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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I don't think I'll ever give these books less than a 5 star rating, to be honest. They're just so entertaining and educational at the same time and you end up feeling for the Ingalls so much in every story and wanting them to just be happy and safe and healthy. This story was no exception. We did get to know Almanzo a bit better and I like where it ended. I'm looking forward to the last book. I would recommend this book and series. 5 out of 5 stars.
This is not only my favorite book in the series but one of my favorite all-time novels. Just excellent, all around.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Holy cow. I'm reminded once again how teens the same age (16-18) act entitled and all-knowing these days. At 16 Laura left her own schooling and family to teach others twelve miles away. It wasn't easy but she did it for her family and gained much courage and understanding.
Reading this series through with my family, early on my 7 (now 8) year old daughter figured out the Laura & Almanzo storyline due to the Ingalls Wilder name on the cover. Since then she has eagerly anticipated each moment they share between the pages and I'm elated yo share in her first light romance storyline. Almanzo will never ask Laura to obey or fail to appreciate her hard work, family love, or expect her enjoyment of horses to dull.
Reading this series through with my family, early on my 7 (now 8) year old daughter figured out the Laura & Almanzo storyline due to the Ingalls Wilder name on the cover. Since then she has eagerly anticipated each moment they share between the pages and I'm elated yo share in her first light romance storyline. Almanzo will never ask Laura to obey or fail to appreciate her hard work, family love, or expect her enjoyment of horses to dull.
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This leans towards one of my favorite of these books
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I listened to the last few chapters of this book in the car after work today and cried nostalgic tears almost all the way home.
She sat on the doorstep and just inside the door Pa and Ma sat looking out over the prairie while Pa played “Highland Mary.” Then while the sun was going down he played all the old tunes that Laura had known ever since she could remember.
The sun sank from sight, trailing bright banners after it. The colors faded, the land grew shadowy, the first star twinkled. Softly Carrie and Grace came to lean against Ma. The fiddle sang on in the twilight.
It sang the songs that Laura knew in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, and the tunes that Pa had played by the campfires all across the plains of Kansas. It repeated the nightingale’s song in the moonlight on the banks of the Verdigris River, then it remembered the days in the dugout on the banks of Plum Creek, and the winter evenings in the new house that Pa had built there. It sang of the Christmas on Silver Lake, and of springtime after the long, Hard Winter.
As Laura spent her wedding eve at home with her parents and sisters, remembering other nights spent with her family over the years, I couldn't help thinking of the little Laura of the Big Woods and remembering the end of that book. It gets to me, as considering the passage of time always does.
When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, “What are days of auld lang syne, Pa?”
“They are the days of a long time ago, Laura,” Pa said. “Go to sleep, now.”
But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods. She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.
She thought to herself, “This is now.”
She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.
This really isn't a very sentimental series - the writing is quite matter-of-fact most of the time. But it was so much a part of my own "long time ago" that revisiting it through the wonderfully produced audiobooks with Cherry Jones' narration and Paul Woodiel's fiddle playing was a lovely and enriching experience. I don't plan to continue on with [b:The First Four Years|29448261|The First Four Years (Little House, #9)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1457413277l/29448261._SX50_.jpg|11181]. I never liked that book much, and feel like These Happy Golden Years was the perfect way to wrap up the Little House series.
She sat on the doorstep and just inside the door Pa and Ma sat looking out over the prairie while Pa played “Highland Mary.” Then while the sun was going down he played all the old tunes that Laura had known ever since she could remember.
The sun sank from sight, trailing bright banners after it. The colors faded, the land grew shadowy, the first star twinkled. Softly Carrie and Grace came to lean against Ma. The fiddle sang on in the twilight.
It sang the songs that Laura knew in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, and the tunes that Pa had played by the campfires all across the plains of Kansas. It repeated the nightingale’s song in the moonlight on the banks of the Verdigris River, then it remembered the days in the dugout on the banks of Plum Creek, and the winter evenings in the new house that Pa had built there. It sang of the Christmas on Silver Lake, and of springtime after the long, Hard Winter.
As Laura spent her wedding eve at home with her parents and sisters, remembering other nights spent with her family over the years, I couldn't help thinking of the little Laura of the Big Woods and remembering the end of that book. It gets to me, as considering the passage of time always does.
When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, “What are days of auld lang syne, Pa?”
“They are the days of a long time ago, Laura,” Pa said. “Go to sleep, now.”
But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods. She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.
She thought to herself, “This is now.”
She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.
This really isn't a very sentimental series - the writing is quite matter-of-fact most of the time. But it was so much a part of my own "long time ago" that revisiting it through the wonderfully produced audiobooks with Cherry Jones' narration and Paul Woodiel's fiddle playing was a lovely and enriching experience. I don't plan to continue on with [b:The First Four Years|29448261|The First Four Years (Little House, #9)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1457413277l/29448261._SX50_.jpg|11181]. I never liked that book much, and feel like These Happy Golden Years was the perfect way to wrap up the Little House series.