<p>^^^^^^Along those lines, I remember many descriptions in the Little House books of Laura waking up under a mountain of quilts to find snow on them, or a layer of frost on top of the blankets. They would get up reluctantly at the crack of dawn, shivering until they got into all of their heavy clothes to begin their chores. I can’t imagine living in a climate where you can have frequent below zero temperatures but no central heat, no insulation, single paned windows, and nothing but a cookstove for heat! I admit it, I’m soft.</p>
<p>Zoosermon</p>
<p>If you do ever want to talk about the Little House books with someone in real life - try to find a homeschooler. They are extremely popular within the homeschool community.</p>
<p>Great idea bookreader!</p>
<p>I am really loving this thread! I was a huge fan of the Little House books as a girl and read them over and over. Imagine my disappointment when my daughter (14, almost 15) was not really interested in them when she was younger. However, she really liked the Oz books, which I had never read as a child, as well as the Chronicles of Narnia and the Madeleine L’Engle books, all-time favorites of mine. </p>
<p>When I was growing up I lived just down the street from the main library in our city and spent hours there, especially in the summer, reading nearly everything I could get my hands on. One book that really sticks in my mind was called The House of Stairs by William Sleator. Has anyone else ever heard of it? I was a big fan of science fiction and for some reason that book really made an impression on me. It’s about five teenagers stuck in a building that only has stairs in it, no walls, no ceilings, nothing else but a machine that basically controls their lives–very disturbing. I remember not being able to get that book out of my mind for a long time after I read it.</p>
<p>Oooh, I don’t know anyone else who read K. M. Peyton. For a period there (Pennington books in particular) she was brilliant. Did you read the last Flambards book (Flambards Divided)? - so strange. I guess she thought her original ending wasn’t realistic, but really?</p>
<p>Loved, loved, loved McKinley’s The Blue Sword - I can’t tell you how much it reminded me of our time in Somalia. The colonials who want to understand the natives, but also recreate their home country in their new land, but just can’t quite reconcile the two cultures…</p>
<p>I liked Aiken. Loved LeGuin, still try to keep up with her new books.* Riddlemaster of Hed *was brilliant, but McKillip’s books are often so elliptical they give me a headache. My favorite Snyder books are the *Below the Root *trilogy - fantasy that turns out to be sci fi. Fun.</p>
<p>Sleator is seriously creepy. *Interstellar Pig *was brilliant. I still have nightmares about it!</p>
<p>Consolation, we obviously have the same taste in books! (And TV shows and movies - I also hated Little House on TV and the Mary Poppins movie.)</p>
<p>Nrdsb4, I remember those scenes from LH as well. I also recall that they had to break the ice that froze on top of the water they used to wash their faces in the morning. </p>
<p>The LH books never discussed bathroom requirements (ahem) but I can’t imagine using a chamber pot or an outhouse under those freezing conditions. I guess you do what you have to do.</p>
<p>I always think about the plumbing issues too, VeryHappy.</p>
<p>Our house was built before indoor plumbing.
The bathroom is at the end of the heating system & the pipes.
Pretty chilly, but way better than an outhouse!</p>
<p>The year I was in France I live in a town house that had been built in the 18th century. The two WC rooms were off the stair landings cantilevered off the back of the house. The room with the bathtub was in what was probably a nursery. Sinks were in each bedroom.</p>
<p>Was never a fan of the show. The books were much better and much darker. I remember the leeches too, but more than that, the long winter of sitting in near darkness, grinding seeds all day long to make a single cup of flour. If they stopped grinding, there would be no small loaf of dry bread that day, the only thing keeping the family from starving. That was so memorable, along with Almonzo’s epic wagon journey to find grain for the town.</p>
<p>This, from Michael Ondaatje (“The Cat’s Table”): “But he had a serenity that came with the choice of the life he wanted to live. And this serenity and certainty I have seen only among those who have the armour of books close by.”</p>
<p>I think these very severe conditions would require some robustness for survival. </p>
<p>I’m literally allergic to cold and it gives me hives. Don’t honestly think I’d survive well in a very cold place. Thankfully there are lightweight warm washable clothing now that I can wear when venturing to colder places.</p>
<p>I could understand the desperation of the farm wife who threatened her husband with a knife in “These Happy Golden Years”. Not the knife part, but the depression and despair. Imagine how long and dark those winters were.</p>
<p>My mother grew up in Ontario and her family had an outhouse when she was young. She remembers there would be several inches of ice on the seat. She would wait in the morning until she got to school because the school house had indoor plumbing.</p>
<p>Off topic but has to do with plumbing etc—Bill Bryson’s book “At Home” explores the evolution of housing through the ages–bit serendipitous but really interesting.
Now back to outhouses…</p>
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<p>Seasonal affective disorder. I wonder if they had a different name for it back then.</p>
<p>The Winter Willies.</p>
<p>I too loved Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew-- and I have nothing good to say about the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I thought they were boring as can be, and had no interest in watching the TV show. It’s possible that my daughter may have read one or two for school, but they weren’t books I would have pushed on her, at all. </p>
<p>Now the entire Little Women series (not just LW and LM) - loved those.</p>
<p>SAD can be bad enough with electric lights. This woman obviously felt so trapped. Still no excuse for the knife, but still…</p>
<p>Can you imagine only nine hours of daylight a day, and only candles for light during the dark hours? Sounds dreadful.</p>