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Friday, August 31, 2012

Another Laura Ingalls Wilder book

If you liked Wednesday's featured book, On the Way Home, you'll likely enjoy West From Home as well. West From Home is a compilation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's letters home to Almanzo while she was on a trip to San Francisco.
From the Amazon.com description: "It is like a fairyland." So Laura Ingalls Wilder described her 1915 voyage to San Francisco to visit her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Laura's husband, Almanzo, was unable to leave their Missouri farm and it is her faithful letters home, vividly describing every detail of her journey, that have been gathered here.

One reviewer says, "This book is not just a 'niche gem' for Wilder fans, but also for those who love San Francisco, and those who love history. Her record of a vacation to the coast may have seemed to her like trivial family correspondence, but for this native son of Baghdad by the Bay, her letters were a vivid portrait of a time that will not be seen again. This is one of the top ten historical recollections of a major, turn of the century American city."

That review sums up the importance of West From Home as another example of Laura Ingalls Wilder's importance as a historian of sorts, not just as a storyteller. Sure, her "Little House" books are entertaining. But all her writing sheds light on a bygone era that should fascinate modern readers.

Thanks for reading! Come back on Monday for more fun from Laura Ingalls Wilder and her "Little House" books.
Elizabeth

1 comment:

  1. Cool! Wasn't aware of this book; will have to look it up as it sounds like a very good read. Thanks!

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