The Egg and I

My friend Steve recently asked what me reading theme is for 2019.  I had almost forgotten to do that until he jogged my memory.  One year I decided to read as many mystery types as possible - cozies, locked door, police procedurals - but all those bad people and dastardly deeds haunted my dreams.  I moved on.  Then there was the year I planed to read a Dickens novel or a Shakespeare play each month. Again I moved on.  My year of young adult novels went OK, and this year I have decided to do some retro reading.  I'll start with  today's book and eventually plan to revisit Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, and Rebecca.  Gone with the Wind will be reserved for that long, cold arctic blast we usually get in February.  Staying home with a warm blanket, hot chocolate and a book.  So nice. 

You might know Betty MacDonald from her Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books for young readers.  Now, after reading The Egg and I,  I suspect that MacDonald fashioned the frazzled Mrs. P. after herself. I also discovered that this book introduced Ma and Pa Kettle to the world. After the book became a movie, Ma and Pa became big stars. You can find a couple fun Kettle clips on YouTube.

When Betty MacDonald married a marine and moved to a small chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild with no running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and endless days of hourly tending to needy chickens. The closest neighbors are the Kettles, an earthy pair with 15 children.  Pa tracks mud (and manure) through the house several times a day, and keeps his baby chicks warming behind their wood stove in the kitchen.  Ma can frequently be found chatting with an itinerant salesperson while occupying the doorless outhouse.  

This book is witty and well written.  However. MacDonald does make crude remarks about country folk lacking in culture and intelligence.  Native Americans don't come off looking good in her memoir either, but, it is her memory and I will not fault her for that.  It did not lessen the appeal of the book for me.  In fact, the levity was a welcome relief after reading The Radium Girls - more about that later - and it just might be my selection when it's my turn to pick a book for our book group.  

Thanks for stopping by.