Tag: book review

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).

John Barleycorn

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London, Jack. John Barleycorn. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968.

This was a hard book to read. How can I explain this? I am not in the midst of turmoil caused by someone who can’t put down the bottle. But rather, I am on the periphery of the damage that the drink is causing. Yes. I know alcoholics and at one time in my life I could have been part of the problem and yet…now it’s none of my business. Now I can walk away guilt and Scott B. free. How convenient. It’s someone I used to know. How odd. At one point in our lives he wrote the line “I never want to not know you” as he was breaking up with me. Now he’s drinking himself to death. It’s not only not my fault but it’s also none of my business. April is alcohol awareness month. I always think of Natalie’s song “Don’t Talk” when she says, “we’ll discuss this in the morning when your head is clear” but for me, morning never came. Clarity is a myth.

Jack London is the master of denial in John Barleycorn. His drinking takes him on adventures he cannot fully remember. He wakes up with his shoes, jacket, and of course, his money stolen with no memory of how he ended up where he is and yet, it is not his problem. It’s John Barleycorn’s problem. London calls alcohol John Barleycorn as if to personify the alcoholism; allowing Barleycorn to take the blame and London to be absolved of it. Early in the narrative London illustrates his confusion with John Barleycorn, “I am. I was. I am not. I never am. I am never less his friend than when he is with me and when I seem most his friend” (p 4). Sure. In addition to denial London is obsessive. Everything he does is to the extreme. Shoveling coal, studying books, drinking, writing. Whatever he does he attacks it, spending 15 hours a day at it.

One of my favorite lines, “But it is ever the way of John Barleycorn to loosen the tongue and babble the secret thought” (p 52). Here’s another, “Gratitude is inherently human” (p 207).

Author fact: some think London committed suicide. Interesting because John Barleycorn touches on suicide several times.

Book Trivia: Librarians don’t be shocked when I say this, but according to Wikipedia the first reference to being extremely drunk as “seeing pink elephants” came from John Barleycorn. Interesting, if true.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Lost Weekends” (p147).

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).

Cold Mountain

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Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1998.

I started the year reading a lot about World War II (Flags of Our Fathers and Band of Brothers) and decided to move onto the Civil War. It was perfect timing for such a move because the start of the Civil War was in April.

Right away I need to make a bold statement. I have mixed feelings about this book. While the writing was amazing I couldn’t reconcile all the sadness. Hopelessness and starvation follow every character and violence is nearly in every chapter that involves main man Inman. As a deserter in the Confederate army I realize his journey back to North Carolina will be fraught with dangers of all kinds, both from nature (animals and the elements) and mankind (by leaving the ear he is officially an enemy of both sides now). The Home Guard is determined to bring every deserter to justice. It’s a harsh book so don’t expect any happy endings (although the epilogue tries an attempt at some semblance of peace if not cheer). I am embarrassed to say I am like every other romantic out there that wished the book ended on page 406.

In the very beginning of Cold Mountain there is a line that sums up the epitome of any war, “Every vile deed he had witnessed lately had been at the hand of a human agent so he had about forgot that there was a whole other order of misfortune” (p 9). Cold Mountain is a war book but it is also a relationship book and a romance. Inman is a confederate soldier recuperating from a serious neck wound. When he is well enough to move he decides to become a deserter and make his way back to North Carolina where there is the memory of a girl he fell in love with. During his long journey home his love, Ada, is struggling to run her deceased father’s farm. Helping her is Ruby, a strong mountain woman running from her father and the memory of a neglectful childhood.
Towards the end of the book not one but two wounded men make their way back to Ada and Ruby. Ruby’s father has murdered his relationship with his daughter but when he is shot and left for dead it is up to her to put aside their differences and nurse him back to health. Inman makes his way back to Ada with more than a broken body. His spirit has been tested. I spotted a lot of symbolism (intentional or not). The reoccurring mention of crows was ominous while the fixation of food represented an emptiness of more than just bellies. There was an absence of comfort and of hope.

Only favorite line (besides the one I previously quoted), “Even my best intentions come to naught and hope itself is but an obstacle” (p 353). See what I mean about hope?

Probably my biggest connection in the book was with the music. If it weren’t for Natalie Merchant I wouldn’t have recognized the lyrics to Wayfaring Stranger or Mary Don’t You Weep and now that I know the movie has a soundtrack I might have to go out and get it.

Author fact: Frazier is from North Carolina and a distant relative was the inspiration for Cold Mountain, Frazier’s first novel.

Book Trivia: Cold Mountain won a National Book Award and was made into a movie.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Civil War Fiction” (p 57).

Lawless Roads

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Greene, Graham. The Lawless Roads. London: Heinemann, 1960.

Graham Greene was a deeply religious man. When he was commissioned to write of the Mexican government’s forced anti-Catholic secularization and anti-clerical purges he traveled to the country to see for himself what effects this had on the people. Churches were being destroyed and clergymen were being driven into exile or brutally murdered at an alarming rate. As Greene traveled to the areas where the Catholic persecutions were the most violent Greene was deeply affected and reaches an almost despondent state. It is hard to tell if his depression was cause by an inability to connect to people and culture of Mexico (his Spanish was limited and their English was nonexistent), his on-going illness or the inability to open his mind beyond his own colonialism. In the end Mexico was a country he could barely wait to escape.

Best head scratching line: “Four one-armed men dined together, arranging their seats so that their arms shouldn’t clash” (p 9). Kisa and I do that, too. Only we sit that way not because we are missing arms but rather because he is right handed and I am left.

Author Fact: Graham Greene died in April 1991 which is the main reason why I chose to read Lawless Roads. Another reason is April is a good time to visit Mexico, if you dare.

Book Trivia: Lawless Roads was published as Another Mexico.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Postcards From Mexico” (p 185). Note: This is my first Book Lust To Go “accomplished” book. At least it’s the first one that wasn’t already read because of Book Lust or More Book Lust.

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.

Big Sleep

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Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window.New York: Everyman’s Library, 2002.

This was my first introduction to a “hardboiled” thriller. Phillip Marlowe is a private investigator hired to deal with a blackmailer. His client is an ailing elderly General with two unruly adult daughters. The plot twists and winds around murder after murder and through it all private investigator Philip Marlowe is right behind, chasing down clues and killers. It takes place in the 1930s so the economy is a little out of place but the humor and sarcasm of Marlowe is timeless. One of my favorite “shticks” in the story is how everyone keeps asking Marlowe if he is looking for the missing husband of one of the daughters, Vivian. He has been hired to sort out a blackmail scheme, not find a missing man but everyone assumes that is why he is on the case. He ends up accomplishing both but his technique along the way is highly entertaining.

Favorite passages: “The General spoke again, slowly using his strength as carefully as an out-of-work show-girl uses her last good pair of stockings” (p 7) and “Dead men are heavier than broken hearts” (p 36) and “If you can weigh a hundred and ninety pounds and look like a fairy, I was doing my best” (p 44).

Author Fact: Raymond Chandler didn’t start writing detective fiction until he was 45 years old. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Book Trivia: The Big Sleep was made into a movie twice and was just adapted for the stage in 2011.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 122). This is a huge chapter with over 80 titles. She does try to break up the lists into different genres of mystery and I guess Chandler would be listed under private investigators.

Two Towers

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Tolkien, J.R.R. Lord of the Rings “The Two Towers.” Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

The saga continues. I have to admit there were times when I was reading Two Towers and I thought, “Wait. Didn’t I just read this? Wasn’t this in Fellowship of the Ring?” My advice would be to read the entire Lord of the Rings series straight through. That way you won’t lose your place and confused with the details.

At this point in the saga Frodo and crew are still traveling through the dangerous countryside on a journey to destroy the magic ring. Along the way they encounter Gandolph (who they thought was dead), trees that can walk, talk and see called Ents, the have a couple of skirmishes with bad guys and they trust creepy swamp creature, Gollum. We leave the happy hobbits as Frodo is being captured. Okay, so they’re not so happy.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 215).

Fixer

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Malamud, Bernard. The Fixer. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966.

Yakov “Ivanovitch” Bok is a poor Jewish handyman in Russia, a fixer. When his wife of five years couldn’t produce a child he stopped having sex with her. This prompted her to run off with another man. Left with his father-in-law and no prospects for work, Yakov decides to leave his little shetl for the bigger city of Kiev. He knows that leaving the safety of the Jewish village is a dangerous risk. Kiev is full of anti-semites hungry for the blood of his people. But, he is 30 years old and is losing faith, just short of becoming desperate. A short time after arriving in Kiev he comes across a drunk man lying face down in the snow. His manner of dress tells Yakov the man is not only wealthy, but an anti-semite. Despite this Yakov helps him out of the snow. Nikolai Maximovitch is indeed wealthy and, feeling very much indebted to Yakov, gives him work. He further rewards Yakov with a job as overseer at his brick company and gives Yakov permission to see his only daughter, a crippled by the name of Zina. Despite Yakov’s fear of being found a Jew and against his better judgement he reluctantly accepts the job but has nothing to do with Zina. A series of misfortunes lands Yakov in jail where he is accused of being Jewish, attacking Zina, and worse, committing murder. Based on a true story this is a very, very difficult story to read. Yakov’s plight is horrible, his situation, dire and it doesn’t improve despite his innocence.

Favorite lines: “Where do you go if you have been nowhere?” (p 29) and “The more one hides the more he has to” (p 41).

Author Fact: I read The Fixer in honor of Malamud’s death month being in March. He died on the 18th in 1986 at the age of 72.

Book Trivia: The Fixer was made into a movie in 1968.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “The Jewish American Experience” (p 133). False alarm. Pearl admits The Fixer is not about the Jewish-American Experience. She just mentions it because Malamud wrote other books that would fall in this category and The Fixer was worth mentioning because it won a Pulitzer and a National Book Award. IMO she should have had a chapter called “Pulitzer Pleasers” or something and listed her favorite award winners. Maybe something for a new Book Lust? She could call it “Lauded Book Lusts” or something. Each chapter could be a different award: Newbery, Caldecott, Push Cart, Pultizer…. okay, I’ll shut up now.

Band of Brothers

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Ambrose, Stephen E. Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest.New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

If it seems as if I have been reading a lot of war books lately it’s true. Last month it was a World War II narrative to commemorate the flag raising on Japan’s Iwo Jima. This month, to celebrate “Hug a G.I. Day” on March 4th, I read Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose. It makes sense because it wasn’t like reading someone else’s version of the same account. The men in Band of Brothers were fighting across Europe instead of the Pacific. Same war, a much different story.

If Stephen Ambrose wrote about every event in history I would read it. I wish he had written all my textbooks in high school. No matter the subject Ambrose makes it real, he makes it come alive. It isn’t some dry account that drones on like Charlie Brown’s teacher. He not only makes it interesting, he makes it human. War, on the surface, is about defeating the enemy; doing whatever it takes to win each skirmish in an effort to be the final victor; to win the entire war. Human emotion, especially in the aftermath of it all, gets lost. Ambrose points out the lesser-realized aspects of war – fear, regret, sorrow, but most of all, survivor guilt. This often happens mid-war when soldiers have the opportunity to first realize with shock that they survived that grenade strike and then moments later remember those who didn’t. Comrades who were standing beside them just moments ago.
I think the section that best sums up Band of Brothers is from pages 202-203: “Combat is a topsy-turvy world. Perfect strangers are going to great lengths to kill you; if they succeed, far from being punished for taking life, they will be rewarded, honored, celebrated. In combat men stay underground in daylight and do their work in the dark. Good health is a curse, trench foot, pneumonia, severe uncontrollable diarrhea, a broken leg are priceless gifts.”

Strange example of hope: Lieutenant Welsh carried his reserve parachute throughout Normandy in the hope of sending back to his best girl, Kitty so that she could make a wedding dress out of it. Kudos for Welsh for having the optimism to think he was going to survive the bloody campaign but double kudos for Kitty if she actually made a thing of beauty out of something that symbolized such violence.

Probably my favorite “character” of the entire book was Captain/Major Richard Winters. Throughout the entire war he remained true to his men and true to himself. An example: “Winters stayed in Albourne to rest, reflect, and write letters to parents of men killed or wounded” (p 109). A seven day pass entitled him to go sight seeing or carousing to blow off steam. Instead he chose to reflect on the events of the war…my kind of man.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “World War II Nonfiction” (p 253).

Up Country

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Kumin, Maxine. Up Country: Poems of New England. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1972.

There is no doubt Kumin knows New England and knows it well. Her poetry reflects the deep woods and country living that is so typical of life in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Her style of writing is plain and straightforward, without complicated phrasings or over the top descriptors. Every line is a perfect image as clear as day. Reading Kumin’s poetry is a breath of fresh air literally and figuratively. Nearly everything she writes about the reader is able to relate to if they know living in the country. For example, if you are a dog owner and your beloved pooch has ever wrestled with a skunk then you know how impossible it is to get ride of that smell. Kumin writes, after many attempts to clean her dog, “skunk is still plain as a train announcement” (p 4). Exactly.

ps~ if you want to read this, try to find the copy illustrated by Barbara Swan. Her artistry is beautiful and compliments Kumin well.

Book Trivia: Up Country won Kumin a Pulitzer for poetry in 1973.

Author Fact: Kumin has experience with New England living. She is rumored to live in New Hampshire.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Prose By Poets” (p 194). In this case this is poetry by poets.

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).