Pollyanna is Norman Vincent Peale for children. The plot and characters are totally implausible, but Eleanor H. Porter makes Pollyanna totally engaging.
Archive for the ‘Romance’ Category
Pollyanna Shows Kids Power of Positive Thinking
Posted in 1913 Bestselling Novels, Juvenile/Youth, Romance, tagged Eleanor H. Porter on December 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Antoine’s New Orleans mystery keeps readers coming back
Posted in 1948 Bestselling Novels, 1949 Bestselling Novels, Mystery, Romance, tagged Frances Parkinson Keyes, New Orleans on November 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dinner at Antoine’s is an endlessly pleasing novel.To a murder mystery Frances Parkinson Keyes adds two love stories, a conspiracy to overthrow a Latin American government, and generous dollop of New Orleans insider tittle-tattle.
Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a curiosity lost in melodrama
Posted in 1908 Bestselling Novels, 1909 Bestselling Novels, Adventure, Romance, tagged Civil War era, Cumberland Gap, John Fox Jr., mining, rural America, steel on November 4, 2009 | Comments Off
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine was John Fox Jr.’s first big success, making the bestseller list two years running. The melodrama survives as a curiosity, but it’s too splintered to endure as a novel.
Arrow of Gold too heavy to fly
Posted in 1919 Bestselling Novels, Political, Romance, Suspense, tagged Don Carlos de Bourbon, Joseph Conrad, Marseilles, Spain on October 14, 2009 | Comments Off
Readers must pay close attention or read Joseph Conrad’s The Arrow of Gold twice to figure out what is happening. Sadly, what’s happening isn’t worth the effort.
Old Pybus is guilt-free romance
Posted in 1928 Bestselling Novels, Psychological novel, Romance on September 23, 2009 | Comments Off
If Old Pybus had been written by someone other than Warwick Deeping, the story could have dissolved into sentimental claptrap.
Clear-eyed romance entrances
Posted in 1929 Bestselling Novels, Coming of age, Psychological novel, Romance, tagged London, medicine, Warwick Deeping on August 12, 2009 | Comments Off
Warwick Deeping’s Roper’s Row is an engaging romance about a brilliant doctor who finds love on his doorstep and tries to step around it.
Doctors Lock Horns in Service of Science
Posted in 1939 Bestselling Novels, Medical, Religious, Romance, tagged China, Lloyd C. Douglas, Medical research, scientists on July 8, 2009 | Comments Off
No one would mistake Lloyd C. Douglas’ Disputed Passage for literature, but the plot and characters are far above the pot boiler level.
Kitty Foyle is smart, sassy realist
Posted in 1939 Bestselling Novels, Coming of age, Fictional memoir, Romance on July 8, 2009 | Comments Off
You’ll like Kitty Foyle, laugh at her wry, self-protective wisecracks, and wish her love.
Dull Edge to Cutlass Empire
Posted in 1949 Bestselling Novels, Fictional biography, Historical, Romance, tagged England, Spain, France, F. Van Wyck Mason, Caribbean, Panama, 1600s, privateer, Jamaica, New World on April 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Based on the true story of a privateer who became Governor of Jamaica, F. Van Wyck Mason’s novel Cutlass Empire is a swashbuckler whose swash has long since buckled.
Forgotten history in forgettable novel
Posted in 1949 Bestselling Novels, Historical, Romance, tagged colonial America, French colonies, French-Canadian, Montreal, New Orleans, Spanish colonies, Thomas B. Costain on April 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
High Towers is a bodice-ripping historical novel about a lovely lass who becomes one of the early settlers of New Orleans. Thomas B. Costain takes his plot and characters straight from the shelf with nary a variation on the standard pot-boiler romance. The only novelty here is the historical setting.
