Merry Misfits Book Club: February: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The theme for February was a book that was made into a movie or show.  That gave me lots of options obviously, but I wanted one that I had seen and liked the movie, but never read the book.  Since I really adored A Little Princess when I read it last year, I decided to go for The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett's other very famous work.  (I know she wrote more than just these but I believe these are her most famous/lastingly popular.)  I do like the 1993 film a lot, so I was curious to see how similar it was to the book.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book.  The story itself is lovely, but there's a lot of racism and classism (and even some misogyny) that aren't fun to read, even in an old book.  What I hated most of all, though, was the Yorkshire dialect that many characters (all the lower class ones...) speak in.  There were times when I had to reread sentences to understand what the characters had said.  I think about how some parents won't let their kids read silly books like Captain Underpants because there are misspellings... I don't see why being a classic makes that okay.  (Not that I'm saying kids shouldn't be allowed to read this, that should be up to each parent... I just find the double standard gross.)  I sound pretty down on the book and I don't mean to, because I did like it!  Like I said, the story is lovely... the setting is so picturesque, the plot is so slice of life, the characters are oddly endearing.  Even though I didn't like it as much as A Little Princess (as or much as the 1993 movie, if I'm honest) I did still like it.

My goodreads review is here.  Not too many in depth thoughts there, but like... follow me on goodreads lol, I post lots of legit reviews.

I read this book between February 2 and February 21.  I know that's a long time.  Not a reflection of the quality of the book so much as a reflection on the quality of my attention span and non-existent motivation.

Would I recommend this book?  If you, like me and a lot of other people around my age, grew up with and loved the movie, yes.  It's definitely worth a shot.  And if you like classic children's stories, it's probably a must read.

if stress was the ocean

I would be drowning.  Actually, even now, when stress is just stress, and not a shitty overdone metaphor, I'm still drowning.  I'm also really sad.  And really angry a lot.  I hate it.  I'm trying so hard to be this Better Person, but I still have the emotionally instability and crappy life of the old, worse person.

DYRC19: January: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

So I apparently started this post like a whole ass month ago and then just? Abandoned it.  I don't know how that happened, lol.  Anyways...

The Diversify Your Reading theme for January was memoir or autobiography.  I sat and looked through the memoir section on Goodreads for ages because I couldn't think of anything in that genre I was dying to read.  There are quite a few on my list, but honestly a deciding factor was that I wanted something that was in my library branch, because I wanted to be able to grab it when I went in to the library the next day (after deciding to do the challenge).  I had been considering reading Dewey by Vicki Myron for a while because obviously I love libraries and cats and I enjoy a good memoir from time to time.  My only hesitation on grabbing it was the fact that I was pretty sure Dewey the cat wouldn't make it to the end.  But I decided that that shouldn't be enough to keep me from giving the book a shot, girded myself, and hopped in.

I enjoyed this book a lot.  I know a bunch of reviewers didn't care for how much the book was about Vicki Myron's life and the story of Spencer, Iowa, but it didn't bother me.  I felt like learning about who Vicki was and what the town was like painted a picture that helped me understand what Dewey meant to the town and how he became as important to everyone as he was.  And Dewey just seemed like a really sweet, wonderful cat.  There were a lot of sweet stories and lighthearted moments, but there were a lot of sad things too.  I experienced the whole range of emotions, lol.

Here's my goodreads review of this book... some other thoughts there.

I started reading this book January 19th and I finished on January 27th.  It's a fast read, but I was reading other things at the time.  I probably would have finished in 2-3 days if I hadn't been.

Would I recommend this to a friend? Cat lovers only, but yes.