Susan, she's been writing some pretty funny reviews of romances, too.

Example:

I am a fan of angst. I will even read Scottish trilogies for angst

Which struck an "oh yeah, BTDT!" chord with me.

You should check out her entries.

For the Little House fans out there:

There’s a soundtrack interwoven in the stories of pioneer survival in the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, enduring music that can shed light both on Wilder’s stories and America’s musical heritage. Sadly, many fans of the books never hear the Stephen Foster classics, hymns and spirituals, string band and other music that was such an integral part of life on the prairie. For the new album Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder, top Nashville musicians were brought together by Dale Cockrell and Butch Baldassari of Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music to record fresh versions of songs cited in the Little House books. The album will be released Aug. 9 by Pa's Fiddle Recordings ( [link] ).

That sounds great! She had so many songs in all of her books (more, I'd say, than Tolkien), and so many of them I've never heard of, even with knowing as many folk songs as I do. One of my favorite chapters in These Happy Golden Years is the Singing School chapter, beginning with the fractious horse who wouldn't let Almanzo into the buggy, and ending with the two of them getting engaged ("What would you say if someone offered you a ring?" "That would depend on who was offering." "If it were me?" "Then it would depend on the ring." Love that exchange!)

Thanks, Ginger! It's added to my wishlist.

I'm ordering it, certainly. I must hear "Captain Jenks of the Horse Marines."

("What would you say if someone offered you a ring?" "That would depend on who was offering." "If it were me?" "Then it would depend on the ring."

And later he shows her the ring, and she says something like "that would do nicely," right?

I love Laura and Almanzo. She seems to have really adored him, and I hope that made up for the hard times they faced.

That is so exciting to me.

ETA: I have it in my head that he brings her the ring the next week, but I could be wrong.

I have it in my head that he brings her the ring the next week, but I could be wrong.

No, I think you're right.

Does her ring have a pearl in it, or am I mixing her and Anne Shirley up?

I have it in my head that he brings her the ring the next week, but I could be wrong.

Nope, you're right. He slipped it over her hand at the end of the ride, and said, "You said it would depend on the ring. Do you like this one?" After she looked at it and heard his description of what the stones were, she said that she liked it very much and accepted his proposal, and then they kissed in the starlight. And it's really sad that I know all this by heart.

I love Laura and Almanzo. She seems to have really adored him, and I hope that made up for the hard times they faced.

They were so great together, especially the way that he had no problems with her being as stubborn and "independent" (as he called her once) as she was. I think that his being around Eliza Jane growing up had something to do with that. Laura never seemed to get along with her much, but her daughter Rose adored her Aunt EJ.

My favorite post-THGY story I've read about them was during the early 1930s, after the first book was published, they were able to afford a vacation away from the farm and drove back home to DeSmet for an Old Settlers reunion. They were able to meet many friends that they hadn't seen in some 40 years (although Cap Garland had been killed before they even moved to Missouri, in a harvesting machine explosion).

ETA:

Does her ring have a pearl in it, or am I mixing her and Anne Shirley up?

A pearl with garnets, I think--I'm sure about the garnets, but not about the pearl.

I remember in THGY, when he comes back unexpectedly from his winter trip to visit the folks back in Minnesota, and she says, "It is pretty, this ring," and he replies, "I would say the hand." Awwww!