Christopher Ingraham

I thought it was a great book about leaving the city & cosmopolitan lifestyle behind for the unknown rural midwest...which must have some downsides, right? Funny, quotable, enjoyable. Ingraham does seem to want to stick with the stereotypes, despite relating in each chapter how he's been surprised yet again by characters that _DON'T_ easily fit into their assigned pigeonhole. It's a fast read and I do enjoy this type of book. I especially enjoyed the little graphs he includes once/chapter that illustrate data he's been writing about. If you enjoy books about leaving the city life for rural life, check this one out.… (mehr)

For me, just an ok read, a 3 star at most. A short memoir by Ingraham, data writer for the Washington Post. After visiting and then writing a short piece on Red Lake County, Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, the ugliest county in America, he decides that despite it has no lake, nor hills, nor falls, it may not be a bad place to relocate his family. Afterall, the people were so friendly and welcoming and the 9-5 grind and 2 hour commute in DC were getting to be rather tiresome and he and his wife were spending very little time with their two young boys. So off they went. Charles was able to submit his work to the Post online, his wife Briana quit her highly successful job to be a stay at home mom. The lower cost of living in Red Lake proved to be the catalyst for making the change. The memoir continues with tales of life in rural America where the temps get below -40f, pizza and chinese food are replaced by lutefisk and tater tot hot dish. A nice visit to Red Lake Falls but just a visit is just fine by me.… (mehr)