Beetitudes

March was a full month of reading! I finished up the Little House series, which are quick reads and why I have so many books for this month!

By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
This is book 5 in the series, and covers the move from Plum Creek, to what would become De Smet, North Dakota. Their family was the first to settle and stay, Charles going to help build the railroad then staying over winter while the rest of the workers moved back to their homes. The following Spring, many new settlers would move into the area.

The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The 6th book in the series covers a winter of record-breaking blizzards, lasting for seven months. The first started in October, and the last didn’t go away until almost May. This book, to me, was the harshest of all the books. I couldn’t image surviving something so difficult. This was a time when the west was largely unpopulated, and with the blizzards blocking the train tracks, the whole town was stranded with no supplies able to make it to them until Spring.

Little Town on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
This book covers Laura’s true coming-of-age period. She was a teenager, starting school, making friends and finding her footing toward a more adult life

These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
This book covers her early “adult” period – although she was really still just a teenager. She studied to become a teacher while she was still 15 years old. And her courtship with Almanzo began.

The First Four Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
This book is the last in her series and covers the first four years of her marriage to Almanzo, and the hardships and crop failures, and eventually loss of their home, that she endured. She broke from her usual format, covering four years in a more abreviated book that those before, which usually covered only about a year or so of her experiences.

On the Way Home, by Laura Ingalls Wilder & Rose Wilder Lane
This was not a book ever intended to be published by Laura, but was instead a diary of her journey with her husband and young daughter to settle in the Ozarks of Missouri. After years of crop failures and their home being burned down, the Wilders finally left the Dakotas to settle in new land.

The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears
I was never a big pop music fan, but I was coming of age during Britney’s rise into stardom. The drama was everywhere, especially with Britney and Justin. Hearing about the conservator-ship enforced by her father, which she was made to live under for 13 years – I was curious to hear her side of the story.

I found this interesting, because in some ways I believed the conservatorship was valid and justified, and in other ways I felt it was taken too far. And I believe without question that her father took advantage of her financially through the conservatorship. But the real question is – is Britney mentally stable? I don’t think she is. The book reads like it was written by a middle-schooler, and it seems that her mental state and emotionally maturity are probably stunted around that age.

Absolution, by Alice McDermott
This book was a great historical fiction! It covers women of high society joining their military husbands in Saigon during the Vietnam war. I did very much enjoy it, especially since the Vietnam War isn’t a period covered much in historical fiction.

The Permaculture Garden, by Graham Bell
This one was not a pleasure read for me, but rather a quest of learning about permaculture in a small-scale garden. I stumbled across the subject on YouTube, and wanted to learn more since it seems I’m already largely practicing permaculture in many ways without having even been aware of it.

I do companion planting, no-till, composting, etc. My main reason is efficiency/cost savings. But it’s also the best way to garden for the environment and the natural support of the ecosystem native to your area. I’m currently reading another book on the topic that will be in next month’s book post.