10 Reasons to Read Betsy-Tacy

The Betsy-Tacy books were written by Maud Hart Lovelace and were based upon her childhood and young adulthood in the early 20th century. There are four books about covering her years from 5 to 12 and these are suitable for all ages. The next six books cover her high school years, travel, and marriage and are suitable for 14+. (The reason? Well, Betsy can be a little silly about boys…but really, you’ll just appreciate them more if you’re in high school yourself or have been in it.) There are also 3 Deep Valley books about other people that Betsy knows. They are delightful books and worth reading again and again…and here are 10 reasons why.

1. The characters are hopelessly flawed but always learn from their mistakes and become better people. Which is so nice, yes? :-)

2. Betsy and Tib are a little boy-crazy but Tacy isn’t.

3. The characters have loving relationships with their families (and their fathers!) but it’s not sickly sweet or obsessive.

4. College and education are viewed as good and beneficial things. Most of the girls go to college and then get married.

5. Betsy learns to keep house after she’s married and makes it a priority. But, she doesn’t give up her writing to do so. They’re some of the few books I’ve read with a healthy balance between homemaking and having dreams and pursuits as a married woman.

6. Betsy’s life doesn’t end with her marriage: the wedding is in the beginning of the last book.

7. The books make a statement against sororities and fraternities which shows some greatness of mind on Mrs. Lovelace’s part, I think.

8. The characters eat so well! Warning: These books will make you hungry!

9. Betsy doesn’t like Elsie Dinsmore (and neither do I)!

10. They show that heartache (even over, (horrors!) boys) is normal and can be a beneficial thing to growing up and maturing.

And the 11th reason to read Betsy-Tacy is….

After a long sojourn in the world of “out of print”… the high school books are being re-released on September 29th! And Carney’s House Party and Emily of Deep Valley will be out next year!







So now instead of having to track them down on Abebooks and paying $25 for one paperback you can find them on BN.com for 11.99 (for 2 books actually). Dreeaming.... :-)

And if you want to know more about Betsy-Tacy follow these links:

http://www.maudhartlovelacesociety.com/

http://www.betsy-tacysociety.org/

Ingrid

Random Thoughts

I’ve finished my school for the day and am going to post some random thoughts that have been rattling around in my brain for several days.

Wow! I made it onto Josh Harris’ blog! http://www.joshharris.com/

“Stomach-Churning Tales and First Kisses "Joshua Harris' next book, Boy Meets Girl , was a good read and again, he presents his ideas in suggestion form. I enjoyed his and Shannon's story but some of the others made my stomach churn." (Read the full post here.)”

It’s not the most flattering way to mention my essay but hey, it’s still interesting.

I’ve gotten notice from YLCF http://www.ylcf.org/ on my “Seeking Perfection” essay and waaayy more hits due to that. I had no idea YLCF had such a following! :-)

Why did they use a picture of Felicity and Arthur? Hahahae. (That’s a Latin expression of amusement.) Funny, I’m not sure if I even thought about my blog being controversial. Okay, okay, “Life in Perfect” made some people mad but they could use a bit of lightening up. It was a good joke that I thought up while doing laundry, that’s all. Let it Be = Love3 (that means love3 as in math, you know like x3 because it’s Love, Love, Love.) is the focus of my blog.

I actually clicked around at YLCF for the first time and found some interesting stuff. Why did someone comment that I don’t recommend any books, just criticize them? It looks to me like the same person wrote almost all of their book reviews. (Note: Under Maud Hart Lovelace, they forgot to mention the other 6 Betsy books. There are 4 High School and 1 traveling and 1 when she gets married. There. I recommended some books! :-D) And why would anyone care if my essay mentions courtship a bunch? YLCF has tons of courtship stories and then a whole “romance lover’s nook”. http://www.ylcf.org/romance/ Ick. Yuck. Eww. "Bad site! Mess you up!" :-D (The romance stuff not the rest of it.) Sometimes I think we focus on mushy stuff too much...waayy too much. I actually can’t say whether I like YLCF or not; it’s not really my thing but I don’t mind if it is someone else’s thing. :-) So I suppose I feel like Rick in the scene below.

Ugarte: You are a very cynical person, Rick, if you forgive me for saying so. Rick: I forgive you. Ugarte: You despise me, don't you? Rick: Well, if I gave you any thought, I probably would. ~ Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ugarte (Peter Lorre) in Casablanca, 1942.

That probably is the best description of my feelings about most everything—save for a good cause. Which, as we see later in Casablanca, Rick loves a good cause too. (If you've never seen Casablanca go watch it right now! :-)

Why do women write so many of the self-help books? With the exception of Joshua Harris, where are the men? I like Josh Harris books because they are very rational and down to earth. Women have too much of a tendency to be irrational—I know, because I am one. This looks like a good book and it’s written by a man, Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart.

Why does this blog, http://readevenmore.blogspot.com/ say this: “Let it be = Love3...one woman's thoughts on emotional purity--contains some good thoughts but also some unnecessary inflammatory remarks.” Ouch! Why is my site the only one picked on?! As if some of these other ones didn’t have “unnecessary inflammatory remarks.” Good grief. And the site even says, “This is a Conversation, not an inquisition or trial. There will be nothing inflammatory, accusatory, immature, or personally insulting to any author tolerated.” I find the extra commentary on my blog “personally insulting.” “I know when I‘ve been insulted! I know when I’ve been insulted!” :-D

Why do people make an idol of chocolate? You know, how girls (err…people) say, “We’ll have chocolate oooooo!!!” Eww is more like it. I mean I like chocolate but too much of it gives me a headache. So it tastes good but so do lots of things. Talking about chocolate or having a web page on it is dumb. It’s like saying: I really like asparagus so I think I should start a whole webpage on asparagus for all the asparagus lovers out there. :-D Hahahae. Actually, asparagus might need the support since it's not very well liked but chocolate does not--almost everyone likes it.

Why are so there many comments by women on blogs written by men? For instance, on a random post on James McDonald’s blog, four of the comments are from women and one is from a man. (I just said “random post” because I’m not picking a certain one. I’m not saying the content was random. :-)) Of course it’s not Mr. McDonald’s fault at all but doesn’t that seem a little weird? Where are the women’s husbands? Isn’t patriarchy about the father shaping his families vision? (I just chose Mr. McDonald blog at random...I’m not picking on it at all. :-))

Oh, here’s another book I like, Secrets About Guys: (That Shouldn't Be Secret). Because it’s informative without being over the top and very delicate—unlike the majority of books on the shelves these days. I’m still wondering why boys don’t get a book about us, if we get one on them. :-)

Read the books, memorize them, and then work out your own philosophy. It’s a lot like making up a recipe; a hint of this idea, a pinch of that one, and there you go...your very own lifestyle. :-D
Oh, I recommended more books!

Why did patriarchy catch on at all? It’s based on the Old Testament patriarchs’ right? Most of them were quite messed up. Abraham lied, Isaac chose a deceiving wife, Jacob stole, Jacob’s kids threw their brother in a well and then sold him as a slave—”the patriarchs” are more a lesson in what NOT to do. I don’t know much about this issue and I haven’t researched it at all but sometimes things just don’t make any sense to begin with. Jesus didn’t tell us to go and be like Abraham did he? Did he tell us to read Deuteronomy and follow those rules? I don’t think so. Maybe the patriarch people need to study the gospels more and really think about what Jesus said.

Okay, so what if you don’t like some of my comments, pick what you like and ignore the rest, come on. Let it Be. It’s only my opinion and my friends and family know that I can be a bit too blunt sometimes. But, sometimes you have to say what you think; even if others don’t agree with you.

Ingrid

“I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say.” ~ Ingrid Bergman.