more books and a first update on the poppet ~

although i had a lot of issues with what MacKinlay Kantor did structurally with Andersonville (frankly, i think the subject just got away from him), i really dig his style and wanted to read something else by him, so i went to go check out an early novel of his, Long Remember, and got distracted by a dozen or so of this other books. anyway, here are a couple of them (these seem geared for young adults) for the 50bookchallenge:

no. 25 ~ The Romance at Rosy Ridge by MacKinlay Kantor. what a great little book! if i ever have the time and energy to adapt something into a film, i'd want to do this (newsflash: it's been done once before with janet leigh and van johnson ~ and dean stockwell!). sadly, it's not available on vhs or dvd). anyway, it's got great possibilities even for a remake and the story is nicely straightforward. while parts of it are predictable, the fact made it no less satisfying. one of the best ending lines in a novel as well. not earth-shattering, mind you, just wonderfully clean writing and a fulfilling sense of completeness about it. basic plot: school teacher-turned soldier can't seem to get back to civilian life, wanders the country playing music through a comb until he falls in love with a girl from the wrong side of the mason-dixon. star-crossed calamity nearly ensures with shotgun pa and a hoard of bushwhackers coming after them.



janet leigh, ridiculously beautiful as always
Rosy Ridge was her first role ever!
no. 26 ~ Valedictory by MacKinlay Kantor. another really sweet story, well told. ty morley is an aging veteran-turned high school janitor and this is his final graduation class before he retires to live with his daughter in nebraska (it's 1922). he recalls the years and the lives he's touched in a way that reveals the beauty of his influence on them (without his realizing it). three kids in particular for whom he made a difference and the stories he tells about them are priceless. kantor knew how to say a lot with very little.

i have another couple of his novels waiting to be read and am looking forward to enjoying them as well!

: D

Day One: Goodie Proctor's got my Poppet

haven't started writing (don't plan to just yet).

yesterday i managed to scrounge a wee bit of background material on my protagonist:

he's not married (he married later), he attended yale and harvard (he was quite a smarty-pants and wrote some poetry), he's moravian (ha!), the youngest (i think) of seven children (5 brothers, one sister). one brother died in '63, though i'm not sure if he was killed in the war. i was also vastly amused by the fact that his father's name is Lewis. most surprising to me is that he's a lot younger than i realized (only 28).

28 was fully a man in the 1860s, but still, for some reason i thought he was considerably older (though this explains a lot about why he was not wiser).

so i haven't got much done yet, but i'm slowly working my way into the groove.