The Wilder Life

Last night I was lost and cursing in SoDo, trying to find the UPS warehouse in the pouring rain. When I finally picked up this mystery package, it turned out to be a galley of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure (who I just found out is the author of the amazing Laura Ingalls Wilder twitter account I've been "following" and admiring for a while, even though I'm never on there). I'd forgotten that I entered a contest from Penguin to win a limited number of advanced reading copies (ARCs!). Definitely worth the trip to the wasteland that is the UPS customer service outlet.


I eagerly started reading the first chapter last night. At first the author's uber-casual writing style bugged me. It reminds me a little of a less-inflated Sarah Vowell, who no one in my book club liked when we read The Wordy Shipmates one month. But by page 6 I was laughing out loud (in her list of things from the Little House books that she wanted to do): "Have a man's hands span my corseted waist, which at the time didn't seem creepy at all" and by page 17 there were some genuine tears. Not sad tears, but nostalgic tears of the futility to hold on to the past.


If you loved the Little House books, definitely check it out The Wilder Life when it hits stores next month! I'm inspired to re-read the series now. Plus, look how delicious this cover is (designed by Meighan Cavanaugh):