Fleur de Lis Homeschool Blog: My Reading: A Girl of Limberlost and Book Girl Thoughts

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

My Reading: A Girl of Limberlost and Book Girl Thoughts

My Readings:

A Girl of Limberlost and Book Girl Thoughts

A Girl of Limberlost
by Gene Stratton-Porter

My dear friend, Heather L., has told me repeatedly over the years to read A Girl of Limberlost, but, it never felt like the right time. Finally, this winter was the perfect time to read this story.

I'm not sure if I ordered it or if Dd just happened to check it out and bring it home, but alas, there was a library copy in our dining room!

My other dear friend, Chelle, had recently mailed me a copy of Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson that recommended reading A Girl of Limberlost. Book Girl is a book that talks about books that Sarah and her friends have read over the years and shares the most valued books with the reader, along with synopsis of what the books are about.

So thankful for Heather and Chelle---my friends that share good book ideas with me!!!!!

It is always interesting how you can get pelleted by the same idea until you do what you're supposed to do!

I quickly figured out why Heather thought I would like it---a girl named Elnora, with a deceased father, and a mother that acts like she doesn't exist, is drawn to nature and being outside.

At least that is what the first half of the book is about; somewhere around the middle of the book there is a theme shift and a young man comes into the story and kind of hijacks the story I could relate to and becomes more of a love story.

I was quite taken with this book. I love how nature was the balm and solution for many of her problems. How often I've found time outside to help me through the difficulties and trials of life. Also, there just aren't a lot of books about children being raised by parents that seem bothered by the inconvenience of their child, at least not in this non-violent and ambivalent way.

There just aren't a lot of books about children being raised by parents that seem bothered by the inconvenience of their child, at least not in this non-violent and ambivalent way. I've read stories of parents yelling, fighting, hitting their children but not so many stories of parents that go about their lives living as if there weren't children in the other room. Elnora's mother goes about her life, sharing the same house, but completely ambivalent to the existence of her daughter and how she spends her days. They are strangers. This quiet existence isn't often portrayed.

Ironically, the story is set in Indiana and ends while they are in Grand Rapids---which is what I've done the last 20 years!

Elnora, finds her own way without the help of any family or parenting...that is until the middle of the book when the story has a mid-life crisis and everything changes. A man arrives at their home in the woods and Elnora's life, and our story, changes.

I really liked and related to the first half of the book and was disappointed the story wasn't concluded in the trajectory it had started in; as if Anne of Green Gables moved away from Prince Edward Island after a year a two to live with a young family in Chicago. It does all work out in the end, they go through some near death experiences and tribulation to happily arrive at a perfect happily-ever-after ending. I do love those neat and tidy endings, but I did so enjoy the Elnora in the beginning of the book---out in the woods collecting moths and solving her own problems with the help of a little boy and the kind neighbors beside her.

The story felt a little hijacked, although it was an interesting new story that had interfered with the story that had begun in the beginning! I did like how Elnora's passion for nature and collecting insects is what drew her boyfriend in and continued as a thread throughout the story. She didn't stop being who she was because she fell in love, he just joined into her life and shared them with her. She stayed true to herself and her life, just with a man at the end of it; considering the book was published in 1909, that was very progressive. I love how she stayed who she was throughout the book; no conforming herself to fit the grooves of the man she fell in love with. She is such a solid, formed person who knew herself and remained so, and I am confident her character will only grow wiser as she matures. She handled her trials better than I would have known, and her mother also said the same, so Elnora is a very wise character to begin with. I guess we all long to be as independent as Elnora is in her self.

I found this book, warts and all, to be nearly impossible to put down. I was very happy to be with Elnora walking through the woods, looking under leaves for moths and cocoons. I highly recommend this book, especially for female readers, due to the fact that Elnora sets such a good example of finding her passion and never letting it go. She problem solves by herself and unites those around her. In situation after situation, she shows how to respond in a loving and generous way to others. This good example reminds me of the books that the Lamplighter organization has been reprinting, books that show this generation how to walk through life in a good way.

Afterward:

I've recently talked to Heather about this book and she had forgotten about the mother-daughter relationship and said she primarily recommended this book because Elnora, like me, has a great appreciation for nature.

Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson

I love books that recommend other books; and Book Girl does just that! I've been pecking away at the recommendations for the past few months and have enjoyed the push to read outside my choices. Although I do get a feeling that Sarah Clarkson is much more of a romantic than I am! Some of the suggestions that I've read or perused so far are:

Run With The Horses: A Quest for Life at It's Best
by Eugene H. Peterson.
This book on the prophet Jeremiah was very interesting, but wasn't a page turner for me. Some books just share a deep thought and you want time to process that thought, so you put it down for a few days.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte:

Can you believe I've never read this?! I'm still listening to it on audio---with the hope that Dd is enjoying it as well. I'd watched to movies on this story so many times and hadn't been drawn to it's gloomy appearance. I'm glad I'm finally hearing it, but haven't been completely won over by it. I just keep thinking, why am I not listening to Jane Austen if I am to spending my time on this type of literature? I miss Jane's humor and sarcasm that comes along with these types of stories!

New Seeds of Contemplation, Middlemarch, and Eat This Book are three other book recommendations that I've been pecking at---but, not wholly taken in by yet.

Bible Study:

Right now I am working on a new Beth Moore Bible Study:

To Live Is Christ, as well as reading a 'stand alone' book by her titled: To Live Is Christ. I assumed that the book and the Bible Study were connected and would work together, but they don't connect. I'm enjoying both, but disappointed that they don't work together.

Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer:

Just started and LOVING it. Wow, can Priscilla really light a fire and increase the desire I have to grow and learn. I'm hoping this study, like the others I've done by her, will really fill my tool box and help me to become a more powerful prayer warrior. She is one of my favorite bible study authors.

Seamless by Angie Smith:

I just finished this about a month ago. I'm really glad I did it, and even Dh enjoyed doing it with me during his two months on disability. It is an overview of the entire bible, hopping along throughout the book to either help you get to know the entire bible or serve as a refresher to those of us that have been doing in-depth studies on specific books (like me). It was a really good review and reminded me of things I've not hit upon for years by stopping in books that are often overlooked. Recommend, but also should point out the first 1/6 of the book was a bit hard to get into. Once I got past the first hump it was downhill from there!