Laura Ingalls Wilder

Which other authors do you enjoy? Discuss them here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Susie
Posts: 699
Joined: 25 Jul 2006, 20:42

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Susie »

I have just borrowed all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books from a friend of mine.
I am in the process of watching all the 200+ episodes on DVD too. (Thank goodness for DVD rental, otherwise I'll have to move out!) I am going to begin reading the first book tonight, I hope I enjoy it as much as watching the episodes. 8)

At the back of the book I noticed that Laura's daughter Rose Wilder Lane, has written a book called "Let the hurricane roar." Anyone read it?
There is always something else new to learn.
User avatar
Petermax
Posts: 1183
Joined: 25 Jan 2007, 21:51
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Petermax »

I have also recently re-watched a few episodes of Little House on the Prairie. This was standard Saturday morning viewing for children brought up in the 1970s. No idea though if it was repeated after the 1980s. I have never fully read the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I strongly suspect that the Hollywood TV version bears little relation to the original story.

For example, Laura's father was much famed for his beard, yet the late Michael Landon who played Charles Ingalls is clean shaven throughout the series, although he did successfully portray the kindness and authority of the character. I suspect though, that the real Charles Ingalls would have been somewhat more severe, it was after all the late Victorian era, family structures on both sides of the Atlantic would have been very similar.
User avatar
Susie
Posts: 699
Joined: 25 Jul 2006, 20:42

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Susie »

Your right so far there is little resemblance, such a shame. I'm glad they kept the original names though. I loved the idea of having a corn on the cob wrapped in a piece of cloth for a doll. I wonder how children would take to it nowadays, when the corn on the cob is getting ripe and has to be cooked! :shock:
So far I'm on to page 34 and enjoying it. The book shows pictures with Charles having a beard.
There is always something else new to learn.
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26775
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child and still read them now - they're heart-warming stories in which community and companionship play an important part. Laura and her family are steadfast, independent, face up to troubles and support one another and they also know how to make their own fun, despite having very little materially. In one of the books, Mary and Laura are excited to receive a tin cup each as a present - up to that time the family shared a cup, if I remember correctly. There's a thread of contentment and warmth running through the series, even amid periods of severe hardship and tragedy. I like the way Laura describes things in such loving detail.

I have fond memories of the Little House on the Prairie TV series even though it was terribly sentimental!

Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
Boodi
Posts: 676
Joined: 13 Mar 2008, 15:15
Favourite book/series: The Six Cousins & The Five Find-Outers
Favourite character: Susan Longfield & Ern Goon
Location: South West Germany

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Boodi »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:I have fond memories of the Little House on the Prairie TV series even though it was terribly sentimental!
Oh dear....it was so dreadfully sentimental and the family appeared just too good to be true thus I really HATED the TV series. Even today the mere memory of it irritates me...hence my comment. Needless to say, due to my reaction to the TV series there is no way I would ever consider reading the books, although no doubt I am doing them a massive injustice.

Cheers from (an unusually intolerant) Boodi!!
"I mean - unless you saddle and bridle and groom your own horse, it isn't a real horse!" (Jack Longfield, Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm).
User avatar
secretbear27
Posts: 47
Joined: 05 May 2013, 09:11
Favourite book/series: malory towers
Favourite character: Darrel and Felicity Rivers!
Location: St. Margarets (twickenham)

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by secretbear27 »

I have read some.Really great books!!! :P
User avatar
Machupicchu14
Posts: 2031
Joined: 06 Feb 2016, 15:57
Favourite book/series: The Famous Five/The Naughtiest Girl
Favourite character: George Kirrin/ Elizabeth Allen
Location: Sweden

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Machupicchu14 »

I am bringing back this topic as I recently bought a small biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I think she is one of the best authors along with Enid Blyton. I have also watched Season 1 of the TV series. I find it really enjoyable. Also, with Michael Landon :D is superb!!!
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
Lev Tolstoy


You can call me Machupicchu14 or María Esther

Society Member
User avatar
Paul Austin
Posts: 826
Joined: 09 Aug 2011, 15:30

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Paul Austin »

too often the LHOTP tv series became "the gospel according to Michael Landon". Just as the later seasons of M*A*S*H became "the gospel according to Alan Alda".
"History is the parts of the past that the present finds useful" - Anon
User avatar
Machupicchu14
Posts: 2031
Joined: 06 Feb 2016, 15:57
Favourite book/series: The Famous Five/The Naughtiest Girl
Favourite character: George Kirrin/ Elizabeth Allen
Location: Sweden

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Machupicchu14 »

Well, really, I never knew that!!! :D. He is such a good actor!!
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
Lev Tolstoy


You can call me Machupicchu14 or María Esther

Society Member
User avatar
Machupicchu14
Posts: 2031
Joined: 06 Feb 2016, 15:57
Favourite book/series: The Famous Five/The Naughtiest Girl
Favourite character: George Kirrin/ Elizabeth Allen
Location: Sweden

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Machupicchu14 »

I bought the book of"Little House in the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder in the USA. I thought it was a good price and a good opportunity to start reading her books. So now I have just started it. It's kind of strange how she writes in the third person, but that's doesn't really matter. It's a nice, quick and enjoyable book so far. :D
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
Lev Tolstoy


You can call me Machupicchu14 or María Esther

Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26775
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I love the whole series, though I think The Long Winter is my favourite. The Ingalls family and their neighbours are snowed in for months as blizzard follows blizzard, and they're forced to ration their food almost to the point of starvation. When their supplies of coal and wood run out, they have to use twists of hay as fuel. It's a time of extreme hardship but also immense endurance, determination and selflessness. The book describes the winter of 1880–81, when Laura was about 14 and the family left their claim shanty on the prairie and moved to the newly formed town of De Smet.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
Post Reply