Ellen Stimson

Let me try to summarize the story...

A privileged woman and her family arrive in a community, throw money they supposedly don't have to fix up a house and buy a store, but is probably more than most people in the community make in two years (or more), don't really see themselves (or to be fair - herself) as the problem and then proceeds to act entitled throughout the rest of the book.

From causing low-grade environmental disasters, continually doing things to tick off the locals and really showing no self-awareness beyond thinking she's being cute...she never learns who her audience is during her time covered in the book.

For the book (there's a theme here), she never learns who her audience is. It's not Vermonters since most of what she does, including taking a general store that was a staple of the community and the longest continually operating one in the country and running it into the ground - quickly. Maybe it's people coming to Vermont for vacation...but if they're enjoying the book because they relate to much of what Stimson is talking about...ugh.… (mais)

This book was written by a woman who had a lifelong dream of owning a house in Vermont. She realized that dream and is now living the life she longed for in a gorgeous old house. This book is all about winter, Christmas and New Year’s. It celebrates family traditions, food, drinks and love.

I found myself lost in the stories – my husband lived in Vermont for 10 years while he was going to college and law school so many of the places Ms. Stimson wrote about were familiar to him. The posts about the weather were very familiar as we have similar here in Montana. I love the first snow and it is indeed cause for celebration. But of course the bulk of the book is about the joy of Christmas.

There are so many delicious recipes – what I love about them is that they are not fancy or exacting. They are the type of recipe you hand down from generation to generation. Or at least they seem like they are. There are several I will be trying and if it were a less busy time of year I’d have one demonstrated for you. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

As much fun as the recipes are the stories told. Even though they are personal stories of Ms. Stimson’s life I felt like part of her family due to her very welcoming writing style. It was rather like sitting around the kitchen table at the home of a very good friend. Truly a book to cherish and enjoy at the holidays and really with the delicious recipes inside – all year round.… (mais)

I thought it was time to mix things up a bit and get out of my cozy-mystery rut, and I had just received this book in the post so I thought 'why not?'

Mud Season is a memoir of sorts. Ms. Stimson discusses her family's move to Vermont and the subsequent trials and tribulations of those first 2-3 years as they try to fit into a new small town and start a local business.

First I have to say, I didn't laugh as much as I should have reading these stories. I don't know why - some of these stories are quite funny and the author has a great style of writing for telling them; still, nothing. And I feel quite bad about that really. This is a well written book that had me 'seeing' her family's life unfold as she told the stories.

The stories are more or less linear, but she does jump around a bit and foreshadow a lot. All of them lead to the culmination of what will be their biggest failure overall. But this isn't a doom or gloom story by any stretch (as long as you avoid the In Memorium at the back). Rather the overall theme of the book is a very tightly knit, close family overcoming a bunch of struggles in order to live a better life than the one they had. And while the author may not have made me laugh, she definitely succeeded with this theme.

Overall, a nice read for a rainy Saturday (in keeping with the title).

Best line from the book: "Um, do we even like Grandma?"

Recipes are included.… (mais)