Book Review!

Before I start....

My friend Patricia told me about a program called BookSneeze, where someone with an established blog could review books from publishers and...get this...keep the titles reviewed. Free. That's right; someone will send me a book, I read it and review it on my blog and a couple other places and then I keep the book.

 I was so excited about this I could hardly stand it!

 I didn't actually think they'd send me a book.  They did!

 I didn't actually think I'd like the book. I did!

So, now you'll be subjected to my reviews...

Without further ado, meet Mary Ann Kirkby and her book, I Am Hutterite.  (*Farmchick is scrambling for a piece of scrap paper or used cupcake wrapper to write down the title...)

Mary-Ann writes an amazing memoir of growing up in a Canadian Hutterite colony in the 1970's and 80's.  Having grown up visiting the colony outside of Lewistown for corn every year, I was always fascinated with Hutterites and their old fashioned ways of dress and "secret" language which turns out to be high German. No one I knew really had a good relationship with the colony, to tell me what their beliefs were or why they lived that way.  I Am Hutterite is a gentle view into the day to day life of a Hutterite colony, with very matter-of-fact explanations of their customs and beliefs. 

I was entranced with the idea of community living, once I read the book. After all, there's a community cook and her helpers, so everyone shows up for meals that are already prepared!  BUT the other side of the story is how that sort of life was constraining and tense for Mary-Ann's parents.  She tells of their little family leaving the colony and the struggles and blessings of living independently.  I appreciated her honesty and generosity of spirit with this portion of her book, because as a teenage girl it would be very easy to have a lot of resentment about being yanked away from the colony and thrust into a world of extremes.

I didn't really know what to expect from my first BookSneeze selection. (Doesn't that make you want to say, "guiesuintite!" ?) (Does anyone know how to spell that correctly?)  I'm thrilled to say it was a great book and I'm happy to put it on my shelf, next to Goodbye Wifes and Daughters, A Yank Back to England and Red Helmet. (Shamelessly plugging my other favorites from talented friends...)

*Annie, this is a really great book.  You'll want it to keep, I promise you.  If you lose the used cupcake wrapper, you can call me or look it up again on the blog!