Rainbow Valley

Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables is now the older mother. The kids are concerned with religion and the like. There is a marriage at the end. People don't want to be the "evil mother in law", but do decide to join a family. I found myself quite lost in this book. Maybe I should not have jumped around so much in the order.

Lad, a Dog

Lad, a Dog by Albert Payson Terhune

This book contains a series of stories related to the dog Lad. He is a smart dog that respects his "master" (as opposed to an owner.) The dogs help protect the land from criminals. The dog also enters a few contests. In one case, a wealthy city man rigged a contest so that he would win. However, it backfired and Lad won. Lad also had an experience in New York City wearing a muzzle - he did not like that.

The stories portray Lad in a very positive light. It feels like Lassie and many future dog stories, though Lad predates almost all of them.

Lad was based on a read dog that lived more than a century ago.

Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice

It is rare to check out a book from the public library that was added in 1950. The titular character in Jurgen is a pawnbroker married to his ordinary wife. He goes on adventures to the land of King Arthur, Heaven and Hell. In the process he gets married a few times and is seduced by women of history (such as Helen). However, he ends up back home with his wife. He engages in a transaction with his temptress crush and now realizes she is no longer attractive to him.

The book reminds me of Bill and Ted or perhaps Forrest Gump meets Monty Python. Jurgen meanders through his adventures with a bleary-eyed innocence. When he ends up in hell, he marries a vampire and almost starts a rebellion when acknowledging the dictatorial powers that Satan has achieved in the "democracy". He later decides to meander up to heaven, finding Jacob's ladder and claiming to be a pope. He just goes about life and realizes what is best for him.

Tarzan the untamed

A group of German army-men ransack Tarzan's home while he is away. When he returns, he discovers he dead bodies of his mate and her bodyguards. With this, he discovers that he has no more need of civilization, and returns to his savage state to seek revenge. He finds the supposed killers of his mate and summarily executes them. He then decides to kill other German's and help out some of the Brits. He eventually decides to leave the war effort, but he ends up with a beautiful young female German spy.

Today the story is ridiculously politically incorrect. Black Africans are mere savages, less sophisticated (and more brutal) than the apes. Whites are superior, though Germans are demonized. (during the time this was published it would probably have been hard to portray them in a positive light.

The story seems rather artificial. The plot elements are mere excuses to connect the action sequences. The characters are all fairly shallow, after all it is the action that is important. The end has a couple big twists. However, I was already expecting these early on in the story. This seems a case of Burroughs running out of originality, and just giving the readers plenty of action.