanistan has been described as 'the worst nation in the world to be a woman'. More than fifty percent of girls who are forced into marriage are sixteen or younger. Too many women live in fear and in many areas, education and employment for women are still condemned. The women featured in We Are Afghan Women are fighting to change all that. From rug weavers to domestic violence counselors to business owners, educators, and activists, these courageous women are charting a new path for themselves, their families, their communities, and their nation. Told in their own voices, their stories vividly capture a country undone by decades of war and now struggling to build a lasting peace.

Meet Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, who ran underground schools for girls until the Taliban fell, and today has established educational centers across Afghanistan to teach women and girls basic literacy. Or Freshta Hazeq, who as a female business owner, has faced death threats, sabotage, and even kidnapping threats against her children. Naheed Farid is the youngest female member of Afghanistan’s parliament. During her campaign, opponents cut Naheed’s face out of campaign posters and her family risked complete ruin, but her husband and father-in-law never wavered, encouraging her to persevere. Here, too are compassionate women such as Masooma Jafari, who started a national midwives association. Her own mother was forced into marriage at age twelve and gave birth to her first child at age thirteen.

With an introduction by former First Lady Laura Bush, We Are Afghan Women chronicles the lives of young and old, daughters and mothers, educated, and those who are still learning. These determined women are defying the odds to lead Afghanistan to a better future. Their stories are a stark reminder that in some corners of the world the struggle continues and that women’s progress in society, business, and politics cannot be taken for granted. Their eloquent words challenge all of us to answer: What does it truly mean to be a woman in the twenty-first century?

Laura Bush is the Chair of the George W. Bush Institute’s Women’s Initiative, which strives to empower women through education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. Located in Dallas, Texas, at Southern Methodist University, the Bush Institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center is a public-policy center dedicated to developing leaders, fostering policy debates and solutions, and taking action. She is a long-time supporter of women’s participation and education in Afghanistan and serves alongside Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani and Secretary Hillary R. Clinton as honorary co-chair of the US Afghan Women’s Council."

The Classics Club

Through "Words and Peace" I found "The Classics Club".

Their rules are published here:
The Classics Club is a club created to inspire people to read and blog about classic books. There’s no time limit to join and you’re most welcome, as long as you’re willing to sign up to read and write on your blog about 50+ classic books in at most five years.

The club basics (the short version):
* choose 50+ classics
* list them at your blog
* choose a reading completion goal date up to five years in the future and note that date on your classics list of 50+ titles
* e-mail the moderators of this blog (theclassicsclubblog@gmail.com) with your list link and information and it will be posted on the Members Page!
* write about each title on your list as you finish reading it, and link it to your main list
* when you’ve written about every single title, let us know!

Since I love classics, this is just the right club for me to join.

They offer a fantastic list (here) though I think some of the titles are a tad too recent to be called classics. "The Uncommon Reader", by Alan Bennet, for instance, dates from 2007. That's only twelve years ago.

Until now, a classic for me was anything before 1900 though I have adjusted it now. LOL. But I still don't consider anything a classic that is not older than at least fifty years.

So, this is my list. The books are the oldest ones on my TBR list. I hope I will finish them all in the next five years though I am sure I will add more classic books to that list, as well.

1.    Alighieri, Dante "The Divine Comedy" (Divina Commedia) - 1308-20
2.    Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine de "Corinne: Or Italy" (Corinne ou l'Italie) - 1807
3.    Austen, Jane "Sanditon" - 1817
4.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Italian Journey aka Letters from Italy" (Italienische Reise) - 1817
5.    Eichendorff, Joseph von "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und andere Novellen" (Life of a Good-For-Nothing) - 1826
6.    Stendhal "The Red and the Black" (Le Rouge et le Noir) - 1830 - The Classic Spin 
7.    Gogol, Nikolai (Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь, Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol) "The Overcoat" (Шинель) - 1842
8.    Dumas, Alexandre "The Count of Monte Cristo" (Le comte de Monte-Cristo) - 1844-46
9.    Douglass, Frederick "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" - 1845
10.    Sand, George "Fadette" (aka Fanchon, the Cricket) (La Petite Fadette) - 1849
11.    Crafts, Hannah "The Bondwoman’s Narrative" - 1855-69
12.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel "The Scarlet Letter" - 1850
13.    Northup, Solomon "Twelve Years a Slave" - 1853 - 240
14.    Keller, Gottfried "Novellen" (Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe u.a.) "Novellas" (A Village Romeo and Juliet and others) - 1855/56
15.    Eliot, George "Silas Marner" - 1861
16.    Jacobs, Harriet Ann (Linda Brent) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" - 1861
17.    Rhoides, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Roidis) "The Curious History of Pope Joan" (Papissa Ioanna) - 1866
18.    Marx, Karl "Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie" (Capital. Critique of Political Economy) - 1867
19.    James, Henry,  "Daisy Miller" - 1879 - The Classic Spin
20.    Twain, Mark "A Tramp Abroad" - 1880
21.    James, Henry "The Europeans" - 1878
22.    Storm, Theodor "The Rider on the White Horse" (Der Schimmelreiter und andere Erzählungen) - 1888
23.    Wells, H. G. "The Time Machine" - 1895
24.    Van Dyke, Henry "The Story of the Other Wise Man" - 1896
25.    Hubbard, Fra Elbert "A Message to Garcia" - 1899 - The Classic Spin
26.    Baum, L. Frank "The Wizard of Oz" - 1900 - The Classic Spin
27.    Gorki, Maxim "The Mother" (Мать/Matj) - 1906/07
28.    Burnett, Frances Hodgson "The Secret Garden" - 1909
29.    Frost, Robert "A Boy’s Will" and "North of Boston" - 1913+1914 - The Classic Spin
30.    Mann, Thomas "A Man and his Dog" (Herr und Hund. Ein Idyll) - 1918
31.    Undset, Sigrid "Kristin Lavransdatter" (Kristin Lavransdattter) - 1920
The Bridal Wreath (Kransen) - 1920
The Mistress of Husaby (aka: The Wife/Husfrue) - 1921
The Cross (Korset) - 1922
32.    Christie, Agatha "Hercule Poirot. The Complete Short Stories" - 1923-61
33.    Martin, Catherine "The Incredible Journey" - 1923
34.    Ford, Ford Maddox "Parade's End" (Tetraology: Some Do Not, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, Last Post) - 1924-28
35.    Mandelstam, Ossip "The Din of Time" (Шум времени/Shum vremeni) - 1925
36.    Bulgakow, Michail "The Master and Margarita" (Мастер и Маргарита) - 1929-39 - The Classic Spin
37.    Cather, Willa "Shadows on the Rock" - 1931
38.    Christie, Agatha "Murder on the Orient Express" (Hercule Poirot #10) - 1934
39.    Elbogen, Ismar; Sterling, Eleonore "Die Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland" [The History of the Jews in Germany] - 1935/66
40.    Rand, Ayn "We the Living" - 1936
41.    Brecht, Bertolt "The Good Person of Szechwan" (Der gute Mensch von Sezuan) - 1938-40
42.    Némirovsky, Irène "La Proie" [The Prey] - 1938
43.    Zweig, Stefan "The World of Yesterday" (Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers) - 1942
44.    Fallada, Hans "Every Man Dies Alone" (Jeder stirbt für sich allein) - 1947
45.    Böll, Heinrich "The Silent Angel" (Der Engel schwieg) - 1949/50
46.    Camus, Albert "The Just Assassins" (Les Justes) - 1949
47.    Kazantzakis, Nikos "The Last Temptation of Christ" (Ο τελευταίος πειρασμός/O telefteos pirasmos) - 1951
48.    Highsmith, Patricia "The Talented Mr. Ripley" - 1955 - The Classic Spin 
49.    Savage Carlson, Natalie "The Family Under the Bridge" - 1958

50.    Simenon, Georges "Maigret Sets a Trap" (Maigret tend un piège) (Maigret #48) - 1958

The Classic Club tries to instigate us to read those books within five years, so I hope I will have them completed on 31 March 2024.

I finished reading all 50 of those books in May 2023.

And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Saramago, José "Blindness"

Saramago, José "Blindness" (Portuguese: O Ensaio sobre a Cegueira) - 1995

This is my second book by this wonderful author. Same as "Cain", this book is totally captivating.

We get no information about the city or even the country where this takes place. However, this is a dystopian novel and they usually could take place anywhere. We never know what will happen if a catastrophe - or in this case an epidemic - strikes us.

In this book, the people go completely mad. Everyone goes blind one after the other and everyone is scared. That doesn't mean they all react in the same way. There are those who stick together and help others and other who live according to the motto "help yourself so God will help you". It wouldn't even be fair to the animals to say they behave like them because animals at least only take what they need.

Both the sentences and the paragraphs in this book are very long, there is hardly a place where you can stop. But that makes it even more compelling, you have the feeling you are stuck in the book just the way the blind people are stuck in their destiny. A good way to emphasize the situation.

None of the characters have a name. They are just called "the first blind man" or "the doctor's wife" and "the girl with the dark glasses". Again, this makes it easier for us to identify with them, I guess. Anyone could be one of the guys or one of the girls.

He definitely makes it easy for us to imagine that this actually could happen. We can try to imagine how it is when you turn blind. And we can feel with the people who not only go blind but lose their life as they knew it until then.

Great novel. Like many dystopian books, a look into humanity or the lack of it.

From the back cover:

"A city is struck by an epidemic of 'white blindness'. The first man to succumb sits in his car, waiting for the light to change. He is taken to an eye doctor, who does not know what to make of the phenomenon - and soon goes blind himself.

The blindness spreads, sparing no one. Authorities confine the blind to a vacant mental hospital secured by armed guards under instructions to shoot anyone trying to escape. Inside, the criminal element among the blind holds the rest captive: food rations are stolen, women are raped. The compound is set ablaze, and the blind escape into what is now a deserted city, strewn with litter and unburied corpses.

The only eyewitness to this nightmare is the doctor's wife, who faked blindness in order to join her husband in the camp. She guides seven strangers through the barren streets. The bonds within this oddly anonymous group - the doctor, the first blind man and his wife, the old man with the black eye patch, the girl with dark glasses, the boy with no mother, and the dog of tears - are as uncanny as the surrounding chaos is harrowing. Told with compassion, humor, and lyricism, Blindness is a stunning exploration of loss and disorientation in the modern world, of man's will to survive against all odds."

We discussed this book in our international online book club in April 2019.

José Saramago "der mit Gleichnissen, getragen von Phantasie, Mitgefühl und Ironie, ständig aufs Neue eine entfliehende Wirklichkeit greifbar macht" erhielt 1998 den Nobelpreis für Literatur.

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

Book Quotes of the Week

"Do not read good books - life is too short for that - read only the best." Ernest Dimnet

"Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work." Khaled Hosseini

"Read more books than status updates. Look into more eyes than screens. Hold more hands than devices. Love more than you judge." Dulce Ruby

"Character, to me, is the life's blood of fiction." Donna Tartt

Find more book quotes here.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #20

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new books there, especially French ones.

This month, she published a post (The Classics Spin #20) by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, before next Monday, Monday 22, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list.

I didn't have a classics club list so far but that's easy for someone who loves lists, just copy the oldest books from my list and here we are.

1.    Alighieri, Dante "The Divine Comedy" (Divina Commedia) - 1308-20
2.    Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine de "Corinne: Or Italy" (Corinne ou l'Italie) - 1807
3.    Austen, Jane "Sanditon" - 1817
4.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Italienische Reise" (Italian Journey aka Letters from Italy) - 1817
5.    Eichendorff, Joseph von "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und andere Novellen" (Life of a Good-For-Nothing) - 1826
6.    Stendhal "Le Rouge et le Noir" (The Red and the Black) - 1830 - The Classic Spin #23
7.    Gogol, Nikolai (Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь, Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol) "The Overcoat" (Шинель) - 1842
8.    Dumas, Alexandre "Le comte de Monte-Cristo" (The Count of Monte Cristo) - 1844-46
9.    Douglass, Frederick "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" - 1845
10.    Sand, George "Fadette" (aka Fanchon, the Cricket) (La Petite Fadette) - 1849
11.    Crafts, Hannah "The Bondwoman’s Narrative" - 1855-69
12.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel "The Scarlet Letter" - 1850
13.    Northup, Solomon "Twelve Years a Slave" - 1853 - 240pp.
14.    Keller, Gottfried "Novellen" (Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe u.a.) "Novellas" (A Village Romeo and Juliet and others) - 1855/56
15.    Eliot, George "Silas Marner" (Silas Marner) - 1861
16.    Jacobs, Harriet Ann (Linda Brent) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" - 1861
17.    Rhoides, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Roidis) "The Curious History of Pope Joan" (Papissa Ioanna) - 1866
18.    Marx, Karl "Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie" (Capital. Critique of Political Economy) - 1867
19.    James, Henry "Daisy Miller" - 1879 - The Classic Spin #20
20.    Twain, Mark "A Tramp Abroad" - 1880

If you want to take up the challenge, here is the post:

"This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the year. Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, re-reads, ancients - whatever you choose.)

On Monday 22nd April, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by 31st May, 2019."

I'm not dreading to read any oft hem because I want to read them, so I just put them in chronological order and see which number I will be given.

Needless to say, I am going to join the Classics Club. I love classics. Just will have to put together a reading wish list for my classics.

The number chosen was 19, so I read "Daisy Miller" first. I have added every other book I read afterwards with a link to the spin.

 

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.