June 15th, 2006 - What I’ve been reading
Lately, I’ve read a string of back to the land books, plus a few others related to living below your means and/or following your dreams.
Home is the Sailor by Robin Lee Graham picks up where Dove ended. Dove is the story of a 16-21 year old boy’s trip around the world in a sailboat. Certainly involved frugal living, but I read that book for it’s adventure! Home is about his family’s (he met his wife halfway through the trip and they had a baby shortly after he got back) homesteading in Montana. As a book I’ll review later points out about other successful homesteaders, Robin did have some alternative income–not only did Dove get published but it was also made into a movie. Yes, they had lean times while waiting for some of those checks, but they were able to get by better having them come in! I definitely enjoyed this book. It’s also about their conversion to Christianity, which gets a bit heavy at times–something Robin pionts out to the reader in the end–he realized how strong they’d come across to friends and family as well!
The Butterfly Hunter by Chris Ballard is subtitled “Adventures of people who found their true calling way off the beaten path.” Eric discovered this book for us; the author is a Sport’s Illustrated staff writer. Some of those profiled live lean lives in order to follow their hearts desire. At least one (The Skywalker, also known, legally, as Spiderman) is making millions from it. One man is someone we’ve all heard, but probably never heard of: The man who does the vast majority of movie and tv show trailers! I’ve heard of him before, so I actually try to figure out if he’s voicing trailers I see (now that I use Tivo, I rarely see any anymore anyway). It was neat to read his whole story of how he got there. In fact, I loved all of the stories. I think it is wonderful to follow your heart’s desire and have a true calling. (I’m just wondering if everyone has a calling or if most of us just don’t have one so can’t find it to pursue anyway.)
Homestead by Jane Kirkpatrick [Sorry Jeanne–I had the wrong first name! No wonder we couldn’t find her books in the library catalogs.] is a wonderful story of homesteading in the 80s. A bit later than the typical back-to-the-land stories of the 70s. On the other hand, Jane and Jerry are still living on their 160 acres in the middle of nowhere Oregon. They are 7 miles from the nearest paved road and 20-something from the nearest town. For the first years, they were 3 miles or so from the nearest phone. Then they were told it would cost about $20000 to get phone lines to them! See, it really is the middle of nowhere! Jane is also much less enthusiastic than typical writers about this new home. She throws herself into it, but has lots of regrets. This book is much more honest about the problems and scariness of homesteading. But in the end, they do make it. (It helps that Jane becomes not just a writer, but an award winning writer. I loved this book so much I can’t wait to find her novels to read.) The Kirkpatricks also didn’t start off intending to live without electricity. water, etc. They were more realistic, I think, than many of the 70s landers. If you get this one, look for the most recent edition. The book never comes right out and says this is a second edition, but she talks about writing and publishing the same book by about 2/3rds of the way through. This is obviously expanded from the original. Frugal for Life recommended this book (and told me about the last book I reveiw in this post at the same time). [Note: If you use Bloglines, they now have the ability to search the feeds to which you subscribe. I adore this as I usually forget by the time I review a book who told me about it!]
Shackleton’s Stowaway by Victoria McKernan covers a part of history that fascinates me: exploration of Antarctica. This time, instead of a book about/by the leader or scientists on the voyage, this is the story of one of the able seaman on Shackleton’s ill-fated voyage. Perce Blackborrow actually stowed away when the Endurance sailed from Beunos Aires; 18, he was the youngest member of the voyage. Talk about living frugally! (If you aren’t familiar with the story, the Endurance was caught by pack ice in one of the worst Antarctic winters, and continued to be stuck through the following summer. Well, by that time, the boat had sunk and they were in small boats. The entire story is quite amazing and lasts about 2 years. The most amazing thing is that NO ONE died. Not even Perce, who is immobile the last 4 months on Elephant Island nor another man who suffers a heart attack at the beginning of those 4 months.)
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine has been making the rounds in the blogosphere so I had to read it, too. It’s my least favorite of the books I’ve read recently. It was hard for me to connect with Levine as her lifestyle, even when “not shopping” is pretty far from mine. Some people complain about her somewhat lengthy political statements (which are germaine to what she’s doing) but I happen to agree with her, so they didn’t bother me. On the other hand, I didn’t connect much with wondering whether QTips were necessary items (no, they aren’t. Use a bit of TP or tissue instead, deal with it) or wine (uh, no, and you shouldn’t have allowed yourselves to stock up on it before the year started either). Oh, and food was okay, and they allowed themselves a good deal of gourmet food as well. I do wish she’d tracked spending during this time. She does note that she paid off a credit card debt during the first few months due to not shopping, but little beyond that is covered. Overall, there are good parts to get you thinking about what really is necessary and whether you could live for a year with spending very little. Here are some other reviews/comments from blogs I read: Boston Gal’s Open Wallet (which describes the book in more detail), Seattle Simplicity, and Frugal for Life’s review.
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