Authors Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney have similar, or at least compatible writing styles: meditative, super-smart and humorous, deeply self-aware, and literary without feeling academic. I think they've even collaborated on a poetry book together. It worked out well to read two of their books in tandem over this past week. Gabbert's The Unreality of... Continue Reading →
On the Trail of the Snow Leopard: Sylvain Tesson’s Latest in English
Is it ungodly hot where you are, like it's been in New York City these last weeks? Then let's go freeze our asses off in Tibet with French author Sylvain Tesson. One of my favorite authors (especially in translation), Tesson's latest book, 2019's award-winning La panthère des neiges, is published in English next week as... Continue Reading →
Walking England: To the River and Under the Rock
Writers on walking stretches of England, weaving memoir with nature and various musings, has become a popular little sub-genre. I'm intrigued but not totally sold on it yet. Let's explore two of them. "When it hurts," wrote the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, "we return to the banks of certain rivers," and I take comfort in... Continue Reading →
Nature, Buddhism, and Philosophy from Gretel Ehrlich
Book review: Islands, the Universe, Home, by Gretel Ehrlich (Amazon / Book Depository)“Some days I think this one place isn’t enough. That’s when nothing is enough, when I want to live multiple lives and have the know-how and guts to love without limits. Those days, like today, I walk with a purpose but no destination.... Continue Reading →
Nonfiction Classic: A “Young Writer’s Book” on the Natural World
Book review: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard (Amazon / Book Depository) I used to have a cat, an old fighting tom, who would jump through the open window by my bed in the middle of the night and land on my chest ... And some mornings I’d wake in daylight to find my... Continue Reading →
Rhapsodizing Blue
Book review: Bluets, by Maggie Nelson (Amazon / Book Depository) Last night I wept in a way I haven’t wept for some time. I wept until I aged myself. I watched it happen in the mirror. I watched the lines arrive around my eyes like engraved sunbursts; it was like watching flowers open in time-lapse... Continue Reading →
The Road Will Always Open Before You: Business and Life Lessons from Nobu’s Heart
Book review: Nobu, by Nobu Matsuhisa Along the way, I have faced some major stumbling blocks. But each time, I have managed to overcome them. Whenever I hit an obstacle, I search for a solution and carry on. Gradually, the hurdles that appear before me have become smaller. I find that if I plow ahead,... Continue Reading →