Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

This was one of my favorite Hemingway classics. Anything from Hemingway is a classic, but A Farewell to Arms is a love story. A love story in the foreground of World War 1. Lieutenant Fredric Henry, an ambulance driver during the war, and an English nurse’s aide named Catherine Barkley.

I usually love stories that push me to the edge of my seat, and this one does it for me, especially since I’m a stickler for certain historical fiction. Let me warn you though, that it’s a really sad love story. I don’t even know if I can honestly categorize it as a love story, especially if it doesn’t have a happy ending. I prefer happy endings!

A little bit of background: The story is loosely based on Hemingway’s own military experience serving in the first war. Catherine Barkley was inspired by an actual nurse who took care of him in a Milan hospital after he was wounded.

I won’t completely summarize what happens in the book (no cheating by looking it up on Google!) because I want you to read it. Just be prepared for the events that unfold between these two characters. That’s all I’m going to say.

Happy April reading!

XX K.

When I first read this classic novel written by George Eliot (pen name for Mary Anne Evans), I was a nineteen-year-old college student.

Recently, I had the opportunity to reread this novel for a local book club that I belong to…and I still love this story.

The two main plots of this classic novel are the life of Dorothea Brook and Tertius Lydgate. Dorothea is a young beautiful 19-year-old orphan. Her goal is to make something out of her life and expand her intellect. She’s drawn to a 45-year-old clergyman named Mr. Casaubon, who she believes to be a highly intellectual man. She ends up marrying him, despite her sister Celia’s advice. Then enter Casaubon’s cousin, Will Ladislaw, a student who is still trying to discover his life and career.

And you guessed it, Dorothea and Will fall in love. Casaubon becomes jealous and here is where I won’t spoil the novel further. It’s such a great read!

If you’ve never read this book, you should give it a try! Let me know what you think.