Category: BookLust II

Headless Cupid

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Snyder, Zilphia Keatley. The Headless Cupid. New York: Atheneum, 1971.

I have to admit I felt kind of funny reading this while waiting for my spa appointment. Women around me were reading Cosmopolitan and Women’s Day while I was nose-deep in a story for kids (illustrated no less)!

The Headless Cupid is a really cute grade school book about a poltergeist. Sort of. After the divorce of her parents twelve year old Amanda has come to live with her mother. Only everything about Amanda’s new life is horrible. She has a new stepfather and four step-siblings to contend with, not to mention the fact she has been uprooted from her city life and transplanted in the country, an hour away from any “town.” Needless to say, Amanda comes to the Stanley household with a baggage. To compensate for her unhappiness Amanda studies witchcraft and the occult. She convinces the four Stanley children to be her “neophytes” and go through a series of “ordeals” to join her in magic making. As a Newbery Honor book, The Headless Cupid is about family dynamics. Any child going through a divorce would relate to the pain, anger and confusion Amanda in going through. I won’t tell you how she finally learns to accept her new family, but suffice it to say it’s a cute book.

I didn’t have any favorite lines or sentences that grabbed me, but I did have a favorite part. One of the “ordeals” the Stanley children must go through in order to join Amanda’s occult is to not touch metal all day. David, the oldest boy is very creative in how he is able to get dressed (zippers), open doors (handles), and eat (silverware).

Author Fact: Snyder has won three Newbery Awards (one being for The Headless Cupid. Wait. I said that already.

Book Trivia: The Headless Cupid is the first in a series of books about the Stanley family. I don’t think I read any of the other books in the series. Bummer. I liked this one.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Best for Boys and Girls” (p 22).

Duke of Deception

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Wolff, Geoffrey. The Duke of Deception: Memories of My Father. New York: Random House, 1979.

June is the month for celebrating fathers. I don’t think celebrating is what Wolff had in mind when he wrote the Duke of Deception. Instead I think the writing was cathartic for him and a way to exorcize demons that have haunted him since childhood. If it possible to have the perfect balance of a love/hate relationship with a family member Wolff accomplished it. Throughout the entire tale Wolff is matter of fact to the point of being downright cold and yet, you can tell he loved and worshiped his father. He just didn’t completely understand him. Geoffrey Wolff is a son who couldn’t wait to be far enough away but was never close enough. Probably the most astounding aspect of “Duke” Wolf was his ability to exploit and swindle people at every chance he got. Lying, cheating, stealing became second nature to him. My mind reeled every time Duke Wolff uprooted his family to dodge a debt.

Author fact: According to Random House, Wolff lives in Bath, Maine. My only connection to Bath is a night at a B&B. Sad to say since I’m a Mainer.

Book Trivia: Geoffrey’s story in only half of the big picture. His brother Tobias wrote the other side in This Boy’s Life (review is here).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “All in the Family: Writer Dynasties” (p 5).

Kristin Lavransdatter

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Undset, Sigrid. Kristin Lavransdatter: the Bridal Wreath. Translated by Charles Archer. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1922.

The first thing I have to point out is there were two things going against this book (for me, anyway). One is sheer size. The entire novel is a trilogy, well over 1,000 pages. Add another sixty pages if you want to include the author’s notes. And the print is small. Real small. The second “negative” is that it is a translation, originally written in Norwegian. It seems I never do well with translated works. It’s almost as if the translator, no matter how hard he or she tried, lost something essential to the flavor of the book. I can’t explain it other than something always gets lost in translation. I know that’s cliche of me to say, but in this case I mean it literally, 100%. Note: I just found out that there is another, more recent translation that seems to be superior to the one I read. Darn.
Having said all that I should also point out (again) Kristin Lavransdatter has three volumes: The Bridal Wreath, the Wife and the Cross. I decided to read The Wreath in June, The Wife in July and The Cross in August. My chances of actually finishing the thing are much better when broken out this way. Another confession: while this might be a lengthy tale it’s also very good and easy to read.

I read this book because a) June is the best time to visit Norway and if you haven’t guessed by my tirade, the author is Norwegian; and b) June is the best month to get married (or divorced) in and Kristin is about the marriage of Kristin…eventually. The book starts with “The Bridal Wreath.” Kristin is a very young child traveling with her father across Norway. In true 14th century fashion Kristin is betrothed to a wealthy, reputable man in a neighboring town. As Kristin grows up she becomes increasingly rebellious, so much so that when she is nearly raped her community has doubts about who is telling the truth. As a result her family decides to send Kristin away to a convent to hide out until the rumors die down. While at this convent she falls in love with the dashing Erlend, a man who has reputation problems of his own. Excommunicated by the Catholic church because of an affair with a married woman, Erlend manages to seduce Kristin as well. Before they can be married Kristin becomes pregnant. The title of this section of Kristin Lavransdatter is in regards to the wreath wears on her wedding day. It is supposed to signify virginity but Kristin wears it with shame, too embarrassed to tell anyone it is a lie.

Author fact: Undset was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928.

Book Trivia: Kristin Lavransdatter was made into a movie in 1995.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Digging Up the Past Through Fiction” (p 79)’, and Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Norway: The Land of the Midnight Sun” (p 162).

River Runs Through It

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MacLean, Norman. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories. New York: Pocket Books, 1992.

If you don’t at least know the title of this book you have been living under a rock somewhere. This has been a hit movie as well as a best selling book. It has had definite staying power since published in 1976. Comprised of three semi-autobiographical novellas the title story is the most popular and best known of the three. In fact, a lot of reviews don’t really mention the other two stories which are equally as good. Even the back of the 1992  copy I read recapped only the title story – about a family of fishermen. Father is a minister who instilled a love of fly fishing in his two sons. One son is an alcoholic while the other tries to balance a marriage with his love of the Montana wilderness. What is missing is mention of the two other stories: “Logging and Pimping and ‘Your Pal, Jim'” and “USFS 1919: The Ranger, the cook, and a Hole in the Sky.” The first is exactly what it sounds like, logging, pimping and a relationship with a logger named Jim.  The USFS story is about MacLean as a teenager working as a forest ranger. While it is a subtle detail it is interesting to note MacLean’s stories have a reverse chronology. MacLean is in his 30s in “A River Runs Through It,” in his 20s in “Logging,” and in his teens in “USFS 1919.”

What surprised me the most about MacLean’s writing was the humor that surfaced with sudden hilarity. Here are three such moments: “The light picked up his brow which was serene…as mine would have been if my mother had spent her life in making me sandwiches and protecting me from reality” (p 54) and “You have never really seen an ass until you have seen two sunburned asses on a sandbar in the middle of a river” (p 73).

Another favorite quote I just had to mention because I know people like this (don’t you?): “He was one of those who need to be caught in a lie while he is telling it” (p 36).

Author Fact: A River Runs Through It and Other Stories was MacLean’s first fiction.

Book Trivia: The movie of the same name was made in 1992 and starred Brad Pitt, among others. The third story, “USFS 1919” was made into a made-for-television movie in 1995 and starred Sam Elliot.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Montana: In Big Sky Country” as an aside when mentioning another book (p 156) and also from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Gone Fishin'” (p 100).

Scared by the Numbers

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Since adding all of the books from Book Lust To Go to my challenge list (all 1,600+ of them) I have been wondering how much time this has added to the challenge. I was curious. How many years will it take me to finish reading 5,500+ books? Exactly how old will I be when it is all said and done?
First I needed to know how many books I have left to read. The grand total is 5026. This includes books of varying lengths – anything from graphic novels, children’s picture books to 1,000 page biographies. Yikes. Yikes. Yikes.

Then I needed to find out my average reading “speed.” What did I accomplish in a year’s time? On average, I read 109 books a year – give or take a poem, short story or article or two. This average of 109 books included books for fun, books for LibraryThing, and the books on the challenge list. However, here is what I found out from doing the math: if I only read challenge books from here on out it would take me 45 years to finish every book indexed in Book Lust, More Book Lust and now, Book Lust To Go. Scary. I honestly don’t think I will live that long. Frightening. Seriously.
What to do? I refuse to give up reading the books from LibraryThing’s Early Review program. And, and. And! I will not ignore the gift books I receive from family or friends. So. What happens now? I either have to face facts that I will never finish reading 5026 books in my lifetime OR be a little more selective about what takes up my time. I like option #2 better.

Here are my ideas for amendments:

  • Instead of reading 50 pages before giving up on a boring book I only read one chapter or 25 pages – whichever comes first. I’m a pretty good judge of what books will bore me to death and which ones I will “book” through (pun totally intended).
  • Of the books I have read before instead of rereading them I will install the “Odd page rule.” The odd page rule is to only read the odd pages and skip the evens. (the rule right now is if I don’t remember the plot, key characters or how it ended I have to reread the entire thing. Not happening).
  • Third and final change: the movie rights rule. If a book has been made into a movie AND the book author has had a hand in writing the screenplay AND the movie has won an Academy Award I give myself permission to watch the movie instead. I am not a movie person so I doubt this last rule will really come into play that often.

I will be in my 90s when I finally finish the challenge. People have asked me why it matters. They like to point out that Nancy Pearl didn’t read every book she recommends. She had help. People made suggestions. I get it. I don’t care what Pearl has or hasn’t read. Her reading list is not my concern. The pages MY eyes fall upon are what matter and I want to read them all. If I’m lucky.

China to Me

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Hahn, Emily. China to Me: a Partial Autobiography. Philadelphia: The Blakiston Company, 1946.

I always love it when my own library has something from my Challenge list. I have to be honest. I didn’t think I would see China to Me on our shelves and I’m not sure why.

People pick up China to Me for different reasons. Some look for a travelog, something to give an accurate picture of the politics and society of mid-war China (it was published in 1944). Some look for a personal account of an outspoken feminist American living in Shanghai and Hong Kong and beyond. I picked it up because I heard Hahn was like Isabella Bird, a gutsy traveler who was not afraid to live outside the conformity of her time. After reading most of Hahn’s partial autobiography I have to disagree somewhat. Hahn’s autobiography has been criticized as being a little self-indulgent. I agree. She frequently drops the names of then-prominent Chinese society (most who mean nothing to us in the 21st century). Whereas Bird lingers over flower and fauna, Hahn belabors relationships she had. I was distracted by all the name references. I am sure in the 1940s the individuals were impressive to know but that society has long since lost its luster in the 60+ years since. Another complaint about Hahn is her apparent little regard for the welfare of her born-out-of-wedlock child. While in the Japanese prison camps she seemed more concerned with herself than the individuals around her. Despite Hahn’s apparent selfishness she writes with clever humor and keen insight. In addition her life as a concubine and mistress to a spy was interesting enough to write about!

Favorite quotes: “As long as I had a column that wasn’t news, so that our readers wouldn’t be distressed by having to think, it was all right” (p 11).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called ” Lady Travelers” (p 143). Also, from More Book Lust in the chapter called ” “Living Through War” (p 155). Mentioned a third time in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “China: The Middle Kingdom” (p 60).

Longitude

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Sobel, Dava. Longitude: the True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. New York: Penguin, 1995.

This book interested me on several levels. I was born in the sign of water. I grew up with the Atlantic surrounding me on all possible sides. My father started his career on the ocean in the Coast Guard. I learned about longitude and latitude before I could multiply or divide. The ocean is as essential as air in my life.

In less than 200 pages Sobel answers the “longitude problem” of the eighteenth century. Back in the day, for an ocean bound vessel to lose sight of land was the equivalent of shutting off the solitary light in an otherwise pitch black room. Sailors were literally directionally blind without land. Thousands of lives were lost and millions of dollars of precious cargo were destroyed when ships lost their way and ran aground. It was imperative that a solution for the “longitude problem” be found and quickly. For many scientists they felt the solution lay in the stars above. Astronomy was their answer to the problem. One man, John Harrison, dared to argue that the real answer was a mechanical one in the form of a clock that could keep precise time at sea. In answer to a competition Harrison obsessed for most of his life creating several different versions of his seafaring clock until one in particular proved successful.

Best quote: “The placement of the prime meridian is a purely political decision” 9p 4).

Book Trivia: Longitude was made into a movie starring Jeremy Irons.

Author Fact: Sobel has continued her “longitude” fame with another book on the subject called Illustrated Longitude.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter “Dewey Deconstructed: 400s” (p 70).

Fast Food Nation

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Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2001.

When I first realized Fast Food Nation was on my Lust list I had but one burning question. I wondered if my own personal opinions about fast food establishments would be altered after reading Schlosser’s book. As a rule I don’t eat fast food, so if the answer ending up being yes, how then would my opinions be altered? Was it possible I would turn against my previous dietary sensibilities and try a Big Mac? I will readily admit I am two-faced and biased when it comes to “fast” food. Subway and Chipotles are considered “fast” establishments and yet I don’t put them in the same swamp as McD, BK or Wendy. I guess that’s because you can’t technically drive through Subway or Chipotle. You can’t order and eat without ever getting out of your car the way you can with the clown, the king and the kid.

From the very first chapter of Fast Food Nation I felt as though I had been slapped upside the head with a whole bunch of really disturbing facts about the country in which I reside. Schlosser doesn’t leave a single aspect of the fast food industry untouched or without scrutiny. To use a bad pun, he devours it all and then spits it back out. At us. From the historical humble beginnings of the hot dog cart to the corporate conglomerates of tomorrow Schlosser covers it all. It’s fascinating and yet distracting. Fast food Nation took too long to read because I kept rereading passages out loud to anyone who would listen.

Best thing I learned: Malling is a verb. To mall is to cover this great nation of ours with shopping malls. What’s that Natalie Merchant lyric about sprawling concrete? You get the point.

Wake up moments: “The whole experience if buying fast food has become so routine, so thoroughly unexceptional and mundane, that it is not taken for granted, like brushing your teeth or stopping for a read light” (p 3). Obviously Mr Schlosser hasn’t driven in my neck of the woods. Who stops for a red light?
Another wake up moment from the same page, “A nation’s diet can be more revealing than its art or literature” (p 3).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Guilt Inducing Books” (p 112). Read in April because April is national food month.

These Happy Golden Years

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Wilder, Laura Ingalls. These Happy Golden Years. New York: HarperTrophy, 1971.

When we meet up with Laura again she is fifteen years old and off to teach school at the Brewster settlement, twelve miles away. This is a period of great confusion for her. On the one hand, she is still a child, wanting to go to school to learn and to be with friends. On the other hand, she is a young adult, wanting to teach school to earn money for her family. Mary is away at a school for the blind and needs help with tuition. As she says, “only yesterday she was a schoolgirl; now she was a schoolteacher” (p 1). During this time Laura’s fashion sense is becoming more adult with floor-length dresses and fancy hats. She takes up sewing on Saturdays to earn money for new clothes. She is starting the receive the attention of Almanzo Wilder as well. While this attention is, at first, unsettling to Laura she begins to look forward to his cutter (winter) and buggy (summer) rides. Soon they are courting under the guise of taming wild horses, but I don’t think I will be spoiling anything to admit their inevitable engagement seemed sudden and uneventful to me.
Probably the most interesting part of the story was when Laura was negotiating her wedding vows with Almanzo. She doesn’t want the ceremony to include the word “obey” in it. Almanzo is fine with that but when Laura learns the reverend also feels strongly about not including the vow of “obey” she is shocked. Yet she is not a feminist. She doesn’t want the privileged of voting. Interesting.

This is the last book in the “Little House” series for my challenge. It has been a pleasure to reread these classics and I thank Nancy Pearl for bringing them back to me.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Great Plains: the Dakotas” (p 107).

Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy

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Halberstam, David. The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy. New York: Random House, 1968.

In a nutshell, Unfinished Odyssey is the campaign story of Robert Kennedy. Halberstam follows Kennedy’s entire campaign from his beginning reluctance to run to his fateful ending assassination. Along the way Halberstam paints an interesting picture of the attitudes towards the U.S.’s involvement with the Vietnam war. Those in power who felt the U.S. needed to become more involved were the hawks while those in favor of pulling out were the doves. Kennedy was a dove. He delves into the lives of the supporters and the detractors starting with Lyndon Johnson and ending with Herbert Humphrey.

Some issues with Unfinished Odyssey: the chronology is scattered and hard to follow from time to time. Then again, I often find flashbacks in nonfiction are often clunky. Also, I disagreed with Halberstam’s ending. Everyone (myself included) expects a story about Robert Kennedy to include his murder. The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy is no different. Everyone expects it to include the bitter end. Even if the funeral and country’s reaction to Kennedy’s death isn’t part of the story surely the murder would be. Maybe Halberstam was thinking everyone knows the end of the story, so why include it? It is, after all, called the unfinished odyssey.

Favorite line (partial): “…a few eggheads here and there…” (p 10) and “Kennedy was still playing Hamlet on whether or not to run” (p 18).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “David Halberstam: Too Good To Miss.” (p 113).

“Happiness”

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Kenyon, Jane. “Happiness.” Otherwise New & Selected Poems. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1997.

I have been listening to Natalie Merchant a lot lately. No. I take that back. I have been watching her more. Every night while I walk the training miles and miles on my treadmill I watch old video clips; those Quick!NatalieMerchantIsOnTelevision moments. Anytime she was on VH1 or Mtv promoting a song someone pressed the record button and I benefited from their fast fingers. Last night I watched Natalie explain the meaning behind her song “Kind and Generous.” (Some people call it the Thank You Song.) She explained it as “simple and to the point. Everyone knows what I am talking about.”
I feel that way about Jane Kenyon’s poetry. Kenyon has a way of expressing herself through her poetry in the most natural of ways. Her language is simple, to the point, and everyone knows what she is talking about.
In “Happiness” the message is just as clear. Happiness can find you whether you expect it to or want it to. Happiness can startle you out of an otherwise typical moment. Happiness should not be taken for granted or ignored.

Author Fact: When I first found out Jane Kenyon died before her 50th birthday I instantly thought it must have been cancer. Indeed, she died of leukemia in April 1995 at the age of 47.

Book Trivia: Jane Kenyon was in the process of editing Otherwise New and Selected Poems when she passed away. It was published a few months after her death.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Poetry Pleasers” (p 189).

Egg and I

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MacDonald, Betty. The Egg and I. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1945.

April is humor month so I chose The Egg and Ias the next book to make me laugh. I have to admit I was a little surprised this was even something my library had on its shelves. Go figure.

Betty MacDonald is by all accounts just a housewife. A housewife with a wicked sense of humor and the ability to transfer that humor to paper. In The Egg and I she tells of the time in her life when soon after getting married she follows her new husband from Butte Montana to the Olympia mountains to start up, of all things, an egg farm. From a young age her mother had always drilled it into her head to support her husband’s chosen vocation and while chickens and their subsequent eggs weren’t Betty’s thing she dutifully packs her bags and with great determination tries to become a chicken-farming, egg-picking, hard-working housewife. Hilarity ensues.

I had a hard time limiting my favorite quotes because almost everything Betty blathers on about is hysterical. I could have quoted the whole damn book if I wasn’t careful. When she wasn’t funny she was thought provoking, “I expected to look up some day and see a mountain bare shouldered and grabbing frantically for her trees” (p 101). Can’t you just picture that? Or, “Coffee so strong it snarled…” (p 115). Can’t you just taste that?

Author Fact: Betty MacDonald was born Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard and died of uterine cancer.

Book Trivia: The Egg and I was a controversial book because Betty, writing about a specific time in her life, based the other characters on the also very real people in her life…like her neighbors. Those very real people decided to sue her for ridicule. Lesson learned. This is yet another reason why I refuse to write a book!

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Tickle Your Funny Bone” (p 217).

My Antonia

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Cather, Willa. My Antonia.New York: Everyman’s Library, 1996.

Rereading My Antonia was like spotting a familiar face in a crowd somewhere in a country I have never been to before. It was like coming home after forty years away and remembering houses and neighbors. An old familiarity that was somehow comforting and true. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading this classic. Structurally, My Antonia is separated into five different books: The Shimerdas (introducing Antonia and her Bohemian family), The Hired Girls (delving into Antonia’s life in town), Lena Lingrad (Antonia’s good friend), The Pioneer Woman’s Story (Antonia’s friend, Tiny’s return to the farmland) and Cuzak’s Boys (Jim visiting Antonia after a twenty year absence and meeting her large family).
The premise of the story is in the introduction. Two friends are traveling by train and reminiscing about Antonia, a girl they both knew growing up. They agree to write their thoughts of her but James Quayle Burden is the only one to do so. He tells the story of growing up on the Nebraska plains with Antonia as his lifelong friend.

Best lines: “Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great” (p 20), “Those two could quarrel all morning about whether he ought to put on his heavy or his light underwear, and all evening about whether he had taken cold or not” (p 159), and “Clearly, she was the impulse, and he the corrective” (p 262).

Author Fact: Willa Cather was born Wilella Cather and lived in New York for most of her life.

Book Trivia: My Antonia was made into a movie in 1995.

BookLust Twist: My Antonia is indexed in all three Lust books: in Book Lust in the chapter called “100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1910s” (p 175), in More Book Lust in the chapters called “The Great Plains: Nebraska” (p 107) and “The Immigrant Experience” (p 123), and in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Nebraska: The Big Empty” (p 148). If Pearl had written a chapter called “Women Channeling Men” she could have included My Antonia there as well.

Wuthering Heights

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Austen, Jane, Emily Bronte and George Eliot. Three Nineteenth Century Novels: Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Silas Marner. New York: New American Library, 1979.

Reviewing Wuthering Heights Heights only.
Wuthering Heights is the quintessential story of doomed romance, family strife and all-consuming revenge. Who doesn’t know the tragic story of Catherine and Heathcliff? Ellen (Nelly) Dean is the perfect narrator for Wuthering Heights. Only her memory bridges the gap between the two generations. She served both generations of the Earnshaw and Linton families. As she explains to renter Mr. Lockwood, she was a child servant in the Earnshaw household when Mr. Earnshaw brought home gypsy orphan, Heathcliff. Earnshaw’s children are slow to accept Heathcliff into the family and while Catherine softens and learns to love him, brother Hareton never does. It is a classic case of feelings magnifying over time. Catherine falls in love with Heathcliff while Hareton becomes consumed by hatred. Revenge becomes another theme in Wuthering Heights as Catherine’s love for Heathcliff is overshadowed by a wealthier, more gentlemanly suitor. Soon she is sacrificing her true passion for societal standing and marries well-to-do Edgar Linton instead.

Author fact: Emily Bronte was only 30 years old when she died of tuberculosis. Wuthering Heights was her only novel although she wrote tons of poetry…Can you imagine what she could have done if she had lived for another 30 years?

Book Trivia: Wuthering Heights has been made into movies, a television show, a musical, a play, and even an opera. Kate Bush wrote a song about Wuthering Heights that became a hit.

BookLust Twist: from More Book lust and Book Lust To Go. From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Brontes Forever” (p 35). From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “An Anglophile’s Literary Pilgrimage” (p 20).

Little Town on the Prairie

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Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little Town on the Prairie. New York: Harper Trophy, 1971.

At this point in the “Little House” series Ma, Pa and the four daughters, Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace, have moved to town so that Pa can finish the homestead. This is their second year in De Smet and the little homestead is growing. Pa’s farming abilities are increasing with the addition of chickens, corn, and a bigger garden. The town is growing as well. A church has been built and the community is getting together for Friday Literary nights at the school where games like spelling bees, charades and debates are held. At this time Mary is sent away to a college for the blind and Laura is nearly sixteen years old. She is on her way to becoming a school teacher. Her focus is on studying hard so that she will be ready for the career when she turns sixteen. Another step towards adulthood is the growing, albeit confused, attraction to Almanzo Wilder. His courtship is odd to her because she thinks of him as “old” and more of a friend of her father’s than hers.

Interesting quote: “A grown-up person must never let feelings be shown by voice or manner” (p 228).

When I was little I thought it would be amazing to live like Laura Ingalls. There was something so simple and so pure about her era. Although life during that time was harder, less convenient, there was more emphasis placed on doing the right thing, using resources to their fullest, not wasting a single thing. Another aspect of the time was the fashion. Everything was so structured around age! Carrie had to wear her hair in braids down her back (which caught on the buttons running down the back of her dress) while Laura, approaching adulthood could wear her braids on top of her head. She was proud of the weight on her head.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Great Plains (the Dakotas)” (p 107).