Tag Archives: Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday (July 12) – The Boxcar Children

Posted on by

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

PSA: Mandi is taking some time off from blogging, so she won’t have a Throwback Thursday post up today, but still be sure to link back to her blog as one of the hosts. She was, after all, the original mastermind.

My Throwback this week is…

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Yup, I’m going old school this week and featuring  a series I loved as a kid. The Boxcar Children is the story of four orphans — Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny — who strike out on their own in an attempt to stay together. They wind up taking shelter in an old abandoned boxcar, which they decide to make into their home. And while living in the boxcar, they solve mysteries.

Okay, so this is not the best-written series ever. The plots are far-fetched. The characters are pretty one-dimensional. And there’s nary a shred of realism to be seen.

But you know what? I don’t care. When I was a kid, I loved reading about their chipped dishes and their meals of blackberries and milk. I loved their loving sibling dynamic. I loved the cute little mysteries they’d solve. They were great books to hone my reading skills on, with an interesting story (to an early elementary-schooler, anyway) that kept me working my way through the series.

So no, I’m not recommending you pick this series up as an adult. Few books that appealed to me as a 2nd grader would impress me much now. But if you’ve got an early reader in your life — like I do — this is a great series to introduce them to the wonderful world of chapter books.

Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!

Throwback Thursday (July 5) – Little Women

Posted on by

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

This is another one  of those classic books that I tend to assume everyone has read, but maybe you haven’t.

Little Women is the story of the March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – and their mother, who they call Marmee. Mr. March is away at war and the girls are left to fend for themselves as they grow up together and experience friendship, love, loss, and heartbreak. The bond between the sisters is so real. Sometimes they infuriate each other, sometimes they can’t stand each other, but they always love each other. And I adore how Marmee leads her family with a quiet strength, and how close they all are in spite of their differences.

I find a lot of classics kind of ponderous as far as the prose goes, but Little Women flowed very naturally for me. I can’t remember how old I was when I first read it – probably somewhere between 13-16 – and I didn’t have any trouble getting into it.

I’d recommend this book to any woman, “little” or not, because the characters and relationships are among the best I’ve ever read. It will warm your heart and soothe your soul.

Happy reading!

Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!

Throwback Thursday (June 28) – The Hobbit

Posted on by

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I know what you’re thinking. Hasn’t everyone read The Hobbit? Why on earth would I feature a book everyone’s already read?

Well, the answer is twofold. One, everyone has not read it (gasp!). I know. It’s amazing, but true. I’ve even met some of them.

And second, even if everyone had already read it (which they haven’t), it’s still worth featuring, because it’s so old that no one features it anymore. Everyone just assumes everyone else has already read it.

If you’re living in a hole in the ground* and don’t know what The Hobbit is about, it is the story of Bilbo Baggins, who lives a quiet life in his Hobbit hole in the Shire, right up until a wizard named Gandalf and a group of dwarves show up on his doorstep and ask him to take part in an adventure.

What follows is a truly fabulous adventure, full of elves, goblins, trolls, and magic, as Bilbo and his companions journey through Middle Earth to rid the dwarves’ home in the Lonely Mountain of the fearsome dragon Smaug.

The Hobbit is a beautiful sweeping fantasy featuring a host of amazing and wonderful characters. It is in turns humorous, exciting, touching, and frightening.

It’s also a much easier read than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien’s language is simpler, and the story isn’t nearly as broad or complex, so it can be understood by people of all ages.

As a matter of fact, my husband recently started reading it to our 6-year-old daughter, and she loves it so far. Especially the rhyming dwarf names.

If you’ve never given The Hobbit a chance, I urge you to try it. It’s a beautiful and enchanting story.

And if you have read The Hobbit (as I suspect most of you have), now would be a perfect time for a re-read, just in time for the movie to be released in December! Look, here’s the trailer, and it looks awesome.

*Yes, that was just a Hobbit pun

Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!

Throwback Thursday (June 21): A Time to Kill

Posted on by

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

A Time to Kill by John Grisham.

As you may have figured out by now, my reading habits did not follow the normal pattern. I started with early readers and progressed to beginner chapter books, but then I skipped over the entire YA category and went straight to adult fiction. I read pretty much exclusively adult fiction from the time I was 10 until I was about to graduate college. And it was only then, when I was technically “too old” for YA, that I discovered it.

Therefore, most of the books I remember from my younger years are adult books. And one of the authors I absolutely adored while I was in high school was John Grisham.

As you’re probably aware, Grisham writes primarily legal thrillers, a genre I’ve always been strangely drawn to. I love the logic, the detail, and the methodology.

A Time to Kill is one of the least action-driven, but most poignant of Grisham’s novels (it was also Grisham’s debut novel). It follows Jake Brigance, a young lawyer in small town Mississippi. Jake takes on the case of Carl Lee Hailey, an African-American man who murdered the two KKK members that raped, beat, and attempted to murder his 10-year-old daughter.

The town splits as the black community advocates for the release of Carl Lee, and the KKK and white supremacists argue for his execution. And as a young white man, Jake finds himself with few allies, and pitted against the most powerful lawyer in the state, battling overwhelming odds as he fights for Carl Lee both in and out of the courtroom.

This book is incredibly moving. The brutal attack on 10-year-old Tonya at the beginning of the book will chill you to the bone. And the rest of the book doesn’t shy away from difficult questions. How is a father supposed to react when his daughter’s attackers look like they will go free? When is revenge justified? How do our own perceptions of race sway our opinions of right and wrong? Nothing in this book is simple or easy, and Jake and Carl Lee both run the gamut of emotions and morality.

I’d recommend this book even if you don’t think legal thrillers are your thing. The characters it introduces and the questions it raises are worth the read.

(This book was also adapted into a film, which, in my opinion, is the best of the Grisham film adaptations.)

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!

Throwback Thursday (June 14) – Christy

Posted on by

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Christy by Catherine Marshall.

I first read this book when the TV show aired in while I was in high school. It is the story of Christy Huddleston, a 19-year-old schoolteacher determined to make a difference in the lives of the children living in the rustic Appalachian village of Cutter Gap in 1912. As she struggles to educate the children, her work impacts the entire community as she battles their superstitions, primitive practices, and prejudices. Meanwhile, her heart is torn between two suitors: the dashing young preacher, and the reserved town doctor.

I have to admit, I loved this series when it aired, and when I found out it was based on a book (which, as a bit of trivia, is based on the life of Catherine Marshall’s mother), I knew I had to read it. The story is sweet, inspiring, frustrating, and romantic (it seems the love triangle was popular even in 1967). Catherine Marshall’s descriptions of Cutter Gap are vivid, and the variety of characters that inhabit the village range from humorous to heartbreaking.

While I loved reading about Christy’s attempts to bring education and civilization to Cutter Gap, my favorite part of this story was the love triangle (something that is normally my least favorite part of a book). I loved both the passionate preacher David Grantland and the solemn Dr. Neill MacNeill, and I found myself nearly as torn as Christy between them. (I won’t tell you who she chooses, but as an additional bit of trivia, in real life, Catherine Marshall’s mother chose the other guy!)

Christy is a sweet and beautiful story of faith, friendship, hope and love. I’d recommend it any time you want to feel warm, fluffy feelings.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!