“There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them.” That famous line is from the movie The Naked City, a story about a murder in New York City. Sure, in a city of that many people there are certainly that many stories if not more. But what about elsewhere? Take a more less-populated area, for example. Of course there are, and the book Yarns From A Country Courier by Charlotte Heikkinen is a collection of stories by this teacher / journalist from her life as she chronicled them in her newspapers columns over the years.

My interest in this book is rooted in the fact I know Charlotte’s sons, both of whom are of course mentioned in her stories. I bought a copy of this self-published tome from the author herself, as she setup a shop at a local community market. As I read through her tales of growing up in the rural Midwest, among the yarns of her life I had several takeaways.

A slice of history – The tales told here are much more than a personal story of one woman, but the story of how life was where she was at that time. These stories need to be told, and each one is a square in the vast quilt of history.

Know your audience – Just before I bought my copy of the book she was talking to the person in front of me who was buying their own copy. She told them the text is in big print to benefit her target audience of an older generation. As I write this post I am nodding my head getting used to my new bifocals, so I appreciate the attention to detail to have larger text on the page for her readers.

More encouragement to write my own – After reading the book I said to myself, as I have said before, “I need to write my own book.” I guess I can say I am making progress towards it one blog post at a time. And for as much as I encourage others to write and publish their own book, I need to start making a more concerted effort on my end.

Yarns From A Country Courier was an enjoyable read, telling the stories of life from the middle of the last century to the present. I especially liked the mentions of her sons, but I digress. For anyone interested in the personal nuances and challenges of rural life at that time, I highly recommend the book. As I pass along all books I read, I am passing it along to the parents of another friend of mine – I have enjoyed engaging in conversations with them over the years and have enjoyed their stories; perhaps after reading this they too may be motivated to write their own book?

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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