“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who will stand in this holy place?” Psalm 24:3Those interested in mystical spirituality might like this poetic essay on the mystery of suffering. Annie Dillard, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” writes from a Christian pers...
An accurate synopsis of good portions of this book might be as follows: descriptions of unusual and unmistakably grotesque insect behaviors delivered amidst often overly poetic observations of nature. Yet, while that might describe a sizable chunk of the work, it does not do justice to the rest ...
A perfect book to end the year, I have to say that I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this memoir. I know that makes it sound terrible, but while I enjoyed the other book by Annie Dillard that I read (Pilgrims at Tinker Creek), I didn't love like I loved this one. This one really affe...
I have to admit that when I picked this up I was expecting something like Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird", a contemplation of the writing life. But this is actually a book of literary criticism, and, sadly, of the deadly kind.Not that it's not well-written. It's Annie Dillard; it's perfectly written...
Annie Dilliard writes some amazing sentences. So I found The Writing Life to be a fascinating look into the workings of her process. This isn't a how-to guide, but it will inspire writers, no matter where they are in the process (of writing and of becoming a published writer). Some of the pass...
There is a laugh out loud essay about Catholic mass and polar explorers that is so perfect. I love it so much, and laugh out loud every time I read about the bumbling way we worship especially in mass, comparable to the way 19th century explorers fumbled through the arctic, without succumbing or...
Seeing the open pits in the open air, among farms, is the wonder, and seeing the bodies twist free from the soil. The sight of a cleaned clay soldier upright in a museum case is unremarkable, and this is all that future generations will see. No one will display those men crushed beyond repair; no...
Towards the conclusion of Annie Dillard's novel, The Maytrees, a character contemplates writing a book-length poem. He chooses "There Will Be a Sea Battle Tomorrow" for his title. Dillard points out that he's referencing Aristotle's problem - basically, how true are statements about the future? I...
from AN EXPEDITION TO THE POLE:God does not demand that we give up our personal dignity, that we throw in our lot with random people, that we lose ourselves and turn from all that is not him. God needs nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is a life with God which demands...
Since creative nonfiction is what I write and teach, I find myself trying to study, more and more, the origins of the genre. In particular, I'm looking for the crossovers between memoirs and essays. I have plenty of collections of essays, and so I read this 1995 anthology of memoir excerpts edite...
The lead is a tall, square-jawed teen-aged boy, buoyant and glad to be here. He carries a guitar; he plucks out a little bluesy riff and hits some chords. With him are the rest of the Wildflowers. There is an old woman, wonderfully determined; she has long orange hair and is dressed country-and-w...
It interested me especially for a totemic brown water stain on a sloping plaster wall. The stain looked like a square-rigged ship heeled over in a storm. I examined this ship for many months. It was a painting, not a drawing; it had no lines, only forms awash, which rose faintly from the plaster ...
—HERACLITUS I USED TO HAVE A cat, an old fighting tom, who would jump through the open window by my bed in the middle of the night and land on my chest. I’d half awaken. He’d stick his skull under my nose and purr, stinking of urine and blood. Some nights he kneaded my bare chest with his front p...
Bands are playing; people walk with their children and take pictures. The Chinese writers, the UCLA Chinese-American writers’ conference hosts, and Allen Ginsberg and I—for we stayed on to accompany our foreign guests—have just seen the film America the Beautiful. Along with the standard scenic t...