Book Discussion Recommendation

It’s that time of year when we start seeing all kinds of “best of…” lists.  While reading about the best book discussion selections of 2013 I came across the title Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the GreatDepression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.  I was intrigued by the unusual selection, and because I belong to several book groups decided to read it.  I have to admit that reading about The Good Old Days was thoroughly enjoyable.  This was not a book about the deprivations most suffered during the Depression but more about clean, honest work on a farm and finding fun in something as simple as the weather.  The book includes recipes and how-tos and reminds me a bit of a Little House on the Prairie episode.  It will leave you longing for simpler times.  SG 

What a character!

Jeannette Walls's novel The Glass Castle, about her erratic mother, spent three years on The New York Times bestseller list. Her second novel, Half Broke Horses, tells the story of Walls's no-nonsense, resourceful, and spectacularly compelling grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town - riding five hundred miles on her pony to get there. She learned to drive a car, fly a plane, and, with her husband, managed a vast ranch in Arizona. Lily survived tornadoes, droughts, floods and the Great Depression but never lost her spunk or spirit. A truly amazing and eye-opening look at a hard life well lived. KR