I loved the glimpses of Eskimo culture and life scattered throughout the book. I was impressed with Miyax's resourcefulness as she fought to survive. I don't think I could bring myself to eat some of the things that she not only ate, but savored as a delicacy. I loved the way the wolf pack adopted her as one of their own, although I'm guessing it's not very likely to happen in real life. Surely wolves are smart enough to tell that you are only a human pretending to be a wolf, as you whine and grovel on all fours. But once Miyax was adopted by the pack, I enjoyed their protective and playful relationship. Wolves are fascinating creatures, and this book clearly portrays a way of life and a love of nature that is all too rapidly vanishing in today's day and age.
Julie of the Wolves is the February book for the Reading Together book club. I hadn't read this one in many, many years, so I didn't remember much about it. (The only reason that I know I must have read it as a kid is that it has my name in the title!) Julie is her English name; Miyax is her Eskimo name. In order to escape a bad arranged marriage, she sets off on a journey across the Arctic tundra. Becoming lost along the way, she befriends a wolf pack who help her survive. I loved the glimpses of Eskimo culture and life scattered throughout the book. I was impressed with Miyax's resourcefulness as she fought to survive. I don't think I could bring myself to eat some of the things that she not only ate, but savored as a delicacy. I loved the way the wolf pack adopted her as one of their own, although I'm guessing it's not very likely to happen in real life. Surely wolves are smart enough to tell that you are only a human pretending to be a wolf, as you whine and grovel on all fours. But once Miyax was adopted by the pack, I enjoyed their protective and playful relationship. Wolves are fascinating creatures, and this book clearly portrays a way of life and a love of nature that is all too rapidly vanishing in today's day and age. Little House on the Prairie will be my one and only reread for the Little House Read-Along. I read it back in 2014 and shared my thoughts on it then, so I won't write too much more this time around. When I read it the first time, I didn't even realize that it wasn't the first book in the series. I appreciated it much more this time around because I had actually read Little House in the Big Woods. I had already gotten to know the main characters, and I had some perspective on the Ingalls family and their background. When I read it this time, what stuck out to me was their willingness to get up and move. They had spent only one year on the prairie, and had just planted a garden. But Pa had no problem moving onto somewhere new (of course, the reason he decides to move is really his own fault, since he wasn't supposed to be living on that land in the first place). Would I be that willing to pack up the few things I could take with me, and leave my house and everything else behind? That would be hard enough nowadays, but they had to build an entirely new house wherever they decided to move to! I guess I'm too much of a homebody to have that sort of adventuresome, hard-working spirit. Just another reason to be impressed with the pioneers of that time!
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This weekly frenzy of listing is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. The theme for this week is anything Valentine's Day related. So I decided to make an acrostic of books and authors I love!
This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. So we celebrated Groundhog Day last week (although I don't know if "celebrated" is really the right word). Apparently, Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring. However, here in Michigan we have our very own groundhog - Woody the Woodchuck (don't you love that English is so convoluted that woodchucks and groundhogs are somehow the same animal?). He predicted six more weeks of winter for us in Michigan. So why is the grass green, and why are the birds singing merrily in the mornings? This has been the strangest (and most disappointing, for someone who loves snow) Michigan winter. Sigh. My Recent PostsTop Ten Tuesday - Historical Settings I Love Recent L.M. Montgomery Reads & Rereads Smiling Shelves is now on Facebook!! What I Read Last WeekLost in Rooville by Ray Blackston (Took me awhile to get into this one, but I ended up enjoying it.) Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (I'm excited to start discussing this one for the Reading Together book club!) Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I'm really starting to enjoy this series. Can't wait for the next month to read the next book for the Little House Read-along!) What I'm Reading NowThe Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein (So much fun!!) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Still trucking along. 525 out of 1,361 pages read!) What's Coming Up NextAll the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani (I picked this up at Barnes & Noble last month, and I'm trying to stay on top of reading the new books I buy. So this one is up next!)
I'm still trying to figure out this whole social media thing for my blog. I'm slowly getting the hang of Twitter, so I decided to branch out to Facebook. I'm a lot more familiar with Facebook to begin with since I have my own personal account. But this is one just for Smiling Shelves and the world of bookishness. Here are the sorts of things you would see on my Facebook page:
I would love to have you like my Smiling Shelves Facebook page so that the bookishness can spread! Just click on the link to visit my page.
Every January, I like to revisit one of my favorite authors - L.M. Montgomery. This was originally inspired by Reading to Know's L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge. This year, though, I didn't officially participate because I wasn't sure if I would be able to fit in any Montgomery books. But I'm very pleased to say that I read three! Here are some quick thoughts about my reads: I have read the Anne of Green Gables series so many times. Now I'm working my way through a reread of them all a little bit slower - one every January. This year, it was the turn of Anne of Windy Poplars. This book follows Anne through three years as a principal at Summerside. She has her challenges and her highlights, but she remains the same Anne through it all. In fact, she often steps aside as the main character to let someone else shine in the spotlight. I guess L.M. Montgomery was so full of these little stories of unique characters that she even had enough to fill an Anne book. As many times as I had read this book, I just learned this year that Anne of Windy Poplars was written nearly 20 years after the other Anne books. That may explain its slightly different style. What matters, though, is the magical atmosphere of Prince Edward Island, and that still abounds in this book. As much as I love L.M. Montgomery, I had surprisingly never read a biography of her. Maud by Harry Bruce is a great introduction to her life. It's a very fast read, and it focuses mostly on her childhood and early adulthood, up to her marriage to Ewen Macdonald. I loved seeing what she was like as a child, and how many characteristics she shares with the lovable Anne and Emily. Her life was not always easy, but she knew she could find magic in nature and an escape in writing. I'm so glad she combined those passions of hers to produce the many books she did. If you are looking for a quick view of Montgomery's life and the opportunity to get to know her a little bit better, this would be a great book to read. Akin to Anne is a collection of short stories written by L.M. Montgomery and originally published in several different newspapers. The subtitle is "Tales of Other Orphans" (hence the connection with Anne in the title). Most of the stories were just a few pages long, and while they were all enjoyable, they did get a little repetitive. It may have worked better if these stories were not grouped together, since they all had very similar plots (poor orphan gets miraculously discovered by a relative). Even so, it was fun to read some of Montgomery's short stories, since I hadn't really done that before. This weekly frenzy of listing is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I wouldn't necessarily call historical fiction one of my favorite genres, but I have grown to enjoy it more and more. I love books in which I can learn about history, especially if I get a great plot and set of characters to go along with it. These are some of the historical time periods I love learning about (sorry, they're a little heavy on the Western Europe side):
This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's been a busy weekend! We've been working for nearly two years on remodeling our upstairs. We're turning an unfinished room into a master bedroom and adding another bathroom. It's been a long, slow process that will probably never be completely done. But this weekend, we were finally able to move upstairs! Now the next step is to get the nursery ready. . . My Recent PostsShiver Language in All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr My Thoughts on The Year of Miss Agnes and Little House in the Big Woods The Books I'm Hoping to Read in February What I Read Last WeekAkin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans by L.M. Montgomery (I enjoyed discovering these stories I'd never read before.) The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (This series is just delightful!) What I'm Reading NowLost in Rooville by Ray Blackston (It's taking me a little while to get into this one. I think that's partly because it turns out that it's the third book in a series. Didn't know that when I bought it, so I'm playing catch-up!) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Still on track with my goal! 420 out of 1,361 pages completed. That's 30%!) What's Coming Up NextJulie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (It makes total sense to go from a book set in Australia to one set in the Alaskan tundra, right?)
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My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.
You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com. Archives
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