Quicksand and Cactus by Juanita Brooks

 Here is an example of a book that I would have never known about if I weren't in a book club. This one is for the Ridgeview Ward book Club that Shirla Snow heads up. It's a collection of autobiographical sketches by an amazing pioneer woman who grew up in Bunkerville, Nevada, and traveled around Mesquite, St. George, Provo, and even Columbia University over the course of her lifetime.

She was born in 1898 and fills in lots of details of her country life that I have been wondering about how people lived on this hot and dry frontier. It was heartening to read of her hard work, honest impulses, and quest for education. She's not particularly religious, and her references to the church and God are more "givens" and accepted rather than faith-filled. Her experiences of caring for animals, visiting her polygamous grandparents, and just living everyday life are fascinating. People really relied on each other for help and living accommodations...It was fun to read about.

I kept thinking about my father as I read her stories. He would have enjoyed this book. He always liked reading history, and this is one he would have enjoyed. He also would have loved her description of the horses in her life. Later she became a teacher and a writer--Her classroom stories and discipline and attitude are admirable, and I wonder if they were typical of her time. If not, she was way ahead of her time with her interest in her students, her interactive science displays, and having her students write English papers about the History they were studying. Just so impressive!

I'm looking forward to discussing this book with my friends in the Ridgeview Club... There are so many names and places that are still around this area. You can see a clear thread from her time to ours!