Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I loved this when I was little.  I loved it again last week.

It's funny, because it really doesn't have much of a traditional plot. The stakes feel quite low (though I suppose the true stakes are survival). The characters are all unrealistically perfect and good and there's not much character arc.

But...I couldn't stop reading.  It only took me a day and a half to finish (when that length of book would usually take me a week or two).

I kept telling people all about it and all the things I learned.

I suppose the amazing draw of this book is a combination of the simple but warm and beautiful writing and the fascinating details on how frontier Americans knew how to make everything and do everything.  I have no idea how to make cheese or smoke meat or weave straw hats. They had such clever solutions to problems we solve by turning on a switch or going to a store or searching the internet.  It's absolutely fascinating.

Now I want to read the others again.