little house in the big woods...
...has been mentioned twice recently in Oprah magazine. I don't read or watch Oprah, but that fact showed up in a LIW email so I followed the link. Someone named Hope Davis (turns out she's an actress, but I've never heard of her) listed Little House in the Big Woods as a favorite book or inspirational book or something. I followed a few links to writers or actors I recognized to see what books they loved or were inspired by, but the way the Oprah site is set up, you spend most of your time clicking on links to read very little text. What you mostly notice is the advertisements and Other Stuff littering the screen, so I'm not quite sure if the point was to discover what books were inspiring, or loved, or mentioned simply because they sure seem important and would make the owner of the bookshelf in question seem smart.

I constantly had the feeling that somebody was trying to sell me something, and it wasn't a book.

Or maybe it's just to try to get the point across that "Oh, look! These people read!" Which, of course, has often been the theme on everything from posters still hanging in libraries across the nation, to the bulletin board I did when I taught sixth grade language arts. I roamed the halls during my free period one week and took pictures of students, faculty, and staff who were reading something. I imagine I was inspired by the library posters, come to think of it.

What struck me about Davis's blurb about Little House in the Big Woods was that it made me wonder if she actually read and knew the book or just listed it because it's a children's classic. She wrote: "It's about how the Ingalls family spends the days just trying to obtain food and shelter and how the hardships they endure bring them closer together."

Which isn't what the book is about at all. In both the first and last paragraphs of the book, Wilder refers to the cosy and comfortable log house. It's always there; it's always a constant in Laura's life, safe and protecting. The book was written to showcase Pa's stories and is all about everything that is warm, fuzzy, goodness, and love in Laura's life - no hardships whatsoever! The attic is fairly groaning with things to eat. No difficulty "obtaining" food. There are wild animals in abundance and harvesting is way more prevalent than planting.

I think every time you ask someone about books that inspire them, though, you're setting yourself up for an impressive list more than an honest list. One thing that wandering around the Oprah site made me do was stop and think about books that I simply can't imagine living without, even for a little while. Not that I read them constantly, but I want them close by just in case. Since we're living in rented digs with most of my books in storage, this is something I've dealt with recently. Here's the ones I immediately thought of:

1. All the "Little House" books. I was introduced to these in the fourth grade and haven't put them down yet. It was only after decades of reading and reading that I wanted to know anything about people and places in the book. I read them to discover what things I had to know how to do in order to have lived in pioneer times - knitting, gardening, hat-making, harnessing a horse, etc. Then I set out to learn them.

2. Scuppers the Sailor Dog - This is a Little Golden Book illustrated by Garth Williams, although I was an adult before I paid attention to who illustrated it. I could look at those pictures for hours.

3. Miss Jellytot's Visit - What a great story, and the cookies aren't too shabby either.

4. All the "Harry Potter" books. Duh. I have to fight with every fiber of my being not to become as obsessed with these as with the "Little House" books. I keep telling myself that I can speculate, discuss, and analyze until the cows come home, but the stories are ultimately J.K. Rowling's and J.K. Rowling's only, and she can change the outcome at whim. So I just enjoy.

5. The Chicago Manual of Style, the Dictionary (Webster's), and Grammar of the English Language (by William T. Wynn) - I'm constantly grabbing one or the other, whether I'm actually writing at the moment or not.

6. The Sod-House Frontier - always looking something up here, too, and I get caught up in the reading.

7. Beard on Bread - because I bake.
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:18 AM