I enjoyed this book , but would not consider it a "great read". I found the content to be very interesting, but I generally do not enjoy the Diary format, and I ws a bit bored with Mattie's style. In addition, I felt as if the adventures and misadventures of Mattie Spenser were too numerous to be believable. I think that the major obstacle, besides the hard work of settling a new land, and the dangers of doing that, would have been unbelievable boredom and loneliness . I just finished Willa Cather's My Antonia, which is a classic written in 1918, dealing with the same subject, and the difference in styles is very dramatic. Cather writes literature. Dallas writes a good story.