We Took to the Woods

Rating:
Summary: Good enough to make me move
Review: A friend gave me this book when I was at a very low point in my life. My wife and I read it together, over a long weekend, and packed the car Monday morning. By Wednesday we had our old house listed and Friday we put in an offer on 40 acres with an old farm. We haven't looked back since; but we have given copies of this book to all of our old friends for Christmas.

Rating:
Summary: This is a fun, heartwarming look at Maine backwoods life.
Review: I FOUND THIS BOOK AT A USED BOOK FAIR. IT IS A 1942 PRINTING. A TRULY WONDERFUL LOOK AT LEAVING IT ALL BEHIND AND " TAKING TO THE WOODS " IN THE 1930'S, AND A TREAT FOR ALL OF US WHO WOULD LIKE TO GO BACK IN TIME NOW AND THEN.I WILL SEEK OUT HER OTHER WORKS, MOST CERTAINLY. WORTHY OF YOUR TIME.

Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: Louise Dickinson Rich is a star! A truly wonderful and gifted writer. You can't put her books down.

Rating:
Summary: Wild Woman in the Woods
Review: Louise Rich is not what you might expect a person who has given up the "essentials" of life to be. She is not trying to escape, not trying to save the wilderness, prove a point or return to her roots. Her motivation, quite simply, is that she likes where she lives and is willing to put up with a fair amount of discomfort to stay there. Moreover, she is mightily amused by the questions she is frequently asked by friends and acquaintances, the most common being:
"How do you make a living?"
"But, you don't live here all the year round?"
"Isn't housekeeping difficult?"
"What do you do with all your spare time?"
"Don't you ever get bored?"
"Aren't you ever frightened?"
"Don't you get awfully out of touch?"
"Do you get out very often?"
and
"Is it worth-while?"
Rich's eminently practical, and amusing answers to these questions form the basis of this book and will keep you grinning from ear to ear for hours.

It is clear from the start that Louise and her husband Ralph are more than capable of taking care of and amusing one another, and things only get better with the addition of various family members. These include Gerrish, their friend and handyman, son Rufus, daughter Sally, postman Larry, a skunk, five huskies, a marten and an ongoing parade of visitors, neighbors and "sports" (that's backwoods for tourists).

You will be treated to Rich's opinions on a wide variety of subjects, including women's fashions (and why she couldn't care less what she wears in the woods), the futility of trying to do housework when you're married to a man who loves motors, how to plan meals that take the weather's idiosyncrasies into account, the best way avoid getting lost, cut with an axe or burned by a stove. Even better, you will be taken along on a whole series of hilarious escapades as Rich learns how to cope with life in the woods.

With wry amusement she tells of the day she and her husband delivered their son on their own, her trip to the "Outside" after not having left the woods for 4 years, and the afternoon she spent cooking dinner for a bunch of lumberjacks. Here too are entertaining stories of playing tag with a family of foxes, going berry picking, pulling porcupine quills out of dogs, learning to tie fishing flies and locating hunters who get lost.

The real gift of this book however, is the chance to spend time with Rich herself. Here is someone it would be worth a long hike through snowy woods to visit. You'll feel like you've made a friend by the time the book is finished.

Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: Louise Rich is not what you might expect a person who has given up the "essentials" of life to be. She is not trying to escape, not trying to save the wilderness, prove a point or return to her roots. Her motivation, quite simply, is that she likes where she lives and is willing to put up with a fair amount of discomfort to stay there. Moreover, she is mightily amused by the questions she is frequently asked by friends and acquaintances, the most common being:
"How do you make a living?"
"But, you don't live here all the year round?"
"Isn't housekeeping difficult?"
"What do you do with all your spare time?"
"Don't you ever get bored?"
"Aren't you ever frightened?"
"Don't you get awfully out of touch?"
"Do you get out very often?"
and
"Is it worth-while?"
Rich's eminently practical, and amusing answers to these questions form the basis of this book and will keep you grinning from ear to ear for hours.

It is clear from the start that Louise and her husband Ralph are more than capable of taking care of and amusing one another, and things only get better with the addition of various family members. These include Gerrish, their friend and handyman, son Rufus, daughter Sally, postman Larry, a skunk, five huskies, a marten and an ongoing parade of visitors, neighbors and "sports" (that's backwoods for tourists).

You will be treated to Rich's opinions on a wide variety of subjects, including women's fashions (and why she couldn't care less what she wears in the woods), the futility of trying to do housework when you're married to a man who loves motors, how to plan meals that take the weather's idiosyncrasies into account, the best way avoid getting lost, cut with an axe or burned by a stove. Even better, you will be taken along on a whole series of hilarious escapades as Rich learns how to cope with life in the woods.

With wry amusement she tells of the day she and her husband delivered their son on their own, her trip to the "Outside" after not having left the woods for 4 years, and the afternoon she spent cooking dinner for a bunch of lumberjacks. Here too are entertaining stories of playing tag with a family of foxes, going berry picking, pulling porcupine quills out of dogs, learning to tie fishing flies and locating hunters who get lost.

The real gift of this book however, is the chance to spend time with Rich herself. Here is someone it would be worth a long hike through snowy woods to visit. You'll feel like you've made a friend by the time the book is finished.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, enjoyable and important book
Review: This book is one of the most enjoyable to read you will ever find. It is written in such a clear, humorous and timeless style that you would swear it was written yesterday instead of in 1942. Each chapter answers a question that would arise upon hearing that one had decided to live in the deep woods of Maine---how you do school your children? How do you keep in touch with society? How do you keep house? There are pictures and the kind of nitty gritty details we all like to read! In addition to just being great to read, I think this book is a very important one. I would say it had a part in starting at least two trends. One is the back to the land movement. At the time it was written, you just simply didn't decide to get away from it all and live in the woods! I think this book, which was extremely popular when it came out, put some unique ideas in a lot of heads and may have had a big part in giving people ideas about alternative ways of living. Also, I think it's one of the first autobiograpical books of its type---written plainly but with humor about a unique way of living. I think this book, which in my knowledge has never been out of print, is really one of the key non-fiction works of the 20th century. But don't read it for that, read it because it's fun to read and you will love it!