Review: At Home in Dogwood Mudhole

I like reviewing books.  What can I say I am a bookworm, reading books comes as naturally to me as drawing comes to my son.  It's what I do.  :)  So when I chance came to review a book for my very own self I jumped at the chance.  :)

Product Information

Vendor: Four Rivers, Inc.
Product Received: Paperback, physical book : At home in Dogwood Mudhole, Volume 1
Website: At Home in Dogwood Mudhole
Price: Paperback version $22.95, Kindle version $16.95.  Volume 2 will be coming out with the same pricing.
Pages: 379, this is volume one
Ages: Highschool-adult
Written by: Franklin Sanders

This book is a compilation of monthly letters written for "The Moneychanger" newsletter.   It is sort of like a memoir.    The complete title is "At Home in Dogwood Mudhole, Volume one: Nothing that Eats.   Two more volumes will follow this one.

I expected, based on the write up, a book primarily about their move to sustainable living.  Learning how to be farmers so to speak.  And this book certainly did contain letters about that.   I was talking with a friend about this book this past week and my struggles with not wanting to read it... because I found it frustrating and very sad to read about all these chickens they kept getting and their dogs kept killing them.   And how I grew up on a farm and a dog that killed chickens got caged, tied up or shot and how immensely frustrating I found it to keep reading about the sheer numbers of chickens they lost to their dogs.  Her comment was... but if they didn't lose the chickens, would it make for interesting reading?   And it was like well huh... guess there's a point to be made there.  :)  So as much I hated reading about that... it does have a point to make.  Learning to be farmers isn't always an easy road and some folks take longer learning things than others do and that's not all bad either.

BUT Sanders does not just talk about farming.  He also talks about the war between the States, his troubles with the IRS, his dogs (which will make you laugh for the most part), his faith (he is unashamedly Christian), and pretty much anything else that grabs his fancy.  He heartily recommends various businesses to you and tells you his thoughts about the people and places he travels to.  It is a very eclectic book, with the stories not always well connected with each other.    Much like you'd expect in letters from one person to another.   I've read books like this before and have learned you need to take a very global approach in reading them, not expecting them to be a story, but on overall look at a person's life.

I imagine they had chickens kinda like this one. (just banty-sized)

Would I recommend reading it?  Not sure.
Depends I think on the person I was talking with, and for you my broad ranged audience all I can say is this:  If it you are able to recognize this is NOT a story book but more of a broad ranged, this is snippets of  Sander's life book and want to touch on lots of different areas of his life, YES.  This would be an interesting book for you to read.  But if you want a story book, that is very easy to follow.. then perhaps not. :)

I will be holding on to this book as I was introduced to a different way of viewing the civil war, that when it comes time to introduce my son to that aspect of USA history, he'll be able to read it and gain yet another perspective.

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