In the garden of the North American martyrs

I was introduced to Tobias Wolff through the movie This Boy's Life which was based on his autobiography. In the garden of the North American Martyrs was a good short story collection. The story that really stuck out to me was "An Episode in the Life of Professor Brooke" about a judgmental professor who learns a lesson when he makes his own mistakes. I also liked "Maiden Voyage" about an old couple celebrating their marriage on a cruise ship but the voyage recalls old wounds. Tobias got even better with his other short story collection a decade later entitled The Night in Question.

What every woman knows

This was a good play by J.M. Barrie. He's most known for Peter Pan but he was also a popular playwright. I watched the movie of this years ago and this is one of the few times where I can say the movie is just as good. Helen Hayes did a great job as the wife and the underrated Madge Evans played the other woman well. In this play a man marries a plain woman he doesn't really love. When he becomes a politican he falls in love with the beautiful Sybil. The problem is that the plain woman Maggie writes most of his speeches. SPOILER He comes to see just how much she contributes and realizes what a jerk he is. So J.M. Barrie was a pretty versatile author. At the end though I couldn't help thinking that Maggie deserved better than this lousy guy.

A girl of the limberlost

This was an old fashioned classic that I actually liked. It's about a poor girl who lives in the swamp. She doesn't have much money so she sells moths as a way to pay for her education. She meets an educated boy named Phillip and they fall in love. Unfortunately his past love Edith still has a hold on him and thinks that she can woo him back. I watched a movie loosely based on this called Romance of the Limberlost and this was way better. This was a sequel to Stratton-Porter's Freckles which I hadn't read but I managed all right. It isn't necessary to read that book beforehand although I will eventually get around to it.

Australian Aboriginal Mythology

When people talk about mythology it's usually Greek or Norse ones. There's mythology all around the world though. Australia is definitely another interesting culture. This book covers topics like how kangaroos got their pouch and Yowies which are like an Australian bigfoot. I also thought the story about the Seven sisters was intriguing too. It's only around eighty minutes. It was a quick read and a good introduction.

Violeta

This was a good novel by Isabel Allende. I felt it got preachy towards the end though. It's about Violeta and the relationships she's had with men including an unromantic first marriage. The second relationship with a pilot is a mistake as he is an adulteror and well that's not his only problem. The book is all written to her grandson, a priest. His mother's life didn't reach its potential since she caught up with drugs. Like The House of the Spirits, this book spans decades. It took me a short time to read so it was involving. 3/5

Hopscotch

Cortazar's book has a different system than other books. You can read the first 56 chapters and then read a hopscotch method with the rest. I just read it straight through. I heard he said the other chapters after the 56 ones were optional but I doubt that. Otherwise he wouldn't have wrote them. I found the chapters past the 56 harder to follow. Maybe I should have read the method he talked about. I like his short stories a lot more. It's about an intellectual named Oliveira who hangs around a group called the Serpent Club. He has a lover La Maga and his life deteriorates when she's gone. Soon he's working at a circus and a mental asylum.I am interested in reading Cronopios and Famas and rereading his short stories. I don't know. It just wasn't my thing. It was just ok.

The Summer Birds

This is the first of the Aviary Hall series that would include Penelope Farmer's masterpiece Charlotte Sometimes. This is ok. It's about two sisters Charlotte and Emily who are taught how to fly by a boy. Soon other schoolchildren learn how to fly. The teacher is jealous but realizes she can't fly so because she is not young anymore. For some reason the writer Penelope Farmer fascinates me and I will continue to seek out her other books. I reviewed Emma in Winter the second book in the Aviary Hall series earlier.