What are you reading these days? For a total change of pace, I just read “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If you think you had a rough winter (let’s admit it: we complain), read this amazing story about the long winter in De Smet, South Dakota, in 1880-1881 and be grateful. They had a blizzard every third or fourth day, and each one lasted two or three days. One blizzard struck the school, and the kids huddled in groups ventured forth, trying to find the town, though they couldn’t see it through the snow. If they went the wrong way, they’d stray into the prairie and freeze to death. They had no insulation in their houses. Laura woke up many mornings and noted the frosted nails in the ceiling. When they ran out of coal for the main heater, they huddled around the cook stove and burned twisted…
https://amzn.to/2N9Wr85 I enjoyed this memoir by Melissa Anderson (Melissa Sue or Mary on Little House on the Prairie). It is decently written, and she does a fine job describing how she got on the cast of Little House and what the overall experience was like to be on a popular TV show like that. She matter-of-factly shares some fun behind-the-scenes stories that are entertaining and reveal more about the cast and life on set. She also traces her career and mentions other projects she worked on over the years, though mostly she talks about Little House. I’ve not followed her career beyond Little House and wasn’t really interested in anything beyond that. A few things jumped out at me that I particularly liked: She doesn’t glorify her past indiscretions and sexual exploits, if she even experienced them. Her book is a contrast to Melissa Gilbert Prairie Tale, which spends too…
