Stacia in Progress

This book had been in the massive TBR pile for quite some time when a chance reading of an author's blog jolted the memory of Prairie Bitch back into my mind. I'll have to agree with this author in saying that Joffrey from the television show Game of Thrones does bear a striking resemblance to Nellie Oleson from Little House on the Prairie. The intro alone of the book was chock full of interesting tidbits. I love how it was explained why the show version of Little House was so different from the book version.Michael added adventure, excitement, and tears in nearly every episode. Someone once asked him, "So, why don't you stick closer to the books?" He replied, "Have you read them? There's an entire chapter on how to make an apple fritter. I can't film that."Isn't this the truth? However, if I'm going to compare books to show, the books win - no contest. I loved both the show and book series but I found myself absolutely fascinated with the day-to-day activities of Laura and her family, as well as the amount of food they ate (or lack of food, depending on which book you were reading).Memoirs are the type of book that I can only read every so often. Many famous people have some sort of dark past they want to chronicle in print, but rarely is it interesting enough to truly hold for the entire length of the book, so the story is often augmented with random uninteresting side facts or a smattering of awkward humor.I was shocked to find that Alison Arngrim is just as much of a character in real life as the one she played on t.v. There was still a fair amount of darkness and tragedy in her life story (which is not surprising when you're dealing with child stars), but this woman is also a riot. I would love to sit down and have dinner with her sometime.She isn't a true "bitch" like Nellie was but it's easy to see that she had a blast embracing her bitchy side. To this day, people still come up to her on the street to chastise her. One woman even had a breakthrough moment where she came up to Alison, simply to let her know that she had been "forgiven." I thought the Brady kids must have a rough time now as adults. After reading this book, I'm pretty sure they have nothing on Nellie Oleson.Interesting little book tidbits :Saddam Hussein was an avid fan and never missed an episode.The show (and book) character of Nellie Oleson was based on three different people from the real Laura Ingalls Wilder's life. Rumor has it that one of the three "Nellie" characters had a family in publishing, and because Laura wanted her books published, she decided to cover up this woman's misdeeds and blame them all on Nellie Owens (the first girl whose name was changed to Oleson for the books).Alison's personal descriptions of some of the show characters :Carrie Ingalls - Baby Carrie regularly falls into wells, mine shafts, outhouses, etc. and even manages to take off in a hot air balloon. She smiles and gurgles, seemingly up to the age of ten or so, speaking an unintelligible dialect that only her family understands.Pa (Michael Landon) - He is transformed (from the admirably moral book character) into "The Big Hunk on the Prairie," stripped to the waist, glistening with sweat, and grabbing his wife with a lust not normally publicly displayed in the 1800s.Grace Ingalls - On first glance, she's a genius compared to Carrie.Albert Quinn Ingalls - If someone is going to accidentally burn down a building, befriend a teenage rape victim, get addicted to morphine, or come down with a bizarre fatal disease, it's this kid.Dr. Hiram Baker - He's smart and makes some very impressive educated guesses, occasionally keeping a few of his patients alive. But generally, the poor guy's got nothing. You get sick, you die. Being a doctor in the late 1800's sucked.The doc Baker description is exactly what I would have written myself if I was doing a cast breakdown. I think Alison and I are kindred spirits.My favorite parts of Prairie Bitch are most definitely the snippets of Little House info. Her life outside of the show had a few interesting moments but let's get honest. I wasn't reading the book to find out about her real life. I just wanted the dirt on LHOTP.