I was surprised Proulx was into this and had a book on it. It has some good reviews on the river site and elsewhere. The New Yorker has an excerpt and an audio version of it.
Proulx has a list of non fiction titles having to do with botany, gardening, etc. It was good to see. I started her Barkskins once but didn’t get far. Novels are tough for me to get into when there is so much nonfiction of interest. I was astonished to see just now that there was a Barkskins (TV_series). It didn’t last but I never would have guessed TV would be interested in such a premise.
Helen Macdonald “Prophet”, a new novel
Helen Macdonald has a new novel coming out called Prophet. It sounds commercial but she is a hell of a writer so maybe it will catch on.
I downloaded an audio version of her Vesper Flights this week and listened to a bit of it. She can certainly turn a phrase and I am liking what I have heard so far. She narrates her own work and is very good at it. Some audio books I have heard sound machine generated but she can insert emotion into her words like an actor can. Maybe she had training but it is nice to hear an author invested in their own work that way. Compare it to the Proulx audio article above to see what I mean.
The river site has 1300 positive reviews which is a very strong reception for a natural history book. As usual, some of the negative reviews are highly entertaining.
Both authors are friends of the blog and Steve.
You need to read H is for Hawk, if you haven’t already done so. Can’t say enough about it.
I read it not long after it was out. I was expecting more falconry.