Welcome to Sandpoint, world headquarters for the pocket girdle. “What the heck is a pocket girdle?” you may be asking. You’re not alone. More than 10,000 readers have asked that very question and found the answer within the pages of a very funny book penned by Sandpoint’s own homegrown product, retired school teacher and author, Marianne Love.
Love’s first book, an autobiographical account of her “wonder years” growing up on a farm in Sandpoint, will keep you in stitches and “rapt” so tightly in your reading that you’ll forget to put the cat out.
The cat can wait. While searching for Love’s legendary pocket girdle, you’ll also run across a “Good and Plenty” love affair that went sour, a mail robbery that blackened the author’s soul for nearly 40 years, and the real reasons why Love’s mother’s cupboard was so bare.
Pocket Girdles, now in its fourth edition, delights readers wishing to know about Sandpoint back in its days of being a one-motel town. Love’s Sandpoint of the ‘50s and early ‘60s was simply a quiet community in rural North Idaho — so quiet it buttoned up for the winter after the last tourist left town on Labor Day.
Her collection of humorous, often poignant stories tell of good ol’ days in Sandpoint when junior high principal Charlie Stidwell’s word ranked right up there with God’s or when Lawana Olson’s soothing voice emboldened awkward little girls to strut across the style review stage at the annual county fair.
Illustrated with nostalgic Western pen-and-ink sketches by the author’s mother, Virginia Tibbs, Pocket Girdles will re-awaken your own past as anecdotes remind you of your youthful adventures.
Once you’re taken in by Pocket Girdles, you’ll want to read Love’s second collection. Her 1997 release Postcards from Potato(e) Land will take you on through the ’90s when Love acquired her own farm and her own family. Along with reading about the originals you got to know from the pages of Pocket Girdles, you’ll learn how Sandpoint changed with its stoplight-population increase. This hilarious collection gives you a Love’s eye view of North Idaho farm life in the ‘90s.
Times changed, but not the humor. You’ll need a girdle to keep your sides from aching as you pore through stories about Love’s lawnmower morgue, her “open-air” barnyard health club and her roadside wolf sightings. You’ll meet Pat Gooby, the dandylion king, and Larry Book, the best samaritan North Idaho has to offer. You’ll also learn the fascinating answer to the question of why “tavern” in Sandpoint is spelled “t-e-r-v-a-n.”
Love’s Latest Book: Finally, if you ever went to school, especially in a rural community, you’re in for a treat with this humorous author’s 2007 release, entitled none other than Lessons with Love: Tales of teaching and learning in a small-town high school. There’s guaranteed laughter and even a few tears as the author takes you on a journey back through her 33-year teaching career at Sandpoint High School.
Pie-eating contests gone awry, tuba solo listeners gone nuts, and even a Papal dilemma drive the humor as Love tells tales on her students and herself. Even the author’s son, William E. Love III, has contributed a story to this collection called “Confessions of a Reborn Student” in response to his mom’s assessment of her challenges with the dual role of teacher and mom.
Love also sprinkles most story lines with gentle but helpful lessons she learned as a classroom teacher, including her version of the ultimate “Lesson of Love.” To read a sample chapter from Lessons with Love, visit www.keokeebooks.com.
These three paperbacks retail for $9.95 plus tax, $11.95 plus tax, and $16 plus tax respectively. For personally autographed copies, send price per book plus $4 for postage and handling to Marianne Love, 214 South Center Valley Road, Sandpoint, Idaho 83864. You can also conveniently order from amazon.com or the Sandpoint General Store on the Web.
Of course, you can order copies through your local bookstore. Better yet, while visiting beautiful Sandpoint, you can purchase Love’s books at local gift shops and book stores. For further questions or to just chat, contact the author by writing to potatohead89@hotmail.com.