This book is by the founder of the Chattanooga Audubon Nature Center, naturalistRobert Sparks Walker. It really made the nature Center come alive for This book is by the founder of the Chattanooga Audubon Nature Center, naturalistRobert Sparks Walker. It really made the nature Center come alive for me. I read it for my local book club, finishing it months late and as my selection for a local book in The Literary Life Podcast 2021 Reading Challenge....more
I prefer Wendell Berry’s essays to his fiction. While this is not my favorite collection and it gets off to a slow start, it eventually covers some ofI prefer Wendell Berry’s essays to his fiction. While this is not my favorite collection and it gets off to a slow start, it eventually covers some of my favorite Berry topics like knowledge, place, and conservation and nature.
Loved this book even more the second time around and can see that the depth will require a third more careful reading if I can fit it in in the time ILoved this book even more the second time around and can see that the depth will require a third more careful reading if I can fit it in in the time I have left ;)
What makes this a 5-star book? The same thing that makes Shakespeare great. Eliot captures us, our motivations and our little deceptions, but she does it very softly and with only a tinge of irony that never veers into bitterness. That in itself is a special gift. ...more
There doesn't seem to be anyway to review the particular edition. I am in the process of reading Dorothy Sayers translation but as a preview I listeneThere doesn't seem to be anyway to review the particular edition. I am in the process of reading Dorothy Sayers translation but as a preview I listened to Heathcote Williams reading the Benedict Flynn translation. I know nothing about translations but Mr. Williams brought this alive for me, if that is a good thing. Even more so than the Eduardo Ballerina narration which I thought was superb. I will continue to read Sayers but this is a great listen, well, sort of, hearing about hell and some of it is beyond gruesome is never great. Also if you use the Williams audio there is a wonderful PDF supplement which I am printing for our book club meeting....more
I read this and all of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's diaries when I was a young wife. They were somewhat guides to life for me as a young bride. A guide fro
I read this and all of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's diaries when I was a young wife. They were somewhat guides to life for me as a young bride. A guide from someone in tune to her inner and outer life. It is no surprise that the older I get the further back into the book I find insights. That is how it was written. This time I especially enjoyed the add-on chapter Gift from the Sea re-opened. Especially this passage:
"When I wrote Gift from the Sea, I was still in the stage of life called "the oyster bed," symbol of a spreading family and growing children. The oyster bed, as the tide of life ebbed and the children went away to school, college, marriage, or careers, was left high and dry. A most uncomfortable stage followed, not sufficiently anticipated and barely hinted at in any book. In bleak honesty it can only be called 'the abandoned shell." Plenty of solitude, and a sudden panic at how to fill it, characterize this period. With me, it was not a question of simply filling up the space or the time. I had many activities and even a well-established vocation to pursue. But when a mother is left, the lone hub of a wheel, with no other lives revolving around her, she faces total re-orientation. It takes time to re-find the center of gravity."
It was especially helpful to hear this because, one, she did have a creative vocation before her empty nest and yet, she still experienced the shift and two, she acknowledges that there is not even a hint of this among other women and books. We don't like to admit that this transition is the hardest thing we have ever faced. We know it is natural and even good, but it is still a seismic shift in our lives.
This rereading was done for our November book club meeting....more
Two years ago, I was on a panel where I was asked what my 'heart book' was. I really hate that term but I remembered how deeply touched I was many yeaTwo years ago, I was on a panel where I was asked what my 'heart book' was. I really hate that term but I remembered how deeply touched I was many years ago as a young mother by reading Kristin Lavransdatter and so I said it was my 'heart book.' I got some push back from some people after saying that so I decided to reread it using the newer translation in audio while following along in my older physical book.
I am utterly speechless at the power and beauty of this last volume. No other book has every touched me this way. Of course, Kristin had 8 sons and so do I. Every single one of her thoughts and fears felt like they were ripped out of my own heart. The utter difficulty of reaching your children with the great love (and all the fears) you have for them without sweeping them away with your emotions seeps out of paragraph after paragraph and so in the end a mother must release her children and step away while still encouraging them and helping them.
I listened to most of the ending of the book on the way to church this morning and I was too wrecked to really tune into the service. Truly, I can say that this book has touched me like no other book ever has and I am unable to write the words that would praise this book enough....more
Kristin Lavransdatter begins to pick up the pace with The Mistress of Husaby. The writing is beautiful. As a mother of 8 sons, I think Kristin's refleKristin Lavransdatter begins to pick up the pace with The Mistress of Husaby. The writing is beautiful. As a mother of 8 sons, I think Kristin's reflections and thoughts on motherhood are straight out of our own hearts. At times wrenching, at other times maddening, by the time we get to The Mistress of Husaby we understand why this trilogy won the Noble Prize for Literature. If you lost interest while reading The Bridal Wreath. Keep going. This is WRITING....more
I have read Tolkien's Sir Gawain translation many times and will probably read it again this month for our book club, but this poetic translation by SI have read Tolkien's Sir Gawain translation many times and will probably read it again this month for our book club, but this poetic translation by Simon Armitage is outstanding in my unscholarly opinion. Perhaps it was the suberb narration. You could really imagine this as a poem that was recited over and over again around those rings of fire. Bill Wallis not only read the translation in a lilting northern accent but then he turned around and read the original.
I found the whole experience exceedingly lovely, hence the 5 stars....more
Thomas Howard has written an entirely accessible guide to understanding the entirely unaccessible but highly delightful, Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. Thomas Howard has written an entirely accessible guide to understanding the entirely unaccessible but highly delightful, Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. You can find a video of Howard discussing the premise of this book here: https://youtu.be/fnTqmpti6So. It is a winsome video which offers a new voice in which to read this volume. If you are going to read Eliot then you are going to want to read this too....more
Our book club read this as a quick December read. Our other recent books had been pretty stiff reading. This was a delightful departure. Yes, Dickens Our book club read this as a quick December read. Our other recent books had been pretty stiff reading. This was a delightful departure. Yes, Dickens knows Christmas! ...more
This book was much easier going than I expected it to be. For those wondering, I used the Lowrie edition recommend by Tim McIntosh from the Close ReadThis book was much easier going than I expected it to be. For those wondering, I used the Lowrie edition recommend by Tim McIntosh from the Close Reads Podcast. I had never read Kierkegaard before and I am still not sure what to think. The book did not feel profound to me so I am guessing, as easy as it was to read, I missed a lot. I am looking forward to our book discussion because the book did cause me to consider some things about Abraham and Isaac that I might not have been willing to think about before.
I would love to find some lectures on Kierkegaard and then maybe return to this later. ...more
Practical and spiritual, this book is a wonderful introduction to incorporating some of St. Benedict's practices into our ordinary lives. Completely uPractical and spiritual, this book is a wonderful introduction to incorporating some of St. Benedict's practices into our ordinary lives. Completely uplifting without a smidgen of legalism or guilt. Wonderful. This was my first book by Esther de Waal but not my last.