Review 460: Soul of Nowhere

Soul of Nowhere by Craig Childs
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The book is mostly a group of essays, no plot or forward movement. Each chapter is a new location, where Childs walks and climbs around these desolate areas, primarily in the desert, where people used to live. Sometimes one other person is with him, or several, occasionally he goes alone.

They find remnants of past lives, typically broken bits of pottery, and on a rare occasion a pot that is unbroken. There are other signs. It starts with the cliff dwellers, so they explore a few of these homes high up on the cliffs. They do not take these objects, they put back exactly as found when picked up. Only sketches are taken, some are replicated in the book.

Childs writing style is dense with imagery but sparse on story. We don’t know what he does for a living other than wandering around these desert locales. He goes out for not days, but weeks at a time, and occasionally alone. Sometimes he provides the smallest bit of information about who his companions are - his wife, a friend, but not himself; he purposefully wants the focus to be on the land and the past. The land is harsh, difficult terrain and finding a way through, or a path, that appears to be their purpose. They also battle extreme weather, cold or very hot, and often with little food or water.

The last essay Childs comes to the essence of himself, or the land, and he is changed. It’s one of those times he is alone, later his wife meets him with food, which he has been low on for days, and very little water which he’s been rationing so little that he has been having slight hallucinations.

There was something here that was missing, perhaps the autobiographical material, or what exactly was he doing out there? This lack, this elusive substance, made the writing hard to get into, or find a way in. The essays seem to be repeating the same scenario, except for the last one, although that one too has similarities to the others. I had attempted to read this book before, many years ago, but didn’t get past page 27. At least this time I completed it.

Review 459: The Living Mountain

The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Quite enjoyed the language and description of the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland by Nan Shepherd.

This is listed as book four in a series, yet I'm not sure the connection between these four. I did read the first, and it was a fictional account, mostly biographical of Nan Shepherd growing up in a small village and misunderstood for wanting to be educated and literary. My understanding is this book is the only non-fiction book in the group, which puzzles me why it is included.

Nevertheless, this is a wonderful lyrical book about Shepherd's local mountains and what nature is there; how it changes during seasons, the light and water, the fauna, well everything you'd find there, and even of other people (briefly). While reading the book I could picture the place so well, nearly finding myself there in the mountains. The senses are fully described in her writing.

The publishers didn't want to touch the book when it was first written, they weren't sure what to do with it, apparently nature writing wasn't done. But years later in the late 1970s they did publish the book, thankfully. The edition I had was an audiobook with a long afterward written by Jeanette Winterson. The audiobook was narrated by Tilda Swinton which was just perfectly done.

The book is on the short side, but perhaps that will mean I will return and reread this book. It is another one of those books that you can enjoy multiple times and get more out of the rereading. I must try to do just that.

Review 458: The Vaster Wilds

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gorgeous writing in this book! Takes place in the pre-America time, when the first settlers came and tried to establish a colony. They are dying of starvation and disease. A girl escapes and runs, runs through the woods and the vast wilderness hoping to reach the French. The journey is the tale, nature was unknown to her and now in full force.

The girl is not named, later as she is running there is backstory, discovering the story of her life how she came to be in that dying fort. As a servant that came from an orphanage she had several names, but none she felt were true to herself.

As she runs and gets more injured and yet still carries on, it is amazing at the force of her own nature. She derives her will from nature as well.

There are layers within the book, and the ending provides several interpretations. I could see this being read again and getting more out of the material. I don’t reread often, there are so many other books…

Review 457: Day

Day by Michael Cunningham
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

There’s something about this book, the characters, that I really couldn’t connect to, and I felt distant. Maybe it had to do with how they were introduced, well you were thrown in like you knew who these people were and only later, after some interactions and such, it is revealed how they are related or who they are. It threw me off a little.

There are a few sections where the dialog lacks the tags of names or he/she said, which maybe flows better, but I lost track of who was saying what and had to go back over it a couple of times. This would be no problem in an audiobook, but I read the print.

Then there’s the six-year-old girl who is learning her alphabet. She writes this letter to her parents about keeping the windows closed and a longer letter to her uncle. Isn’t she learning how to read? There are these little things, and how you are made to keep guessing, not put down exactly what’s going on; it didn’t help for me to connect with the story.

I will say the writing quality is solid, it is a well written book as far as language and sentence structure. The plot is how I expected, as the title suggests, just one day, so we get minutia and dailyness that honestly got a bit tedious in the first section.

For me this was just okay, not great and certainly not bad. I wonder if I had listened to the audio if the book would have gone better for me, perhaps.

Review 456: Tartans: Pleasures and Treasures

Tartans: Pleasures and Treasures by Christian Hesketh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

finally finished this short book.

quite informative about tartans and kilts. I hope to add some additional notes.

Review 455: Clear

Clear by Carys Davies
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Initial short review:
A fairly short book, but powerful.
More thoughts on this one soon.

Fuller review:

An introspective novel set in the 1840s during the time of the clearances in Scotland. John, a minister who is part of the newly split Scottish Church, establishing the Scottish Free Church. Since this new church is poor John cannot provide for his wife Mary and takes on extra work, such as this job he agreed on, to remove the last tenant from a remote island, as it could pay well.

Shortly after arriving on the island John falls off a cliff. Ivar, the tenant finds him unconscious and brings him back to his home, helping to restore him back to health. Once awake it took some time for the two to understand each other, not only did John need to continue to heal, but they spoke different languages.

It’s a short novel and contains mostly thoughts of one or the other. We also get Mary, John’s wife, although she is not the main focus. I quite enjoyed her character and wished for more of her.

The book, the language is beautiful despite all of the hardship and upheaval. My initial thoughts were this was a powerful book and perhaps due to it being short, but after finishing it, I did want it to go on.