Burney-David

Books read: 6

This is a bit of a catch up post. Life hasn’t lent itself to blogging recently. But even if I haven’t been blogging, I have still been reading. Please enjoy this super-deluxe edition of the Bookshelf Project.

Title: Evelina

Author: Fanny Burney

Status: First published in 1778, Evelina is an epistolatory novel detailing the adventures of the titular heroine in her first forays into the wider world. It has all the twists and turns one might hope from such a story - mysterious heritages, surprise siblings, enduring horrible relatives and finally ending up with your true love (who you met by chance at a ball). It is a little slower going than the similar Northanger Abbey , but I enjoyed it.

Result: Easily available on the internet, so on it goes.

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Title: A Little Princess

Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett

Status: This is a fancy B&N hardbound illustrated edition. A Little Princess is one of those books I can always go back to. I’ve read it so many times over the years. The late 80s BBC dramatization was one of my most watched tapes. (Don’t even talk to me about the more recent movie unless you want to see a very angry hedgehog.) There is something so sincere and inviting about it, even when the plot is sad.

Result: I love this edition - so much so that if I found a similar binding of The Secret Garden I’d buy it too :)

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Title: What Katy Did

Author: Susan M. Coolidge

Status: I have had this book (and its two following companions) since I spelled my name Katy (that’s a long time, for those playing along at home). They were given to me by my grandma and are British editions with stills from the BBC adaptation on the cover. (Which someday, with the help of the internet, I will finally watch). What Katy Did tells the story of the Carr children and their adventures and imaginings. Interestingly, the Carrs are an American family (one of the stories even includes a footnote explaining Thanksgiving for British readers). Katy is full of imagination and wants to be good, but somehow is always getting into scrapes - until tragedy teaches her some new lessons.

Result: KEEP.

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Title: What Katy Did at School

Author: Susan M. Coolidge

Status: The Carrs are a little older now, and Katy and Clover are headed to boarding school. More adventures, more of Katy being very good. Rose Red gets into scrapes aplenty and we also get to meet the Carr’s insufferable cousin, Lilly. Most of my exposure to boarding school stories was of the British variety, so getting to read an American one was interesting. I always wanted to go to boarding school and have adventures and get sent hampers from home.

Result: Keep!

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Title: What Katy Did Next

Author: Susan M. Coolidge

Status: Katy Carr is now eighteen and because of her innate kindness, she ends up getting to go to Europe with a friend. She travels through England, France and Italy and meets up with horrid Lilly and the handsome Lieutenant Worthington. I love the descriptions of Katy’s travels and it’s a nice end to her story. (There are a few more books after this one, to sort out the romantic lives of all of Katy’s sisters and brothers…sadly I don’t own them myself, but will probably read them all the next time I am home.)

Result: Keep!!

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Title: Q-In-Law

Author: Peter David

Status: There was a time in my life where I read Star Trek novels almost exclusively - both TNG and TOS. This was my absolute favorite. Q and Lwaxana Troi! What more could anyone ask for? I guess it is a good thing to report that in the intervening twenty-six years since this was published, my tastes have changed. Worf and Data get some chuckle-worthy one-liners in, but this book used to have me in hysterics when I was a tween. It all seemed a bit more forced than I remember.

Result: I think it’s time for this one to move on to the next Trekkie, for all it has a bookplate with a still different spelling of my name.