Mrs. Appleyard's Year

by Louise Andrews Kent

A very, very gentle read in this day of "way too vivid" books. Probably not for action, sex, violence fans. This is a cup of tea, butter cookies, an open window and a gentle breeze, rocking chair and a bouquet of daisies book. Best enjoyed with the television OFF and quiet music playing. One of my go-to books when I need a break from a "blaring" day. (Amazon customer)

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook

Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Louise Andrews Kent (May 25, 1886 – August 6, 1969) was an American writer. She was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1886 and graduated, in 1909, from Simmons College School of Library Science, where she was president of her senior class and editor of the college paper.

She became a newspaper columnist and writer of children's literature, and also of cookbooks. She wrote a newspaper column, Theresa’s Tea Table, in the Boston Traveller under the pen name of Theresa Tempest, and later authored a series of cookbooks as Mrs. Appleyard.

Reviews

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My current bedtime reading - again. Gentle, funny, and perfect for nodding off.

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I know, I know. This looks like the lamest old book ever. Yet after enjoying the clever, gentle humor of the commentary in Mrs. Appleyard's Kitchen I was intrigued enough to find a cheap copy of this book. Truth to tell, I was thinking it might be good to read to my mother-in-law (she suffers from slight dementia and so far Cheaper By the Dozen is our favorite to share together on my visits).

At any rate, as I was looking through this I found myself continually pulled into the story and laughing. Louise Andrews Kent pays us the compliment of not underestimating our intelligence. The imagined life of the Italian family living in the hedges (prompted by a gardener's unpleasant joke) or Mrs. Appleyard's defense of her family to a British aunt allow us to enter a world long gone but to realize that people were still the same then as now.

I have been waiting for at least a month to read this on Forgotten Classics and am excited that Mrs. Appleyard's time to shine has finally come. Pull up your rocking chair on the porch, have a glass of lemonade and rock in the cool breeze as we follow Mrs. Appleyard through her year.

Now up at Forgotten Classics:
- Intro. and January
- February
- March and April

[Gina House · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joyous, Entertaining and Wonderfully Cozy!

I can't say enough positive things about this book. Really.

I started reading this book in January because it's a month by month book (which I LOVE), but I quickly realized that it's best to read Mrs. Appleyard's Year like a normal book at a regular pace. Going a month between chapters made it harder to remember the characters and events that were happening, which is very different from other month by month non-fiction books.

Louise Andrews Kent writes like a dream and I laughed out loud at least once in every single chapter. Her "entries" about the Appleyard Family are very much in the style of The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield—with charming and witty everyday trials and tribulations.

The December chapter was my absolute favorite! It's the first time that I've ever finished a book and gone right back to reread the last chapter. It's so incredibly funny and heartwarming. Oh, I just adore it. The perfect end to the perfect book.

This is on my list of top favorite books of all time and I can't wait to read the other books I own by this author. Highly, highly recommended!

[Marlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
Mrs Appleyard is a hoot. Written in 1941, this book goes through a year in the life of Mrs Appleyard at her home near Boston and summer home in Vermont. Each chapter talks about one month in the current year, but also reflects on years past. I loved the description of sick kids in February staying home to make valentines, the story of a village who sent all its men to fight in the civil war, and the December description of the different ways Mrs Appleyard and her husband open Christmas cards. This book had me laughing out loud the entire time as well as dreaming of summering in the woods of Vermont. I loved every second of this read.

[Eilonwy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs. Appleyard is what would happen if Anne of Green Gables was a Bostonian in her forties or fifties, during World War II. There's a similar level of fancifulness that's been harnessed to raising children (most of whom are young adults by the time of the book) and refinishing old furniture.

It's thus the ultimate comfort read for me, since it's whimsical without verging into twee. Mrs. Appleyard is also, in some ways, the Peg Bracken of her era: for all the crafts and pies, she's equally capable of declaring that the Pilgrims were thankful for simple food, safety, and shelter, so Thanksgiving doesn't need to be a big show-off-y thing.

The comfort here is also in the sense of a soothing round of seasons, a cycle of life -- the more so because Mrs. Appleyard is a proper New Englander who can tell stories back to the first settlement and never throws anything away. It's a very rooted book.

[Mark Hepler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set your barometer to this book, written with wit, warmth, intelligence, and self-effacement. Compare it to the stuff of our present-day Great Cultural Decline. Kent’s works hide in used-book stacks, and, like time capsules, have no expiration date.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kent's alter ego, Mrs. Appleyard, describes the month-by-month events of her year. It's not exactly a novel, nor are the individual months short stories. Clearly, it's based on Kent's own life, but not enough to call it non-fiction. Danged if I know just what it is, other than a relaxing comfort read about a quiet life in Vermont.

[Molly Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is simply one of my favorite books of all time. Like comfort food--only a book.

[Alison G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet, funny and idyllic. My favorite book for its sweet simplicity.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun! It is a lighthearted read and a very pleasant escape.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for its ability to put me to sleep, which is what I want a bedtime book to do. Not able to see my way to giving it more stars for literary merit or wit; Mrs. Appleyard is no Jean Kerr, and is rather too delighted in her own pretty bits of whimsy, which though soothingly soporific, weren't all that. Also her privilege was grating, but possibly I was just jealous.

[Rhode PVD · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a beloved best seller during WWII. It's not about the war at all, but a semi-autobiographical view of a typical year in peacetime by a upper middle class wife and mother in Boston's Back Bay. The book was in fact such a warm part of so many American's lives that it spawned an entire career for the author of Mrs Appleyard cookbooks, many of which were also bestsellers in the 1950s and 60s.

[Sharon Zink]

This is not the book I read. I read Mrs. Appleyard and I by the same author, printed in 1968. It was a very entertaining, autobiographical book. It was a good book from which to read a chapter before sleep. Goodreads does not have Mrs. Appleyard in its lists of books.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this long ago, these were favorites of my mother and of course they are set in Boston and environs.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique world view that is give in short accounts that match up the months of the year.
Fun collection worth the read (or listen).

[Jenn]

As you'd expect, being her year, each chapter corresponds to a month, so I read each at the start of the right month. Cute book - charming and funny!