The Pioneer Woman

by Ree Drummond

[MurderByDeath]

Ages ago, I picked up The Pioneer Woman Cooks while I was looking around for a new cookbook.  I can't say I've ever tried any of the recipes, but her stories about life on the ranch stuck with me, so when I saw this one at a book sale for $1 I figured 'why not?'     I was in the mood for something memoir-ish to go alongside my monopoly read this morning, so I started this first, thinking to get a chapter or two in before picking up my other book, but not only did I get hopelessly sucked into Ree Drumond's story, it turned out that this was a much more fitting book for the monopoly square I'm on (WaterWorks).   This is Ree's story about how she met her husband, the man she adoringly refers to as The Marlboro Man - her very own real life cowboy.  I gotta tell you, I wan't even half-way through this book before I was half in love with the man myself.  He might be a certified saint in a Stetson.  On the flip side, Ree is probably harder on herself in the name of honesty and, likely, entertainment than could be strictly considered fair, but it works; oftentimes hilariously. She creates an incredibly compelling re-telling of her courtship, wedding, honeymoon (omg, what a nightmare honeymoon!) pregnancy, and first year of marriage.   I'm not going to claim the writing is outstanding; this definitely has that blog-turned-into-book feel, which it is, but for me, the story transcended any shortcomings in the writing (which, btw, was better edited than most of my reads nowadays).  I thoroughly enjoyed it.   As Ree spends an alarming amount of time turning on the WaterWorks in the second half of the book, in the form of crying, bawling, sobbing and blubbering (and wow, is it justified), I could not have picked a more tailor-made book for my monopoly square if I tried.