Books read by Elsie during her Arizona Years
16 Nov
One of the interesting things I did not include in the book was a list of what Elsie was reading.
At the end of her diary there is a list of books read from Sept. 1913 – Christmas 1916.
I am familiar with a few of these. Most I have not read. It has been interesting to see that some of these books are now available for free on my Kindle. So I hope to at least attempt to read some of what Elsie devoured. I must admit I have been so busy writing my own book that I have not taken the time to read from Elsie’s list. Nevertheless it is interesting to see what women were reading nearly 100 years ago.
Many of these she read out loud. She loved the sound of words and as a child I loved to have her read to me. This encourages me to keep a list of what I am reading. I have joined an online group called Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com). Within that site there are many different groups and genres of books. Other readers leave their lists of what they have read, recommendations, and reviews of books. I just joined a group of history readers that is sending me a free copy of a new biography of Queen Elizabeth courtesy of the publisher.
Elsie-Adventure of An Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916 will be on a list on Goodreads (with reviews posted eventually). I must admit I am anxiously awaiting reviews.
It was difficult to read her writing so any misspellings of these books are likely mine. I tried to decipher her list as closely as possible. Perhaps we can be challenged to read more classics by considering what Elsie read.
Elsie’s list Sept-April Cornville 1914-1915:
“Some of the books read in Cornville”:
parts of Lais parts of LeMorte D’Arthur
Taming of the Shrew Poems from Browning
At The End of the Rainbow (G.S. Porter) Quatrocentisteria
Friendship Village Love Stories Poems from Tennyson
Being a Christian (W. Gladden)
Books Read aloud to Marguerite:
T. Tembaron Poems from Arnold
The King’s Highway
Adventures in Contentment (In her journal she said this one made her want to marry a farmer.)
The Gay Rebellion by Chambers (about women rebelling against male chauvinism)
Read to the schoolchildren:
The Little Lame Prince Alice in Wonderland
Joseph Vance Marie Claire
The Spoilers Laddie
The Green Bough The Hollow of her Hand
Alice for Short The Promised Land (M. Antin)
Books read during the summer of 1914
The Antiquary The Alhambra
The Sketch Book The Iliad
The Odyssey Lower Depths (M. Gorky)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
General browsing and short stories, books, poems, Bible, studied History, arithmetic
“Some” of the Books read in school year 1914-1915
Browsed in Wordsworth Septimus (Locke)
Girl with the Green Eyes (Fitch) Servant in The House
In The Twinkling of an Eye Treasure Island
The Light that Failed Nigger (Sheldon)
The Test The Purple Stocking (!)
Inside of the Cup Trelawney of the Wells
Gladsworthy’s plays, Strife, etc. Riders of the Purple Sage
Quo Vadis Paola and Francesca
Francesca DaRimini My Friend from India
Last Days of Pompeii Waverley
The Supremacy of Jesus
“Some” of the books the summer of 1915:
Studied in mathematics Some of Arnold’s Poems
The Gods are Good The Princess
Rob Roy Emerson’s Essays
The Barrier (Rex Beach)
The Courage of the Commonplace (read aloud to her by her friend Alice Parker)
Books read (complete) in Williams 1915-1916:
The Ancient Mariner Horatius
Virginia The Tailsman
The Vicar of Wakefield A Waif of the Plains
Vanity Fair Kim
Plain Tales from the Hills Light of the Western Stars (Zane Gray)
Amethyst Box Franklin’s Autobiography
Silas Marner David Copperfield
Guardian Angel Les Miserables
Bleak House (Dickens) The Marble Faun
The Daughter of Joris The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Mill on the Floss Tale of Two Cities
Ivanhoe The Lay of Lake Regillus
South Sea Tales Call of the Wild
The Lady of the Lake The Breath of Life
On Berwen Banks
Books read in Part:
Poetry of Bryant, Poetry of Burns, Poe’s tales Midsummer Night’s Dream
As You Like It Calhoun on Nullification
The Sea Wolf Poetry of the People
Beyond our Power (Bjornson) Spreading the News
The Woman in the Alcove (A. K. Green) The Merchant of Venice
True Americanism Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Pollyanna Grows Up (Eleanor Porter)
Books read the summer 1916:
The Silent Places
Garthowensome of DeMaupassant’s tales
The Hoosier Schoolmaster Thelma (Marie Corelli)
The Right Of Way Man who Married a Dumb Wife
Lillie – a Mennonite Maid
Books read over Christmas 1916
Great Expectations Joseph Vance
Twelfth Night Love’s Labor Lost
For The Soul of Rafael Martin Chuzzlewit
The Schoolmarm of Squaw Peak Oliver Twist (Partly)
Our Mutual Friend Cookbooks
Anderson Crow’s Daughter Soul of a Bishop (H.G. Wells)
Girl of the Limberlost The Puppet Crown
The Great K&A Train Robbery The Bent Twig
The Schonberg Cotta Family Laddie
Following The Star The Little Minister
The amazing part to me is the realization that Elsie shipped all these books from California to Arizona and then back to California three years later. It is also interesting to note how many book she read over Christmas 1916. She was married on Christmas day 1916.
I loved that you did this. Throughout reading the book I was fascinated by learning about the books Elsie was reading one hundred years ago. It’s amazing how many of these books are relevant to day. It certainly made me want to read those I missed. Now I know where I can find her “recommended” reading list!
Thanks Smadar. Smadar Belkind Gerson has written a very interesting book that is taken from the journals of her Great-Grandmother Minnie Crane. Minnie was a contemporary of Elsie so I found this book fascinating. Minnie left Russia in 1913 when she was 17 years old and her journals relate how several sisters and a brother died in the holocaust. I like Memoirs and I enjoyed this book – written around Elsie’s time period but in a culturally different setting.