Kilmeny of the Orchard, A Princess of Mars and Frederica

[samvara]

• Kilmeny of the Orchard by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Brilliant, manly young Eric Marshall falls desperately in love with a beautiful, mute violinist. This retains much of the charm that I recall from Anne of Green Gables but I find it hard to overlook the way it reeks of manly, sexist, racist entitlement. I'm also unable to not giggle at lines like "...and he loved that man's son with a love surpassing that of brothers..."
• A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I've been meaning to read this for what seems like forever and I'm so glad I did. John Carter is unspeakably heroic and nicely tragic in his role as manly defender of Martian Princesses and befriender of Martian dogs. Dates surprisingly well.
• Frederica by Georgette Heyer. Rereading for love of Dr Ratcliffe’s Restorative Pork Jelly.