Wondering what to give that hard-to-shop-for reader on your Christmas list?
I’d be pleased if you’d consider giving one or more of either (or both) of my books, Slow Road Home ~ a blue ridge book of days or What We Hold In Our Hands: a Slow Road Reader.
Both have in common that they contain short (700 word average) readings across a wide variety of topics and voices. There are personal narratives of time spent in the garden or the woodlot and the reflections that pleasant solitude and good work inspire. More than a few of the selections reflect my long history as a biology watcher, and without being purely pedantic, teach something you probably didn’t know about the living world.
Since my writing (and most of Slow Road) took place at an important transition in my life where, for a time, I simply lived here for my living, there are more than a few musings about our relationship to place, the role of solitude and slowing down on the way we see the world, and a self-awareness that doesn’t come from full immersion in career and the race to amass mere things.
Some will make you laugh; a few may make you cry. Hopefully, all will leave you feeling you’ve seen the world through the eyes of a folk-writing intentional-liver whose perspective makes you re-examine your own place in time and the landscape with new eyes.
I had a memorable experience recently at a large gathering where I had a book table. A name of a physician I’d heard from a Floyd friend was said to be at this event, and I asked to be introduced, since we had a good friend in common.
“Oh, I know you” he said. “in fact, I have Slow Road Home now for a couple of years. I’ve read it through a few times. It sits on the book rack in the john.”
I considered this a great compliment. Some of the world’s most absorbing reading happens on the porcelain reading chair. So. Either book is a bathroom reader–a Beach reader–or a Bedside-table book. You decide.
And I’ll provide samples here over the coming week or two–to help you get moving.
Or if you already have the impulse to know more, go here. Or print the order form and mail it tomorrow, I’ll put your signed (and inscribed if requested) books in the mail within 24 hours. You can pay by paypal, check or cash. Keep an independent author online and in print and order direct!
Thanks to those who have already ordered, your books are on the way!
