E-books again

Been reading my way through some of the e-books I have downloaded.

Finished In Search of the Castaways last week. At times it was more a travelogue than an adventure novel. I did get irritated with Verne’s women: they were basically good, noble, honest, feminine figures stuck on a pedestal and described only in the most fulsome of tones. To tell the truth, everyone was pretty two-dimensional except Paganel the geographer, who was the only character whose personality was allowed to bloom. I was very amused by the ending which, of course, would have never made it into the Disney version.

Also finished one of Lucy Fitch Perkins’ Twins books. These were written between the 19"teens” and 1930 and, as the description indicates, featured a set of twins (always a boy and a girl except in one book). The twins either lived in another country or in a certain historical time. A used bookstore had these when I was a teenager and I glanced at them covetously, but could not afford the $20 price tag. Blackmask Online had seven of these adapted as e-books, and my first was The Belgian Twins. Jan and Marie, age 8, are separated from their parents as the Germans march through neutral Belgium in World War I. A web site I found about the books commented that the author was fairly free of the sexual prejudices of the times and when a culture did demean women, she usually had something to say about it within the text. Indeed, while Marie was quite the little housekeeper, she was not the usual sort of fussily feminine character that showed up in those days. She neither screamed nor fainted nor shrank behind her brother and while she could cook, she could also work in the fields to help with the harvest. Quite refreshing.

Still reading American Notes by Rudyard Kipling--quite critical of the American style, but in an amusing way, although his remarks about other races are about what you would expect for the time. Also am in the midst of Penelope’s English Experiences by Kate Douglas Wiggin of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm fame. This is the first of four books about Penelope, an American girl traveling in Great Britain, and also on "the continent" in the final book. It's pleasant fluff with a feeling for what a young woman traveling abroad during that time would be interested in. Unfortunately while I can read Penelope's Scottish adventures, her Irish and European stories didn't transfer well to Microsoft Reader; the files I downloaded have errors. I will have to finish her travels on the web.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 4:24:00 PM

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