Cold Sassy Tree

I have a distinct memory of one of the English classes at my high school being required to read this, though not mine. I remember one of my best friends complaining about how boring it was.

It was NOT boring, though I can see why a high schooler wouldn't “get” this book. It's not fast-paced, but rather it's LANGUID. It's small-town gossip, back when there were barely even telephones and indoor plumbing was still a novelty.

The slower pace made it perfect reading for when we went camping, where we literally had nothing we had to do except eat, sleep and hop in the lake when it got too hot to live.

I enjoyed it a lot, and also there are some quite dark things here, so as such: CW for racism, classism, suicide; rape, incest and pregnancy loss all occur off-page.