Book one: When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams
I'm not even finished with this book but I know already that I will be buying it and reading it again. It's
about women, mothers, grandmothers, and who we are and what we've become. It's about birds, life and death, and it's about silence and secrets.
She writes: "When we don't listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don't, others will abandon us".
This book is about love and wilderness and men. It's about us.
Book two: Claiming Ground by Laura Bell
Kentucky girl gone sheepherder. In solitude and lonely vistas, high up on the Wyoming prairie, tending sheep, with horses and a dog for companionship, you get the feeling that those things are all she needs and wants at this time in her life. Laura is soul searching.
Her description of the landscape and her thoughts are genuine, poetic and personal. She's invited you into her sheep wagon and you stay, unseen, listening to the stillness and wondering what her tomorrow will bring. I haven't stopped talking about this book since I read it two years ago.
Book three: Weekends With O 'Keefe by C.S. Merrill
Georgia O 'Keefe is one of my favorite artists. But, she's more than a great painter. From what I've read about her, she was strong, independent, curious and a loner.
The author of this book, Carol Merrill, wanted so badly to meet O' Keefe, she wrote her a letter asking to do just that. They meet at the gate of the famous Ghost Ranch home, and one hour of aquaintance turns into years of weekends spent in Georgia's presence. If you've ever wanted to know what Georgia O' Keefe was really like, what her home was like inside, the food she ate, what music she listened to, her favorite books, then these journal entries by C.S. Merrill are really interesting and revealing. She is lucky to have gotten to spend more than the promised hour with such an amazing woman.
Book four: The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich
This beautiful little book is my first introduction to what the REAL Wyoming is all about. Gretel depicts life in the west so accurately and honestly. You get a history and geology lesson of this old, wide open and mountainous state. She's living and working among ranchers, cattle and sheepherders under harsh weather and circumstances. Gretel writes like a poet, looks like a tanned cowgirl and smells of sage.
Book five: The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton
By now, I think everyone has heard of this book. Especially if you live out west. Shreve's adventure started out by riding a scooter cross country, fell in love with the Wyoming landscape, and promptly made her home there. I don't want to spoil her story if you've not had the pleasure of reading this book yet. After you read The Daily Coyote, and you MUST read it, you will be enamoured with Shreve and her interesting, (to say the least), life.
Book six: Winter: Notes from Montana by Rick Bass
Rick and his girlfriend are isolated in a cabin without electricity or running water. (No phones, no pool, no pets). If you enjoy rustic cabins, remoteness, find joy in splitting wood (as Rick does) and watching snow fall, then next winter, stoke your own fire, curl up with this book and you'll love wintertime even more, especially if it's snowing.
Book seven: Inside Passage: Living with Killer Whales, Bald Eagles and Kwakiutl Indians
by Michael Modzelewski
Alaska has always intrigued me and I've had the opportunity to explore many parts of that great land. My father told me about this book fifteen years ago, and that's when I read it. What an impact it had on me back then! It's a pilgrimage he chooses to take. To seek out beauty in that area.To be alone in the Alaska wilderness. I can't share with you any details except for the prevalence of the orca whales and the way he writes struck a chord with me. I'll read it again and we'll talk about it some other time.
What are you reading these days?
PS: The bracelet went to Zenrain. (Hi Marabeth!)
j
