Musty Book Rescue League, Seward, Alaska
Read it, Write it
Posted on: February 5, 2010 | Ryan_Reynolds | No Comments | Print Article | Rate Post:
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It’s time to honor a commitment.
Over the past year or so, from the shelves of the library, to the depths of the book sale, to chance meetings in dimly lit secondhand shops; I’ve been a lucky man. There are over 60 books now that I have met, fallen for, and written about for Seward City News. What started as a quest to highlight the eccentricities of that wonderful little library downtown, has become something more – something else. A fire-breathing stallion to gallop across the tattered, coffee-stained pages of the published histories of all things unusual. A peculiar smelling time machine to universes where those that fail to macramé are flogged in the village square. An ostrich-powered unicycle that runs on the dreams of lost jelly beans that lie beneath cushions of overstuffed couches. A…
Well, you get the idea.
My real reason for writing today is to thank a very special woman, Nancy Rekow. Through the magic of the internet, Nancy came across a ‘Weird Book’ piece that I had written back in November of 2008 about her book, Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s RECIPE FOR RAISING CHICKENS. (If you’d like, you can read that piece here.)
Recently, a Third Edition of this wonderful book has been published through NW Trillium Press and Nancy was a little surprised to come across my column, especially considering that her book had been out of print since 1975 after a small publication of only 21,000 copies. Luckily for Seward, one of those early editions found its way here.
I’d like to share with you what she wrote:
Hi Ryan,
Yesterday accidentally randomly fortuitously I happened internetly upon your “Weird Book of the Week” piece mentioning Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens. Happenstancely, I am the person who knew Minnie Rose, tape-recorded her words, hand-lettered them, enlisted an illustrator farmer/friend, located and created/self-published that book back in 1975. And that subtitle, “The main thing is to keep them happy”–those were her exact words when dictating a part of the book, a section on what to feed one’s chickens. Obviously those words could help us navigate life, so I seized upon them and said, “Minnie Rose, that’s your subtitle.” And so it was.
Anyhow I’m writing to tell you that in May, 2009, my partner and I re-published the book in a 3rd Edition. It had been out of print since the late 1980’s (having sold 21,000 copies in the 70’s and 80’s). Basically it’s the same exact text, with some added endorsements and some excerpts from Minnie Rose’s rather dramatic life story, Far As I Can Remember, which I also tape recorded and which we plan to publish early next year.
Your Nov., 2008, article may be the most unusual reference to the book ever. We’re entranced by your terming it “weird” which it obviously is somewhat, though not at all to those hordes of chicken raisers ever invading the country. And as you probably realize, Minnie Rose’s advice is really practical as well as lively and unique. She was quite a storyteller.
Anyhow, we want to send you a complimentary copy of this new edition. So please let us know your address. Naturally the book is yours gratis, though obviously we’d be most appreciative if you praised it somehow–maybe by sending us a blurb, posting/writing something, reviewing it for Amazon or elsewhere, mentioning it to bookstores, having your library system order it–or whatever springs to mind. But, regardless, you deserve this new edition simply for writing your story of the weirdness. And incidentally, since I’m now in the throes of learning to blog (starting from scratch) I now identify with that poor chicken lost and hungry in the wilderness of night!
Best wishes,
Nancy Rekow (& Everett Thompson)—editors
Nancy, you’re too kind.
But the best part about it? Yours truly is now the proud owner of my very own copy of the book, reminding me of why I was so captivated by it to begin with. Nancy’s work is a tribute to a way of life, and a source of knowledge that so many of us only view with faint curiosity as it fades before our eyes, passing with those that lived during perhaps the greatest century in history.
This is exactly what keeps me motivated to continue writing about books such as this. Through the many ‘weird books’, to the few odd ‘bookpiglets’, and now here, with the MBRL, the defining thing of every book I write about is that wonderful feeling one gets from holding one of these aging volumes in your hands, and sensing the love that led to its creation. Love that didn’t worry about what people might think, or the critics might chatter. Love that said yes to ‘weird’, knowing that sometimes, it’s what’s different in this world that matters most of all.
Certainly, Minnie Rose knew that.
Thankfully, Nancy Rekow did as well.
The Musty Book Rescue League is dedicated to increasing awareness of the forgotten treasures found on bookshelves and in boxes across America. If it looks odd and smells funny, the League is here to help.
Date: February 8, 2010
Categories: Minnie Rose Lovgreen