ajmatt blog

When the news is to depressing to bear, where does one turn? To the past, naturally. While surveying my LibraryThing account, I noticed I’ve recently toured: the plague years, frontier life, and the Great Depression. For free entertainment that will lift your spirits, head to your local library and pick up:

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. Run from the plague through post-apocalyptic-like 14th century England. Hard times highlights: sleep outside in the rain, avoid the smell of death, and keep one eye on the living. My full review is here.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura does not need an introduction, and my first Little House reading as a “grown up” did not disappoint. The writing is simple and detailed; it’s not a coincidence that Ingalls received Newberry Honors for most of her books. Hard times highlights: mill grain with a coffee grinder and twist hay all day to stay alive.

Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles. Chronicles the coming of age of three sisters during the Great Depression, through the worst of the Texas dust storms. Hard times highlights: make dresses out of sugar sacks and rugs out of pantyhose; get buried alive in a dust storm.

All of these books were well written, riveting reads. I recommend you revisit these lovely time periods, and then turn on present-day news reports and laugh at the doomsday anchors.