understood wednesday books

[landofnowhere]

The Liar's Knot, M. A. Carrick. That was good! The setup has the potential to go very dark, but instead this arc of this book is warm and fuzzy, with Ren building relationships and trusting more people. I want book 3 of this trilogy already.

The Homemaker, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Recommended by Jo. A really interesting novel from 1924 questioning gender roles. Evangeline Knapp appears to her neighbors to be the housewife, but is running herself and her family ragged keeping up the appearance, while her husband Lester is stuck in a job he hates. Events cause them to switch positions, and everyone ends up much happier. Definitely a book with a message, but also the characterization is very well done. Interestingly the story doesn't really show us the protagonists' relationship as a married couple; we pretty much only see them talking to each other as part of the family. Also interesting what it does with Lester's disability, which is generally handled very well. Pairs well with the Lillian Moller Gilbreth reading I was doing earlier -- I'm not sure how well the two women knew each other Fisher wrote an introduction to the revised edition of Lillian Gilbreth's parenting book, but I can't find any more details on that.

Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. And after that I had to go back and reread Understood Betsy, which I loved as a kid, and holds up quite well! It's probably best read as a kid, because Betsy gets more depth of character than anyone else, but still charming. (One thing about Fisher's books so far is that it seems like you're either good at raising kids, or you aren't -- you don't get characters like Marilla in Anne of Green Gables, who isn't naturally suited to raising kids, and screws up a lot, but learns from it.)

Hillsboro People, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Short stories, set in rural Vermont, but you can tell by the framing that they're written for an audience of city folk. Still thinking about the story where the frame is that an older professor is giving career advice to a younger one, and tells of how his great-grandfather went to the county fair against doctor's orders, with the moral "Live while you live, and then die and be done with it!"

Comments

[nnozomi]

Oh wow, I remember Understood Betsy! I haven't thought of that book in years, but I think it's my original mental template for "heroine goes someplace she hates and eventually finds it suits her best of all." I think it was one of the books that went straight from my mother's childhood collection to mine, along with Hitty and the Maida books.

[osprey_archer]

I loved Understood Betsy when I read it as a child and I've been meaning to read more Dorothy Canfield Fisher for years. Maybe it's finally time!

[landofnowhere]

Go for it!

[carbonel]

Does Hillsboro People have the story about the grandmother who had a prize-winning quilt at the fair and spent all her time at the fair in the room with the quilt? I first read that one before I started spinning (probably in some school textbook), and remembered it after I started entering my skeins at the fair.

[landofnowhere]

I haven't finished it yet, but will let you know when I do!