I need something to read, and this is what I have loved.
August 13, 2024 5:11 PM Subscribe
Any suggestions?
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard,
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan,
Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean,
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald,
Annie Proulx,
Kathleen Jamie,
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami,
John McPhee, anything.
Not sure what these have in common, but most are of outdoors, what else?
Thx
That's a fascinating list. I see a thread running through it of journeys, the outdoors, yes, and a kind of meditative or introspective slant.
Perhaps try A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor and The Old Ways by by Robert Macfarlane.
posted by minervous at 5:37 PM on August 13 [2 favorites]
Perhaps try A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor and The Old Ways by by Robert Macfarlane.
posted by minervous at 5:37 PM on August 13 [2 favorites]
I find Sue Hubbell delights me in much the same way as John McPhee - I can recommend A Country Year and A Book of Bees for sure; I think I read and liked Far-flung Hubbell as well.
posted by kristi at 6:05 PM on August 13
posted by kristi at 6:05 PM on August 13
It sounds like you like books at the intersection of creative nonfiction and nature/environmental writing. You might like Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames by Lara Maiklem; you might like Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake; I bet you could find something good in Lighthouse Bookshop's list of rooted memoirs.
posted by Jeanne at 6:08 PM on August 13 [2 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 6:08 PM on August 13 [2 favorites]
I recently re-read My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George as an adult and was delighted to see it still stood up. Yes, it is a middle-grade book, but I think it would probably go very well with the other books you enjoyed.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:30 PM on August 13
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:30 PM on August 13
You should read Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez, it's non-fiction, in nature, and he just sees things incredibly well.
posted by lhputtgrass at 7:09 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
posted by lhputtgrass at 7:09 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
A great list, ebesan! I'm following everyone's recs with interest... Here are a few others to consider:
The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
Waterlog - Rogers Deakin
The Old Ways - Robert Macfarlane
Ring of Bright Water - Gavin Maxwell
The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck
The City of Falling Angels - John Berendt
Sailboat Tramp - Tom Chricton
The Overstory - Richard Powers
Wildwood - Rogers Deakin
The Cider House Rules - John Irving
The Perfect Golden Circle - Benjamin Myers
posted by Text TK at 8:06 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
Waterlog - Rogers Deakin
The Old Ways - Robert Macfarlane
Ring of Bright Water - Gavin Maxwell
The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck
The City of Falling Angels - John Berendt
Sailboat Tramp - Tom Chricton
The Overstory - Richard Powers
Wildwood - Rogers Deakin
The Cider House Rules - John Irving
The Perfect Golden Circle - Benjamin Myers
posted by Text TK at 8:06 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
I bet you'd be into Gretel Ehrlich!
posted by attentionplease at 8:53 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
posted by attentionplease at 8:53 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]
Tracks by Robyn Davidson. It actually started as an article for National Geographic; Davidson was doing a solo trek across Australia on camelback, and NG decided to do a piece on it. The book is an expansion of the article (which I loved as a kid; the book includes a few more adult details, like a confession that she hooked up with the NG photographer a couple times).
Also: I feel like Tim Cahill's book Road Fever might also appeal even though it's a little different. It's more automotive adventure than outdoorsy adventure; Cahill was one of a team of two people tapped to try to set a new Guinness Record for fastest time driving the pan-American highway from Argentina to Alaska. So there wasn't as much time for low-key exploration. But there are some really funny bits; there's a point in the book where the both of their minds snap at the same moment and they dissolve into completely hysterical laughter about something totally stupid, and I had to put the book down and collect myself as well.
If you'd rather stick to more "outdoors" stuff, though, Cahill's other work is more firmly in that vein; he's a contributor to Outside magazine and has a humor perspective on things. His other books are mostly anthologies with tongue-in-cheek titles like Jaguars Ripped My Flesh or Pecked To Death By Ducks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:19 AM on August 14 [2 favorites]
Also: I feel like Tim Cahill's book Road Fever might also appeal even though it's a little different. It's more automotive adventure than outdoorsy adventure; Cahill was one of a team of two people tapped to try to set a new Guinness Record for fastest time driving the pan-American highway from Argentina to Alaska. So there wasn't as much time for low-key exploration. But there are some really funny bits; there's a point in the book where the both of their minds snap at the same moment and they dissolve into completely hysterical laughter about something totally stupid, and I had to put the book down and collect myself as well.
If you'd rather stick to more "outdoors" stuff, though, Cahill's other work is more firmly in that vein; he's a contributor to Outside magazine and has a humor perspective on things. His other books are mostly anthologies with tongue-in-cheek titles like Jaguars Ripped My Flesh or Pecked To Death By Ducks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:19 AM on August 14 [2 favorites]
(One belated caveat about Tim Cahill's books - there is one exception to the outdoors work, he apparently did a bio of John Wayne Gacy and I think that this is something you would NOT enjoy)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:20 AM on August 14 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:20 AM on August 14 [1 favorite]
Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future, Gloria Dickie
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures, Sabrina Imbler
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth, Elizabeth Rush
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, Kevin Fedarko
posted by box at 4:38 AM on August 14
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures, Sabrina Imbler
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth, Elizabeth Rush
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, Kevin Fedarko
posted by box at 4:38 AM on August 14
Stiff-upper-lip like Cherry-Garrard:
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (1958) by Eric Newby
Brazilian Adventure (1933) by Peter Fleming . . . in search of the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett.
Outpost: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth (2019) by Dan Richards
Scots poets just fishin':
At the Loch of the Green Corrie (2010) by Andrew Grieg
[he publ A Flame in your Heart with Kathleen Jamie (Bloodaxe 1987)]
Sometime in the mid-90s Grieg and Norman MacCaig were getting drunk together again and, in his cups, the young fella asked The Master what was his favourite place in all the world. MacCaig replied "Assynt".
"I know it's Assynt, but where in Assynt? what's your favourite place?"
"I think that would have to be the Loch of the Green Corrie. Only it's not called that . . ."
Game on!
Poet in landscape like Kathleen Jamie:
Thin Places (2021) by Kerri nà Dochartaigh
posted by BobTheScientist at 4:51 AM on August 14
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (1958) by Eric Newby
Brazilian Adventure (1933) by Peter Fleming . . . in search of the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett.
Outpost: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth (2019) by Dan Richards
Scots poets just fishin':
At the Loch of the Green Corrie (2010) by Andrew Grieg
[he publ A Flame in your Heart with Kathleen Jamie (Bloodaxe 1987)]
Sometime in the mid-90s Grieg and Norman MacCaig were getting drunk together again and, in his cups, the young fella asked The Master what was his favourite place in all the world. MacCaig replied "Assynt".
"I know it's Assynt, but where in Assynt? what's your favourite place?"
"I think that would have to be the Loch of the Green Corrie. Only it's not called that . . ."
Game on!
Poet in landscape like Kathleen Jamie:
Thin Places (2021) by Kerri nà Dochartaigh
posted by BobTheScientist at 4:51 AM on August 14
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
posted by el_presidente at 5:22 AM on August 14
posted by el_presidente at 5:22 AM on August 14
Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen.
posted by Bourbonesque at 7:06 AM on August 14
posted by Bourbonesque at 7:06 AM on August 14
These very excellent suggestions so far have leaned heavily on the nature/travel angle of your list, but I'm going to offer two slightly different directions.
Based on your mention of Annie Proulx, I'm going to suggest Sweetland by Michael Crummey for its ability to completely transport the reader to a particular place that they will inhabit as if born there for the duration of the book.
Similarly PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon (who wrote the afore recommended Blue Highways) evokes McPhee's ability to tell deep history, again of a very particular place, by elucidating the stories of seemingly mundane residents whose own histories have shaped and are shaped by that place.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:38 AM on August 14 [1 favorite]
Based on your mention of Annie Proulx, I'm going to suggest Sweetland by Michael Crummey for its ability to completely transport the reader to a particular place that they will inhabit as if born there for the duration of the book.
Similarly PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon (who wrote the afore recommended Blue Highways) evokes McPhee's ability to tell deep history, again of a very particular place, by elucidating the stories of seemingly mundane residents whose own histories have shaped and are shaped by that place.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:38 AM on August 14 [1 favorite]
Seconding Gretel Erlich, especially Match to the Heart!
posted by kitten kaboodle at 9:42 PM on August 16
posted by kitten kaboodle at 9:42 PM on August 16
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posted by PinkMoose at 5:30 PM on August 13 [3 favorites]