2007 books

[peteryoung]

19) Barry Lopez, Winter Count, 1982
A collection of nine short tales, mostly autobiographical but a few of them fiction, that focus on small events leading up to larger revelations of the natural world. Lopez's writing on nature isn't as prosaic as that of Annie Dillard, for instance, but it is equally personal and he is at his best when exploring the mystical in nature, such as the death song of a herd of buffalo, the mystic who discovers how to levitate stones, and the strange case of the disappearing river. I've only read one of Lopez's other books (the brief but hard-hitting The Rediscovery of North America), and I prefer his more eclectic and rational style to something like the supernatural excesses of, say, Lyall Watson. Recommended.

words of the day
eleemosynary (adj.): of or pertaining to alms or almsgiving; charitable.
sharawadji (n.): a graceful disorder.