The Wilder Life: A “Little House on the Prairie” Road Trip – Laura Miller reviews The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ by Wendy McClure. You know I’ve already placed a hold at the library on this one!
The Other Nancy Mitford – Let’s pretend that we know no more of Nancy Mitford than we do of Shakespeare, that we have a tempting outline of her life with one or two intriguing details, but no family notoriety, no volumes of letters, no newspaper articles or gossip. In fact, let’s pretend that Nancy Mitford’s novels weren’t written by the famous Nancy Mitford but by some entirely obscure Mary Smith, who happened to be a middle-class daughter of a greengrocer, possessed of ambition, eloquence, and extraordinary powers of observation. If we did so, how would the novels hold up?
Jane Eyre – part film review, part fond recollection of a reader’s first encounter with Jane Eyre:
I remember it quite clearly. It was a lazy afternoon in the middle of summer and I was bored witless. I was 11 years old, wasting time, wandering around in the upstairs bedroom of our house, looking for something to do. I picked up a book, an old orange Penguin, and started reading. Two pages later, I was a different person. “This is the greatest book in the history of the world!” I thought to myself.
The Captive Reader 
I plan to pick up The Wilder Life too. Loved the Little House on the Prairie books as a kid. 🙂
Thanks for the links! I especially enjoyed the ones about The Wilder Life and Jane Eyre. Enjoy your weekend!
I will have to find The Wilder Life. The link you provide was interesting and, well, I love anything Wilder and it sounds like a fun romp.
I loved Jane Eyre, the book, this movie, and the review you link us to. found Jane at about the same age, rummaging through my parents’ cedar chest, which was chock full of books that kept me quite busy for a long, long summer.
I hadn’t heard anything about The Wilder Life until this WONDERFUL friday potpourri! Thanks for the heads up to a title I can’t wait to go put on reserve immediately!
Thanks for the links – I, like Chelsea, hadn’t heard of The Wilder Life – will have to be on the look out for that one. (Surely even my library will get that one! 🙂 )
Good question about La Nancy, not sure. I love her letters – but as they are to dear Evelyn (Waugh) etc., it’s a difficult one to answer. A grocers daughters letters to her anonymous friend may have been far less interesting. Her novels don;t hold the same fascination as her letters.
Just reading Elizabeth Gaskells biography of Charlotte Bronte, it is absolutely fascinating. When she was a governess, an older man married a younger woman in the same district. It they came out he was already married to another – a mad woman…. All grist to Charlottes literary mill. I also didn’t realise that Helen Burns, Jane Eyres best friend, was a tribute to Charlottes sister. Only a third of the way through but loving this great book.