Q: As as follow-up to a really successful Campus Read program on urban agriculture last year (Novella Carpenter's Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer), we'd like to make this year's small-house-living. The problem is that we can't find a memoir about living in a small house! Novella's book was fantastic because it was so personal, but didn't lose sight of the broader environmental issues involved in urban farming.
Here's what we've thought about so far, and unfortunately, nothing quite gets to that same balance…
...Michael Pollan's book is the closest, but it's only about working in a small space - not living. Any ideas for books that we're missing? Thanks!
- Sarah Susanka, The Not So Big House
- Richard Manning, A Good House
- Michael Pollan, A Place of My Own
- Thoreau, Walden (the classic choice!)
- Ann Kline, A Hut of One's Own
- Greg Johnson, Put Your Life on a Diet
Sent by Jason
Editor: Jason, great question! We're going to throw this out to our readers to see what they have to say.
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I don't have an idea for this, but I have to say that I read Farm City and positively despised it. I am exactly its target audience (an "urban farmer") but I found it to be one of the most annoying books I have ever read.
"My side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George is a fun book about a boy who moves out to the Catskills. Although the small living space isn't the central theme of the book, its interesting because he lives in a hollowed out tree and lives off the land.
Tip: Please link to Amazon or B&N or something for each book you list. Without links the article isn't very useful ...
I have Johnson's "Put Your Life on a Diet." I wouldn't recommend this book. Since Thoreau only lived in his "small house" for about two weeks, I wouldn't recommend that either. I may, or may not, check out the others listed.