The Bottom Shelf...#5

So I've reached the last shelf of my bookshelf. There are 55 books currently on this shelf.  I'll put an asterisk in front of the titles I've read.

The first seventeen books I will list are all books written by L.M. Montgomery.

Source:  www.goodreads.com

*Emily's Quest
*Emily Climbs
*Emily of New Moon
*The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook
*Anne of Avonlea
*Anne of the Island
*Anne's House of Dreams
*Anne of Windy Poplars
*Anne of Ingleside
*Rilla of Ingleside
*Rainbow Valley
*Magic for Marigold
Pat of Silver Bush
Mistress Pat
*Chronicles of Avonlea
*Kilmeney of the Orchard

______________________________________

The next 6 titles are all about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family.

Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almonzo Wilder
Source:  www.goodreads.com



*On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder

*West From Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder

*A Little House Chapter Book: Pioneer Sisters by Laura Ingalls Wilder

*Laura's Rose by William T. Anderson

*The Story of the Ingalls Family by William T. Anderson

*My Little House Cookbook

*The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker

_____________________________________

The next set of books are based on the childhood of Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane.   All of the books were written by Roger Lea MacBride.  He is known as the "adopted grandson" of Rose Wilder Lane.

Rose Wilder Lane
Source:  www.goodreads.com

*Little Farm in the Ozarks

*Bachelor Girl

*On the Other Side of the Hill

*Little House on Rocky Ridge

*On the Banks of the Bayou

*New Dawn on Rocky Ridge

*In the Land of the Big Red Apple

*Little Town in the Ozarks

___________________________________

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Autobiography of Mark Twain Volume 1

The next fourteen books from my bookshelf are all James A. Michener books.  I was introduced to Michener is high school by my U.S. History teacher, and I've been reading him ever since.  I read anything of his I can get my hands on.

James A. Michener
Source:  www.goodreads.com

*The Novel

*The Voice of Asia

*Hawaii

*Recessional

*Alaska

*The Source

Iberia

*Caravans

*The Eagle and the Raven

*Sayonara

*The Drifters

*Caribbean

*The Bridges at Toko-Ri

*The Covenant

_________________________________________

The Bastard by John Jakes

The Haj by Leon Uris

*The Power of One by  Bryce Courtenay

*Dreamcatcher by Stephen King

Segova by Mario Grau Sanz

Madrid by Lorenzo Lapez Sancho

*Hondo by Louis L'Amour

*Pregnant by the Playboy Tycoon by Anne Oliver

A Trio of Laura Ingalls Wilder

This will be a short post today--let's just say I'm having computer problems, and I'm doing this post on my phone(ugghh).


"Prairie Girl: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder" by William Anderson

This book is a nice little biography about Laura and her family. The book is easy to read and very much suited to children. It is basically a summary of The Little House Books with some details that are missing from the books.



"Laura's Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder" compiled by William Anderson

This is an interesting little book full of pictures and neat facts about Laura, her family, and her ancestors. If you've ever wanted to know what Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary, Carrie, and Grace look like, this is the book for you.



"A Little House Traveler" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This book is a collection of Laura's journals she kept as she traveled. It is made up of "On the Way Home", "West From Home", and "The Road Back".
"On the Way Home" is a diary of the trip that Laura, Almonzo, and Rose made by covered wagon in 1894 from their homestead in South Dakota to what would eventually become Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri.
"West From Home" is a collection of Laura's letters home to Almonzo when she paid a visit to Rose in San Francisco during The World's Fair in 1915.
Even though I had previously read both of these, the third diary, "The Road Back", made this book worth checking out. "The Road Back" is a record of Laura, Almonzo, and the dog, Nero's trip back to De Smet, South Dakota in 1931. This time they traveled in a 1923 Buick they named Isabelle.
They visited Grace and Carrie as well as old friends in DeSmet. They went to Ma and Pa's old homestead as well as their own. They drove during the day eating their breakfast at any diner, cafe, or restaurant they found acceptable. They always gave Nero their scraps and some milk. They slept in cabins at campgrounds along the way. Laura kept track of the money and constantly commented on the farms, crops, animals, and houses they saw along the way.

Without Him Nothing Else Matters

Book list 101-110

101.On the Other Side of the Hill by Roger Lea MacBride
102.Little Town in the Ozarks by Roger Lea MacBride
103.New Dawn on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride
104.On the Banks of the Bayou by Roger Lea MacBride
105.Bachelor Girl by Roger Lea MacBride
106.Laura's Rose by William T. Anderson
107.Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
108.Deception Point by Dan Brown
109.The Ghost in the Little House by William Holtz
110.The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Leman and William Pentak

In my last post I talked about our visit to Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Mansfield, Missouri.  Before that trip I had never really heard of Rose Wilder Lane.  I mean, I knew Laura and Almonzo had a baby, but that's it.  It turns out that Rose was a famous writer in her day.  She was famous before her mother.  An entire section of the museum at Laura's home is dedicated to Rose.  As you can tell by this portion of the list I came home very interested in Rose Wilder Lane.  That lead me to read the Rose books.  They are set at Rocky Ridge Farm and tell of Rose's life growing up.  Roger Lea MacBride was the adopted grandson of Rose and eventual heir to the Little House series.  He may be best known as the 1976 Libertarian Party Candidate for president.

# 101 of my book list
Source:  http://www.amazon.com/

Rose Wilder Lane Was born in DeSmet, Dakota Territory on December 5, 1886.  She was a journalist, travel writer, and novelist.  She is also credited as being the mother of the Libertarian movement.  If you want to read about the Libertarian party you can go to http://www.lp.org/. 

Rose Wilder Lane
Source:  http://www.wikipedia.org/

Number 109 on the list is The Ghost in the Little House.  It is a biography about Rose Wilder Lane, and if you like reading biographies, I would highly recommend it.

Source:  http://www.amazon.com/

According to my notes I finished this book on February 28, 2008.  In my journal it reads:

"Well I finished the RWL biography.  I have to say that this book has made me think more than any book has in a long time."

I admired her tenacity, her strength, her independence, and her intelligence.  I sympathized with the battles that raged in her mind.  But most of all I was saddened and disappointed to learn that she claimed to be an atheist.  How can someone who is so smart be so blind to the truth.  Her self induced misery stemmed from one thing...the absence of Jesus Christ in her life.  Because without Him, nothing else matters.

Front View Rose Wilder Lane Headstone
Source:  My Photo

Back View RoseWilder Lane Headstone
Source:  My Photo

A Farm and Throwed Rolls

Booklist 91-100

91. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
92. Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery
93.Emily's Quest by L.M. Montgomery
94.West From Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder
95. Kilmeny of the Orchard by L.M. Montgomery
96.Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
97. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (10/27/2007)
98. Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride
99. Little Farm in the Ozarks by Roger Lea MacBride
100.In the Land of the Big Red Apple (11/5/2007)

A few years ago, after I had read the Little House Series, but before I read the Rocky Ridge books we took a trip to Mansfield, Missouri.  Mansfield is the home of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum...http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com/.  On the way there we stopped in Sikeston, Missouri and ate at Lambert's Cafe: The Only Home of the Throwed Roll...http://www.throwedrolls.com/.  And they're not kidding.  They really do throw the rolls.  They come out of the kitchen with the rolls, you hold up your hand and they throw it to you.  My daughter was beside herself with joy, and needless to say she ate a lot of rolls!

Lambert's in Sikeston, Missouri
Source:  My Photo

Number 89 on my booklist is On the Way Home.  It tells of the Wilder's journey from South Dakota to their farm in the Ozarks that they would name Rocky Ridge Farm.  Rocky Ridge Farm is the setting for number 99 and 100 on this portion of the list.  It was neat reading these books after we'd been there because I didn't have to imagine what it looked like.  I knew!

Source: My Photo

The Farm House on Rocky Ridge Farm
Home of the Wilder Family
Source:  My Photo

Front View of the House
Source:  My Photo

Laura's Library in Mansfield
Source:  My Photo

Near Mansfield, Missouri
Source:  My Photo

Alley Mill
Source:  My Photo

Alley Spring and Mill
Source:  My Photo

Alley Spring
Source:  My Photo

Story Creek School
Source:  My Photo

The Books Are So Much Better

Booklist 71-80

71.Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
72.Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
73.On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
74.By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
75.The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
76.Young Pioneers by Rose Wilder Lane
77.Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell  (2/14/07)
78.Little Town on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder
79.The Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
80.The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I am 34 years old.  I have a laptop and an Iphone.  I love my dishwasher, my washing machine and dryer, but I am absolutely in love with The Little House Series and most anything written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I never read these books as I child.  I mean I've always liked the television show, Little House on the Prairie, but having read the books I can say that it is only loosely based on the books.  The books are so much better!

I'm in love with that time period.  Pioneers, prairies, the Civil War, and the old west fascinate me.  I know that Wilder's writings are a romanticized version of her life.  I get it.  I know life was hard back then, and maybe if I had to work like a dog sun up to sundown just to survive I might not like it so much.  But it's the simplicity of life back then that draws me in.  I admire the hard work, resilience, integrity, and bravery of people in this time period.  They appreciated the little things in life, and it took so little to make them happy.

Little House Series
Source:  http://www.amazon.com/

Carrie, Mary, and Laura Ingalls
Source: http://www.pamelasmithhill.com/

Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't write the Little House books until later in her life.  She wrote the books from her little study at a roll top desk on her farm in Mansfield, Missouri.  At the time she and Almonzo were living in the "rock house" which their daughter, Rose, had built for them.  They eventually moved back to their farm house later deciding they liked it better.




Laura Ingalls Wilder
Source:  http://www.the-spearhead.com/

The Rock House on Rocky Ridge Farm.
This is the house where Laura began writing the books.
Source:  My photo

Grave of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almonzo Wilder in Mansfield, Missouri
Source:  My photo