4 fictional characters that may have like 2 things in common with me.

First, here are three random facts I want to share with you: 1. I discovered Jack Johnson yesterday on Spotify and I just love his songs. Better Together is my favourite and I want to dance to it on my potential future wedding because I love it that much right now. 2. My grandma is friends with the film producer of Sherlock. (No seriously.) So my grandma practically hangs out with Benedict Cumberbatch. Guys, beat me. My grandma is the coolest. 3. I was in Scotland for a grand 15 minutes on Saturday. I walked in Glasgow and spotted four men in kilts. I have no pictures to prove it, so you'll have to rely on my word.

(Two sisters. Two very different personalities. I seem to be an odd mixture of both. Although I think more Elinor.)

My dear friend Eva tagged me with the four fictional characters tag (thank you!) and I've been wanting to do this thing for a while now, so here I am. Here I am, I hasten to add, before I start another busy week - this time less merrily occupied; replace spending time with fun-loving Christians with cleaning tables and emptying plates of breakfast in an old people's home - life is life, I shall refuse to complain! - I don't even know what this sentence is; let's just do the merry old tag, shall we. (I don't know why I say 'we' when I am writing this alone. You should not get any of the credit! :-P)

Okay, I thought this would be an easy job, but finding four characters that 'are very much like myself' is no easy feat for me. I told you in this blog post, I am a confusing human being. Extroverted one week; relishing in silence and just-me-and-wifi-and-notebooks-and-my-Bible-in-bed the other. Fond of poetical metaphors and nostalgic whimsies one week, mocking them in a Marilla-Cuthbert-no-nonsense-fiddlesticks way the other. However, of course, some things are generally and all-around Naomi traits (even though even those can differ and disappear for an odd hour or two), so okay. I'll try. But bear with me. I'll probably read this again next week and be like meh NO. :-P

Number Uno! The first that came to mind, in fact...

Jerusha Abbott in Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

I remember when I read this first I was 100% sure I had found my fictional twin. Of course, Judy is way cooler than I'll ever be and her letters are way more entertaining than mine will ever be, but yah, we doodle odd stuff and we pop random thoughts in random places and we like reading and stuff. Just yeah, she reminds me of me. She's quirky and I want to be quirky. (She probably reminds me of the me I wish I was.)

Secondly, the gal I see myself in muchly is, and has to be, the main character from Lynn Austin's Wonderland Creek. There's reasons my blog is named so, after all.

Alice Grace Ripley from Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

We're both book lovers. (Although, I have to be honest! I haven't been reading much lately. Eh. I still love it though, okay.) We're both not exactly animal people. We both love the idea of adventure but when it comes to sitting on a horse eh nope that's disgusting no. We both like a bath. We both love seeing people happy. Just... Alice and I are two of the same kind of peas in the same kind of pods. (Only, I'm not blonde. Although I was as a 3-year-old. There's a little tidbit about me.)

Thirdly, my friends, I must slight Celia Garth by suggesting that we have some common traits.

Celia Garth in Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow

I MUST REREAD THIS; it's been way too long, but one thing I can remember is that I wished I was like Celia Garth. Well, I'll never be like Celia Garth. But maybe we have some things in common - maybe the sense of humour, the love of being teased. Also, the things she thinks and says I really, really relate to. Maybe in a wishful way. I don't know. I'm adding her to this list anyways. I flatter myself.

And fourthly, and this is the one I had to brainstorm for for ages - I thought of Elizabeth Bennet (but I'd never go for a quiet guy and oh, I wish I was as well-spoken as Lizzy!) - I thought of Anne Shirley (but I don't talk that much and I'm not that poetical sorry) - I thought of every Montgomery heroine because I feel like I relate to ALL of them - and then I thought, well let's just be boring and go with Jo March because I like writing and... yeah, I like reading. (Lame.)

No. That will not do. I must be original.

Valancy Snaith/Stirling in The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I alllmost did Rilla of Ingleside but I think I just did that because that book just wrenches the life outta me (I don't relate to Rilla that much actually), but you know what Valancy and I like the same guy. Barney. Kay, enough. (Also, we appreciate nice clothes and quirky outings and views and cosy houses. And we both enjoy a good joke and a tease. I think this gives us enough in common.) (Of course, our situations are very different, so it's hard to weigh.)

Done.

*phew*

This'll have to do. (Maybe I should have said Elizabeth Bennet. We do have the same personality type, according to the Meyes-Briggs Personality test.) (Never mind.)

For those of you who know me better, do you think I chose a good sample of characters to represent me? Who would you have picked? Also. How are you doing, my friends? Tell me something about life. It's so funny, when you grow up, life seems to get harder and harder and better and better. That's because life is super super complex and every day we learn something more about its complex-ness. There, was was your philosophy session.

(Should I tag people? Okay, I tag any of my readers that I've met in real life and that have a blog. Emma, Sadie, Hannah... that's bout it, I think. (And you, Sarah, if you've got your blog yet!))

PS!! Oh, I just thought of a character that I relate to so much! Barbara in Call the Midwife. (Too late. Let's just click publish.)

Fictional Characters

I'd like to be riding a bicycle, doing something important with an undercover spy name, riding through German fields, the long grass whipping my bare legs; bits of past pitter-pattering through my memory as the mauve evening clouds whizz behind me. (Violins of Autumn)

I'd like to be a beautiful city girl, hair blonde, like a doll in a shop, embarking on a forced adventure of horseback rides, squirrel meat, dark mines and little dark bedrooms filled with lotions and herbs hanging down in bunches from the ceiling. I'd like to be in the middle of a dazzling plot; to be the one who knows all the secrets and who has to keep quiet because someone's life depends on it. (Wonderland Creek.)

I'd like to have a long-legged man as a pen-friend, and write down witty, warm words to him after a day of school, random happenings, and a little bit of extravagant shopping. I would sketch some silly things in the letter margins, just for fun and sign off in French to show him how smart I'm becoming. (Daddy Long Legs.)

I'd like to be a poor, grey-eyed orphan with an imagination as brilliant as a thousand rainbows, a tongue with a gracious voice, and a vocabulary to dazzle even Shakespeare. I'd like to be adopted into a red-and-green island, with beaches and birches and ponds and orchards as friends, and enough blossom to fuel the imagination to the next level of brilliance. (Anne of Green Gables.)

I'd like to be the only long-haired girl in a town of fashionably-bobbed girls, and to stand out because of other reasons too; bold faith, bubbly smile; odd potato-sack dresses. I'd like to be someone's best friend, her little rock in her rocky time of life; I'd like to give her comfort and show her hope through God, good people, beautiful photos and melancholy, soul-dripping poems in a queer little book. (The Sweetest Thing.)

I'd like to have a charmingly croaky husband with a mysteriously locked writing room, a small house on an island surrounded by nature-book-worthy scenery, and an old, vulgar car with a Ladies name which, of course, I happily share with the mysteriously lovable husband. (The Blue Castle.)

I'd like to be in a story narrated by an abstract feature of life, a story of books, accordion playing, lists of words, and friends like the schoolmate with the hair the colour of lemons and the friend who painted over hitler to make a book for me; that secret dark-eyed friend in the cold basement. (The Book Thief.)

... This is why I love reading. I can be all these people just by burying myself into the pages and the words and the beautifully woven stories. Magic right there, readers.

"It seems queer to be writing letters to somebody you don't know. It seems queer for me to be writing letters at all--I've never written more than three or four in my life, so please overlook it if these are not a model kind." --- Daddy Long Legs, Jerusha Abbot

Dear Readers,

I have come to the realisation that I very much love reading 'letter-books', as I call them. I only wish there were more of them, because I have read, and possibly reread, all of those I am aware of. (Except Dear Enemy which I'll read very soon.) My love for letter books started with Daddy-Long-Legs. I remember the Sunday when I found it for 0.00£ as an e-book on Amazon and 'bought' it on my kindle. I started reading, and became more than hooked from the first letter Jerusha Abbot wrote to the long-legged stranger she adopted as a friend and baptised adorably as 'Daddy-Long-Legs.' I didn't stop reading till I had finished it - I took the book down to dinner... it was that good. It still is one of my favourite books to this date, and if you haven't read it, I implore you to. No, in fact, I insist upon it.

Then I heard about "Dear Mr Knightley"... a sort of modern Daddy-Long-Legs, apparently, with a mad Jane Austen fan as the main character. Of course I was going to buy it and read it and love it. I have to admit, I don't adore 'Dear Mr Knightley' but I'm still very fond of it, and proud to own a copy. Also, the cover is gorgeous, and the hero, Alex, is a darling. I love reading Samantha's letters. They aren't always the quaint, adorable, innocent and hilarious letters that Jerusha Abbot writes; but they are great fun to read. Her character has a lot of depth and the fact that she has to write letters to a stranger is really good for her, because she needs to empty her worries and her heart onto someone.

I read The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society (I know, it's a mouthful, but isn't it the most original title ever?) several months later, AND IT WAS OFFICIAL. I love love love letter books. The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society or, as my friend Emma and I call it: "The Guernsey book" (cuz no-one's got time to write the entire title, right? Life is busy and time doesn't stop) - is amazing. I recently reread it and loved it even more. It's one of my all time favourite books, (despite some things about it I don't really appreciate.) I raved about it on Goodreads; and promised myself that one day, I'll make myself a Literary society and write a letter to someone who used to own a book I own.

'The Guernsey book' has a huge place in my heart... it's just... blahh. It makes me so happy. The characters are all so special and unique; and the letters that go to and fro and create a whole beautiful story... it just warms my heart. It's probably the cleverest book I know of. (Thou must read.)

I was delighted when I was able to buy 'Ain't we got Fun' on kindle; with the Amazon vauture I won through Melody's Christmas story contest last Christmas. I had wanted to read it for quite some time because it looked adorable and it's a letter book. The book is basically the correspondence between two sisters, Bess and Georgiana, as they find happiness in their daily lives during the Great Depression. I loved it - again, it warmed my heart. Another letter-book I've read is 'Lady Susan', by Jane Austen, and oui, I really liked that as well.

I think part of the reason why I love letter-form books is that I'm a curious person by nature, and that reading other people's letters therefore makes me feel happy... because one normally doesn't get to do that. :-P Also, letter books are always funnier and more drawn-back and casual than normal books; and they mean stamps and envelopes and ink and people sending information, gossip and love to each other via paper and words and sentences. It makes me so HAPPY.

Celebrating my love for these, I wrote myself a novella called 'Nonsense, you aren't dead,' written in letters form. It has a very dramatically sad ending, and I am featured in it as the antagonist (no, really), but I flatter myself when I say that it is rather fun to read, although without a doubt rather silly. In a childrens' book I once wrote, I featured a lot of mean letters between two kids who are forced to be 'pen-friends.' The book is called 'Pen-Enemy.' I want to write a another letter-form book sometime soon - they are so much fun to write, and it gives you such a boost on creativity, because there are so many options about styles, characters, and who writes to who, and so on.

The goal for this letter for you is the follow question: Do you know any other letter books? Because I really want  to read some other ones; ones I've never heard of. (Don't say 'Dear Enemy' by Jean Webster, because I know about that one, and I plan to read it very soon. :-)) So... if you have any more letter-book recommendations... go and tell me, please! (Interesting letter-collections from famous people are welcome too, although I am aiming for works for fiction with a plot and everything. :-P)

Yours very truly and very devotedly and very lovingly,

Naomi xxx

PS What do think of a long quote as a blog title? It's kind of weird, but letters embrace weirdness so I'm going to go with it.

PS And yes, the pictures in the post are SO staged, but LET ME. :-D (Also, the letters in the pictures are from Emma, and aren't they diviiine?)

Daddy-Long-Legs // Review (well, what *I* call a Review, anyway.)

I started writing this review before I had even finished the book. I just knew I had to review it. Because, yeah, it's one of the nicest books I've ever read. Swellagus. Completely, clickety swellagus. Spenkalonkly lovely. (Ahhhem. I should stop inventing words. It's become a bad habit of mine. Do you like my invented words? Spenkalonkly. Not bad, eh?)

 

I first intended to start this review like this: I loved this book. The end. Oh no, it's not the end.

 

But then I decided I wouldn't, as I believe I've written that phrase at least three times before on my blog. One is not allowed to appear saggy. Saggy IS a real word. Don't say I invented that too. Yes, it IS a real word. Is it?

 

So, so, so! Where to start? This book really touched me. It's going to be at my bedside for many years yet to come. I feel it's going to go in my list-of-books-I-read-twice-every-year. It totally deserves to be in that list.

The Story:

It starts with Jerusha leading a rather 'eww' life at the orphanage. Now, I know what you're thinking. I thought exactly the same. 'Not another story about a miserable orphan,' I first groaned.

But it gets really nice. A man - he calls himself Mr John Smith - gives Jerusha the money to go to college on the advantage that she sends him a letter every month. Jerusha doesn't know the man's name, age or looks. She only knows three things about him. 1) He is tall 2) He is rich 3) He hates girls (or so she heard). So, due to his tall-ness, she nicknames him Daddy-Long-Legs.

The majority of the book is her letters. And no, don't say that 'just' letters are boring to read. She writes in a lovely, girlish, witty, almost impish style which is just a delight to read.

In the end she meets her Daddy-Long-Legs, and he turns out to be a lovely man she already knew. How sweet it that? It's a very Montgomery-like plot, don't you think? I approve. Such a sweet love story!

I read the Kindle version (it's a free Kindle book) which was without the pictures. The 'real' book has these charming, squealful pictures drawn by Jean Webster - apparently very funny. But still, the book is lovely even without them pictures.

 

(You can read this book online, here.)

 

I've decided to make a list of the things I liked about this book, and a list of the things I didn't really like. Just because the authoress of this lovely little blog (I flatter myself) feels like lists. Okay. Ear we go:

 

The things I liked:

 

~Jerusha Abbot. Otherwise named Judy.

You know, blogs and their popular posts? Sometimes there's this one new post that hits the top first place with such speed - in like, several hours it goes from zero views to the most-viewed post in your blog. You know what I mean? Well, it was the same with the heroine of this novel. I went from not even knowing she existed to putting her as my top-favourite heroines.

The thing I love about dear old Jerusha is the fact that I have finally found the heroine that resembles me most. Jerusha and I are ridiculously similar. Outroareously so. It was spenkalonkly fun for me to read it. I have her writing style, her same nonsensical witty-ness (I would, like her, say it was raining cats and dogs and that 'a puppy and a kitten have just landed on my windowsill'), her same life attitude, sense of fashion, love for writing and all that. She's the heroine that clicked me. She and I. Like the same person. Seriously. We're so alike.

Well, let's not exaggerate. We're not totally alike. I'm scared of animals - she ain't. In that sense, still, I am more Alice Grace Ripley in Lynn Austin's fabulous 'Wonderland Creek.'

But still - I could write a post entitled: '50 things Jerusha and I have in common.' It was delightful for me to read.
So yes, I finally found the my heroine. I never really had a protagonist that was so much like me. :-)

 

~Jean Webster has Montgomery's writing style

 Just seriously. This could be mistake for Montgomery. And guess what? I love that.
 

~Clothing descriptions
I told you Jerusha was like me. If I wrote letters to an Anonymous person I would describe my newly purchased clothing items with as much gusto as she did. Lovely clothes descriptions there, people.

~You want to read the ending.
This books makes you read fast. Because you want to know how it's going to end. It was so funny - When I was reading it I had just reached the ending I had been so impatiently waiting for when it was time for dinner, or something. Uh, no. It wasn't funny.
At first I thought that the Daddy-Long-Legs was going to be Jerusha's real father. And then, when Jerusha wrote in one of her letters:

Did you ever have a sweet baby girl who was stolen from the cradle in infancy?

Maybe I am she! If we were in a novel, that would be the denouement, wouldn't it?

It's really awfully queer not to know what one is—sort of exciting and romantic. There are such a lot of possibilities. Maybe I'm not American; lots of people aren't...

It really tickled me, because I was thinking just that. And the 'maybe I'm not American - lot's of people aren't,' bit made me giggle.

~Witty-ness
As you might have guessed by now. Very funny book. Made me snicker a load.

~A simple story
Now and then, I like a simple story. While I like dense plots with loads of things happening all at the same time (aka: Wonderland Creek and other Lynn Austin books) now and then, a sweet, simple and straight-forward book is up to my liking. DLL is perfect in that way.

~So many other things
The fact that she (Judy/Jerusha) was a writer.
The fact that she makes everything fun.
The fact that the book makes you happy.
The fact that literature gets mentioned.
And so many other things...

Read it, and you'll see what I mean. If you have a Kindle, you can do it right now, cos as I said, it's free. *In salesman voice*: Buy your e-book right now for a free price and instant download.

What I didn't like:
~ The fact that Jane Austen was never mentioned.
Duh. Lame. I just had to think of something.

Have you read this book?

Liked it as much as I do?