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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
This book made me think about a lot of things. Mainly about marriage, children and modern medicine.
I liked this but about 3/4 of the way through I didn't really know where it was going, how it was going to end, and I wasn't starving to find out. Yes life in the Great North was hard for them, but I had to push myself to read the rest. I liked the love story between Mike and Kathy.
Usually when I read I have a pretty good idea from the first hundred or so pages whether I’ll like a book or not. Sometimes my opinion changes just from a bad ending, but that's atypical.
This book, though, took me on a bit of a roller coaster ride. It started out on a high. From the first paragraph, I was hooked; just listen to the fun, engaging narrative style:
“The worst winder in fifty years, the old Scotsman had told me. I’d only been around for sixteen, but it was the worst I’d seen, and I was willing to take his word for the other thirty-four.” -p. 1
For the next seventy or eighty pages, the story was moving along nicely, with the endearing narrator Kathy telling of her whirlwind romance with the dashing Canadian mountie, Mike.
But then they get married (that is not a spoiler; really, the book’s called Mrs. Mike). And that’s when the book started trudging along for me.
Each chapter became its own separate vignette, some sorrowful story (mostly unrelated to the others before it) not directly involving Kathy but her Native neighbors in the village. They were interesting enough, I suppose (it was still very readable), yet I didn’t find myself compelled to pick up the book particularly often. To boot, most of the chapters were a bit depressing.
But then a crisis comes in which Kathy is not spared as a mere bystander — and then she’s left to grieve, her world crashing in on her. Suddenly I couldn’t put the book down! All the seemingly random, sad chapters in the middle of the book (the ones I had trudged through) were woven beautifully into the story. The ending was one of the sweetest (well, a touch bittersweet, I suppose) I’d ever read.
Now I can’t stop thinking of the gems of wisdom woven throughout this book. Here’s a good one, spoken by Kathy’s friend Constance:
“These big things, these terrible things, are not the important ones. If they were, how could one go on living? No, it is the small, little things that make up a day, that bring fullness and happiness to a life. Your Sergeant coming home, a good dinner, your little Mary laughing, the smell of the woods — oh, so many things, you know them yourself.” -p. 149
And there’s also this one, right at the end, which is just beautiful:
“Mike was right: the pattern of a life isn’t a straight line; it crosses and recrosses, drawing in and tying together other lives, as I do when I gather in the ends of my thread to make a knot.” -p.282
So yes, definitely give this book a try. Unless you stop halfway through, you won’t be sorry!
This book, though, took me on a bit of a roller coaster ride. It started out on a high. From the first paragraph, I was hooked; just listen to the fun, engaging narrative style:
“The worst winder in fifty years, the old Scotsman had told me. I’d only been around for sixteen, but it was the worst I’d seen, and I was willing to take his word for the other thirty-four.” -p. 1
For the next seventy or eighty pages, the story was moving along nicely, with the endearing narrator Kathy telling of her whirlwind romance with the dashing Canadian mountie, Mike.
But then they get married (that is not a spoiler; really, the book’s called Mrs. Mike). And that’s when the book started trudging along for me.
Each chapter became its own separate vignette, some sorrowful story (mostly unrelated to the others before it) not directly involving Kathy but her Native neighbors in the village. They were interesting enough, I suppose (it was still very readable), yet I didn’t find myself compelled to pick up the book particularly often. To boot, most of the chapters were a bit depressing.
But then a crisis comes in which Kathy is not spared as a mere bystander — and then she’s left to grieve, her world crashing in on her. Suddenly I couldn’t put the book down! All the seemingly random, sad chapters in the middle of the book (the ones I had trudged through) were woven beautifully into the story. The ending was one of the sweetest (well, a touch bittersweet, I suppose) I’d ever read.
Now I can’t stop thinking of the gems of wisdom woven throughout this book. Here’s a good one, spoken by Kathy’s friend Constance:
“These big things, these terrible things, are not the important ones. If they were, how could one go on living? No, it is the small, little things that make up a day, that bring fullness and happiness to a life. Your Sergeant coming home, a good dinner, your little Mary laughing, the smell of the woods — oh, so many things, you know them yourself.” -p. 149
And there’s also this one, right at the end, which is just beautiful:
“Mike was right: the pattern of a life isn’t a straight line; it crosses and recrosses, drawing in and tying together other lives, as I do when I gather in the ends of my thread to make a knot.” -p.282
So yes, definitely give this book a try. Unless you stop halfway through, you won’t be sorry!
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Kathy comes from Boston to visit her uncle in Alberta, Canada to recover from pleurisy. There she falls in love with and marries a Canadian Mountie, Mike. They are stationed deep in the frontier where Kathy grows strong and falls in love with the land, its people and animals. It is a story of beauty, loss, joy, resilience, community, family and love richly told.
It has been many decades since I first read about Mrs. Mike and her Canadian Mountie. I had forgotten many side characters, events and tragedies, but remembered quite sharply high points. I loved it then, and I still do. Kathy and Mike are strong fully developed characters with flaws. The story is full of adventure and hardship and the pioneer spirit. However, my timing in revisiting a book in which more than one epidemic decimates the community and Mrs. Mike, is suspect with COVID raging unchecked across the US. I had some uncomfortable moments there where what was described was just too real.
This is frequently categorized as Young Adult, and I certainly discovered it as a teenager. More appropriately, this is a classic of historical fiction that can be read by just about any age. The authors do not hold back on the tragedy, do not shy from the emotional journeys the characters make. But the love also shines through.
I listened to the audio read by Kirsten Potter who I thought truly excellent.
It has been many decades since I first read about Mrs. Mike and her Canadian Mountie. I had forgotten many side characters, events and tragedies, but remembered quite sharply high points. I loved it then, and I still do. Kathy and Mike are strong fully developed characters with flaws. The story is full of adventure and hardship and the pioneer spirit. However, my timing in revisiting a book in which more than one epidemic decimates the community and Mrs. Mike, is suspect with COVID raging unchecked across the US. I had some uncomfortable moments there where what was described was just too real.
This is frequently categorized as Young Adult, and I certainly discovered it as a teenager. More appropriately, this is a classic of historical fiction that can be read by just about any age. The authors do not hold back on the tragedy, do not shy from the emotional journeys the characters make. But the love also shines through.
I listened to the audio read by Kirsten Potter who I thought truly excellent.
What a way to finish the year! I like reading "cold" books in the winter and what can be colder than the Northern Territories of Canada 100+ years ago? It ended up being the perfect read for the last week of December. This book had a similar feel to it as the Little House books but for a more mature audience. It doesn't shy away from the gruesome details of life away from civilization. In fact, there is a scene in this book that pretty much made me physically ill and I don't think that has ever happened to me before while reading.
I will never be able to read this again, I cried every time I picked it up. So heart wrenching and sweet.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
This is an older book, first published in 1947. While my library didn't have it digitally, I was able to get ebook and audio versions. This was a bookclub pick for June. I listened to the audiobook and will try to review the text before the discussion.
First off ... I felt like the title is a bit of a spoiler ;) But, the whirlwind romance and wedding happen right at the start (by the 2nd or 3rd chapter), and most of the book is about life in general, and their married life. It reminded me quite a bit of [book:All Creatures Great and Small|32085] and a more recent read [book:Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle|16284892] (both which were true stories, this was fiction, and this was written before both of these, although I only read it after). Lots of random happenings, often left a little hanging (i.e. the woman lost ... mosquitos).
The name of the MC ... Katherine Mary. For some reason Mary Katherine just rolls off easier (some character from another story?) ... I sillily struggled with the name the entire book.
It is interesting to look at this book in light of today's political corrected-ness/trigger warnings; there was quite a bit of animal endangerment that while real, I wonder if it would get some blow-back today (the cows drowning, the beaver in the trap, eyes pecked out by a hawk, beaver gland medicine, even the dog Juno being thumped on the nose and lost on the train momentarily).
There was talk of the dogs and the wolves ... which was especially interesting as last month's pick [book:Wolf Hollow|26026063] had some specific things to say about wolves (is a wolf, can't be raised as a dog) and also discussed the pits to catch them.
I was taken aback by the sadness in the book. Again, not that things like this didn't happen, but it was a lot! There was violence, cruelty, disease, racism, injury, death ... lots of triggers. I recently watched the TV series 1923 in which the "Christian" nuns take the Indian children in, and that was seen here (less extreme).
In the "About the Authors" we get a little background on Nancy and Benedict Freedman, and it is indicated that Katherine Mary Flannigan "lived it" ... I would like to have some additional details here. How much is truth, and how were the stories gathered, what was fact-checked. This is labeled as fiction, so I'll continue to think of it as that unless there are more details.
I'm not sure there were really any quotes that I wanted to save, not exactly sure what the discussion points will be at book club. I found an interesting article (there are some spoilers in it) https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/mrs-mike-changed-my-life/all
Only available in physical form at my local library, but I was able to grab the audio from an extended/Hoopla. Kindle copy is included in KU, but I don't have a current membership. Went ahead and bought it for $7. Now it's in my cloud.
First off ... I felt like the title is a bit of a spoiler ;) But, the whirlwind romance and wedding happen right at the start (by the 2nd or 3rd chapter), and most of the book is about life in general, and their married life. It reminded me quite a bit of [book:All Creatures Great and Small|32085] and a more recent read [book:Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle|16284892] (both which were true stories, this was fiction, and this was written before both of these, although I only read it after). Lots of random happenings, often left a little hanging (i.e. the woman lost ... mosquitos).
The name of the MC ... Katherine Mary. For some reason Mary Katherine just rolls off easier (some character from another story?) ... I sillily struggled with the name the entire book.
It is interesting to look at this book in light of today's political corrected-ness/trigger warnings; there was quite a bit of animal endangerment that while real, I wonder if it would get some blow-back today (the cows drowning, the beaver in the trap, eyes pecked out by a hawk, beaver gland medicine, even the dog Juno being thumped on the nose and lost on the train momentarily).
There was talk of the dogs and the wolves ... which was especially interesting as last month's pick [book:Wolf Hollow|26026063] had some specific things to say about wolves (is a wolf, can't be raised as a dog) and also discussed the pits to catch them.
I was taken aback by the sadness in the book. Again, not that things like this didn't happen, but it was a lot! There was violence, cruelty, disease, racism, injury, death ... lots of triggers. I recently watched the TV series 1923 in which the "Christian" nuns take the Indian children in, and that was seen here (less extreme).
In the "About the Authors" we get a little background on Nancy and Benedict Freedman, and it is indicated that Katherine Mary Flannigan "lived it" ... I would like to have some additional details here. How much is truth, and how were the stories gathered, what was fact-checked. This is labeled as fiction, so I'll continue to think of it as that unless there are more details.
I'm not sure there were really any quotes that I wanted to save, not exactly sure what the discussion points will be at book club. I found an interesting article (there are some spoilers in it) https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/mrs-mike-changed-my-life/all
Only available in physical form at my local library, but I was able to grab the audio from an extended/Hoopla. Kindle copy is included in KU, but I don't have a current membership. Went ahead and bought it for $7. Now it's in my cloud.
I read this years ago and couldn't remember the name of this book for the life of me until tonight! A coworker recommended to me because it's her all-time favorite book and I fell in love with it too. It's an easy read, a wonderful love story (not too sappy), and just an overall great story!
This book it amazing! It’s definitely one of my favorites and I’ve reread it a lot. Even my brother Talmage enjoys it and he maintains that he hates any sort of romance. Though, to be fair, while there is romance in this book, it isn’t a romance. It’s more about the struggles and joys of living in unsettled Canada. It’s about being a good neighbor and surviving hard things together. It’s about seeing the beauty around you. It’s about staying true to your family and yourself even in the midst of grief. I love this book!