{"id":276,"date":"2017-01-12T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/12\/thoughts-about-two-books-mrs-miniver\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T02:17:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T02:17:24","slug":"thoughts-about-two-books-mrs-miniver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/12\/thoughts-about-two-books-mrs-miniver\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts About Two Books–Mrs. Miniver And Chatterton Square"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"books<\/a><\/div>\n

I read two books I loved recently. \u00a0One was a reread. \u00a0It is Mrs. Miniver<\/i> by Jan Struther. \u00a0My local library has a bad habit of getting rid of older books so periodically I check out ones I particularly like in the hopes of preventing their culling. \u00a0The last time I read Mrs. Miniver was before I started blogging so it was definitely time to check it out again. \u00a0I was tempted to check out Dickens’ entire oeuvre in order to protect them as well. \u00a0They looked like they hadn’t moved from the shelves in years. \u00a0However, I thought the librarians might have some questions if I staggered up to the desk under a tower of Dickens novels. \u00a0Maybe I will work my way through his novels one at a time. \u00a0Why do libraries get rid of old books? \u00a0I know they have to stay current but there is a real value to older books as well. The library recently took all their Georgette Heyer novels off the shelves. \u00a0What were they thinking? \u00a0Probably that no one reads old books, but I do and I miss being able to go into the library and find what I want.<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to Mrs. Miniver<\/i> before this turns into a rant. \u00a0I am sure most are familiar with this book, especially since it was made into a movie during WWII. \u00a0The book is a series of charming vignettes about Mrs. Miniver and her family. \u00a0They live a privileged life in London just before the start of WWII. \u00a0The vignettes were originally written as a series of newspaper columns for The Times. \u00a0They are all about small aspects of life; Christmas shopping, a dinner party, getting a new car, a country house visit. \u00a0Mr.s Miniver does seem to have a way of saying things I didn’t know I was thinking. \u00a0I ended up with a book littered with sticky notes. \u00a0I won’t inflict all of them on you but here are a few of the quotes I marked.<\/p>\n

Tea was already laid: \u00a0there were honey sandwiches, brandy-snaps, and small ratafia biscuits; and there would, she knew, be crumpets. \u00a0Three new library books lay virginally on the fender-stool, their bright paper wrappers unsullied by subscriber’s hand. The clock on the mantelpiece chimed, very softly and precisely, five times. \u00a0A tug hooted from the river. \u00a0A sudden breeze brought the sharp tang of a bonfire in at the window. \u00a0The jigsaw was almost complete, but there was still one piece missing. \u00a0And then, from the other end of the square, came the familiar sound of the Wednesday barrel-organ, playing with a hundred apocryphal trills and arpeggios, the “Blue Danube” waltz. \u00a0And Mrs. Miniver, with a little sigh of contentment, rang for tea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don’t you just want to be in that room and settle down for tea with Mrs. Miniver? \u00a0Maybe pick up one of the library books to see what she is reading. \u00a0And nibble on a ratafia biscuit because I always read about them in books and have no idea what they taste like.<\/p>\n

I also liked this quote about marriage.<\/p>\n

It seemed to her sometimes that the most important thing about marriage was not a home or children or a remedy against sin, but simply there being always an eye to catch.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this made me chuckle.<\/p>\n

“Ha!” said the Colonel. \u00a0She noted with delight that he really did say “Ha!” This made a valuable addition to her collection. \u00a0She had lately acquired a “Humph!” and two “Whews!” but she was still waiting in vain for a “Pshaw!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you haven’t read Mrs. Miniver<\/i>, do so. \u00a0She manages to catch everyday moments and thoughts and make them special. The picture of life is of a time that doesn’t seem to exist anymore but every time I read a book like this I yearn to step into the pages and wander the English countryside.<\/p>\n

The second book I read is Chatterton Square<\/i> by E. H. Young. \u00a0I love Young’s novels and have been rationing them because I don’t want to run out. \u00a0This book is set just before the start of WWII during the appeasement era. \u00a0It is the story of two families living across from each other. \u00a0One woman is married to a priggish man she does not like or respect and the other’s husband has left her and moved to France. \u00a0This is a quiet book with great emotional depth. \u00a0It is not full of huge events but instead, it contains the gradual development of characters and relationships. \u00a0Not everyone is likable, many make mistakes, but Young does a wonderful job of making all of them believable and sympathetic.<\/p>\n

I particularly enjoyed one character’s description of why she valued books and reading.<\/p>\n

I’ve made hundreds of friends, yes hundreds of them, good and bad and all interesting. \u00a0They can’t possibly die before I do. \u00a0I’m sure of them for as long as I want them and when. There’s somebody for every mood and though they don’t go off in tempers.’ she said, giving Rosamund one of her meaning looks, ‘and leave you in the lurch, you can send them away when you’ve had enough of them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this about the changing role of parents.<\/p>\n

When they were babies she had looked forward to the time when they would not need constant care and now she found that keeping them out of the fire, from falling downstairs and eating unsuitable substances was nothing to the inaction she had imposed on herself, the advice she must not offer, the knowledge that they would never consider themselves in need of.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mrs. Miniver<\/i> was a light and charming book despite the looming specter of war. \u00a0Chatterton Square<\/i> is a darker, more introspective book. \u00a0I loved both of them and highly recommend them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read two books I loved recently. \u00a0One was a reread. \u00a0It is Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther. \u00a0My local library has a bad habit of getting rid of older books so periodically I check out ones I particularly like in the hopes of preventing their culling. \u00a0The last time I read Mrs. Miniver was before I started blogging so it was definitely time to check it out again. \u00a0I was tempted to check out Dickens’ entire oeuvre in order to protect them as well. \u00a0They looked like they hadn’t moved from the shelves in years. \u00a0However, I thought the librarians might have some questions if I staggered up to the desk under a tower of Dickens novels. \u00a0Maybe I will work my way through his novels one at a time. \u00a0Why do libraries get rid of old books? \u00a0I know they have to stay current but there is a real value to older books as well. The library recently took all their Georgette Heyer novels off the shelves. \u00a0What were they thinking? \u00a0Probably that no one reads old books, but I do and I miss being able to go into the library and find what I want. Anyway, back to Mrs. Miniver before this turns into a rant. \u00a0I am sure most are familiar with this book, especially since it was made into a movie during WWII. \u00a0The book is a series of charming vignettes about Mrs. Miniver and her family. \u00a0They live a privileged life in London just before the start of WWII. \u00a0The vignettes were originally written as a series of newspaper columns for The Times. \u00a0They are all about small aspects of life; Christmas shopping, a dinner party, getting a new car, a country house visit. \u00a0Mr.s Miniver does seem to have a way of saying things I didn’t know I was thinking. \u00a0I ended up with a book littered with sticky notes. \u00a0I won’t inflict all of them on you but here are a few of the quotes I marked. Tea was already laid: \u00a0there were honey sandwiches, brandy-snaps, and small ratafia biscuits; and there would, she knew, be crumpets. \u00a0Three new library books lay virginally on the fender-stool, their bright paper wrappers unsullied by subscriber’s hand. The clock on the mantelpiece chimed, very softly and precisely, five times. \u00a0A tug hooted from the river. \u00a0A sudden breeze brought the sharp tang of a bonfire in at the window. \u00a0The jigsaw was almost complete, but there was still one piece missing. \u00a0And then, from the other end of the square, came the familiar sound of the Wednesday barrel-organ, playing with a hundred apocryphal trills and arpeggios, the “Blue Danube” waltz. \u00a0And Mrs. Miniver, with a little sigh of contentment, rang for tea. Don’t you just want to be in that room and settle down for tea with Mrs. Miniver? \u00a0Maybe pick up one of the library books to see what she is reading. \u00a0And nibble on a ratafia biscuit because I always read about them in books and have no idea what they taste like. I also liked this quote about marriage. It seemed to her sometimes that the most important thing about marriage was not a home or children or a remedy against sin, but simply there being always an eye to catch. And this made me chuckle. “Ha!” said the Colonel. \u00a0She noted with delight that he really did say “Ha!” This made a valuable addition to her collection. \u00a0She had lately acquired a “Humph!” and two “Whews!” but she was still waiting in vain for a “Pshaw!” If you haven’t read Mrs. Miniver, do so. \u00a0She manages to catch everyday moments and thoughts and make them special. The picture of life is of a time that doesn’t seem to exist anymore but every time I read a book like this I yearn to step into the pages and wander the English countryside. The second book I read is Chatterton Square by E. H. Young. \u00a0I love Young’s novels and have been rationing them because I don’t want to run out. \u00a0This book is set just before the start of WWII during the appeasement era. \u00a0It is the story of two families living across from each other. \u00a0One woman is married to a priggish man she does not like or respect and the other’s husband has left her and moved to France. \u00a0This is a quiet book with great emotional depth. \u00a0It is not full of huge events but instead, it contains the gradual development of characters and relationships. \u00a0Not everyone is likable, many make mistakes, but Young does a wonderful job of making all of them believable and sympathetic. I particularly enjoyed one character’s description of why she valued books and reading. I’ve made hundreds of friends, yes hundreds of them, good and bad and all interesting. \u00a0They can’t possibly die before I do. \u00a0I’m sure of them for as long as I want them and when. There’s somebody for every mood and though they don’t go off in tempers.’ she said, giving Rosamund one of her meaning looks, ‘and leave you in the lurch, you can send them away when you’ve had enough of them. And this about the changing role of parents. When they were babies she had looked forward to the time when they would not need constant care and now she found that keeping them out of the fire, from falling downstairs and eating unsuitable substances was nothing to the inaction she had imposed on herself, the advice she must not offer, the knowledge that they would never consider themselves in need of. Mrs. Miniver was a light and charming book despite the looming specter of war. \u00a0Chatterton Square is a darker, more introspective book. \u00a0I loved both of them and highly recommend them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,35,15,7,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-h-young","category-featured","category-quotes","category-review","category-wwii"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2771,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions\/2771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}