The Living Mountain by Nan ShepherdMy 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.
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