Nevermore: Laura Ingalls, Little Failure, Pilgrim's Wilderness, and in Praise of the Gift Shop

Summary by Kristin

Nevermore started on the prairie, that is, with Laura Ingalls Wilder Country by William Anderson.  This slim book contains photographs of the modern day landscape in all of the places where the Ingalls family lived.  Interspersed are the well-known drawings by Garth Williams that were included in many editions of the books after 1953.  Family photographs are included as well.  Our readers enjoyed this look behind the scenes of the Ingalls family historical fiction book series.

Next was Little Failure: A Memoir by Gary Shteyngart.  The author is a 1979 immigrant from Russia with a comic literary style.  Much is made of his relationship with his Jewish family, as well as his interactions with his American classmates.  Since the family didn’t have a television, the author was more interested in talking about Anton Chekov than the latest shows.  Known as a serious novelist, Shteyngart lets his humor shine through as he describes the challenges of adapting to a new culture.

Another reader wanted to praise the library gift shop, where many different types of books are available.  She recently purchased and read a 1934 biography of Elizabeth I.  Her praise of the book included:  “It was like reading Game of Thrones.  It was like reading Shakespeare without footnotes.”  She also commented that with the low prices, she is likely to purchase books and re-donate them when she is done, further benefitting the library.

A couple of readers read and discussed Pilgrim’s Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier by Tom Kizzia.  Written by a journalist, this book chronicles the settlement of Robert Hale (aka Papa Pilgrim, Pilgrim Bob, Firefly, Preacher Bob, and more) and his family on a miner’s claim in Alaskan Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.  With fifteen children, the family soon became known as a musicians dedicated to an old-fashioned Christian lifestyle.  However, behind the façade, “Papa Pilgrim” was a brutal disciplinarian who abused his family and fought against the federal government