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Wild Comfort: The Sola...
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Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature
In an effort to make sense of the deaths in quick succession of several loved ones, Kathleen Dean Moore turned to the comfort of the wild, making a series of solitary excursions into ancient forests, wild rivers, remote deserts, and windswept islands to learn what the environment could teach her in her time of pain. This book is the record of her experiences. It’s a stunn
...moreebook, 0 pages
Published
March 9th 2010
by Shambhala Publications, Inc.
(first published 2010)
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I have to confess up front: I was afraid to read this book. Not because I don't know and love Moore's thinking and writing; I do. Her essay "Testimony of the Marsh," from her book Holdfast is one of my favorites ever. I teach it in my creative writing workshops as an example of how to use lyrical nature writing to reveal truths at the heart of life. So I picked up Wild Comfort in delighted anticipation, until I read in the "Introduction,"
"I had set out to write a different book. I had begun to...more
"I had set out to write a different book. I had begun to...more
I know/know of Kathleen Dean Moore (she was on the board of an organization I worked for) and she is a lovely person and writer. Her gentle yet fierce spirit just exudes from this book, which I started eagerly and initially could not put down. I yearned, though, for change in the speaker, a narrative arc, such as you might find in a memoir or novel or even a book of linked essays: the writer's growth from gladness to sorrow. We learn on the book jacket, no spoiler, that she has written Wild Comf...more
I usually don't enjoy books that attempt to be about finding comfort in nature for some reason-- I liken the feeling to the dread when that well-meaning but somewhat pushy friend INSISTS that what you need right now is a hug, when they know you're not a hugger. That forced embrace is what most writers trying to paint the "nature heals us all" picture do for me. But Kathleen Dean Moore is different. Here is a beautifully written and humble book that truly captures the feeling of grieving, and see...more
Kathleen Moore writes beautifully! Each chapter has many quotable observations such as this: "The advancing edge of waves gathered moonlight and pushed it toward land. The line of light wavered there, shaking in the wind, then slid out to sea. And so it was, up and down the beach, a rim of light riding in on the swash and slipping back into the night. I was happy then, standing in the surge with lines of moonlight catching on my rubber boots. This is something that needs explaining, how light em...more
Excellent series of essays about the solace to be found in nature. Great read for springtime.
Passages I liked:
"I don't know what despair is, if it's something or nothing, a kind of filling up or an emptying out. I don't know what sorrow does to the world, what it adds or takes away. What I think I do know now is that sorrow is part of the Earth's great cycles..."
"This is something that needs explaining, how light emerges from darkness, how comfort wells up from sorrow. The Earth holds every pos...more
Passages I liked:
"I don't know what despair is, if it's something or nothing, a kind of filling up or an emptying out. I don't know what sorrow does to the world, what it adds or takes away. What I think I do know now is that sorrow is part of the Earth's great cycles..."
"This is something that needs explaining, how light emerges from darkness, how comfort wells up from sorrow. The Earth holds every pos...more
"Do not be surprised that the return of the light lifts your spirits. Do not be surprised that warmth on your back calms you and makes you glad. Feel your spirits lift as the sun rises higher in the sky: this is part of you, this snaky gladness, part of who you have been for a million years. Find the warm places; do not expect them to come to you. When you find them, stay there and be still. Be still and watchful. In this quiet, taste the air. Lick up the taste of it. Listen. Listen with the ful...more
Enjoyed this one, especially all the natural places and experiences the author shares. It's clear she's very intentional about spending time in wild settings -- I take this as exhortation.
My favorite quote was this: p. 36 "To be worthy of the astonishing world, a sense of wonder will be a way of life, in every place and time, no matter how familiar: to listen in the dark of every night, to praise the mystery of every returning day, to be astonished again and again, to be grateful with an intens...more
My favorite quote was this: p. 36 "To be worthy of the astonishing world, a sense of wonder will be a way of life, in every place and time, no matter how familiar: to listen in the dark of every night, to praise the mystery of every returning day, to be astonished again and again, to be grateful with an intens...more
Oregon State University Philosophy Professor, Kathleen Dean Moore, wrote this book last year shortly after several of her friends and family had passed on. She found herself torn and meditative over these deaths and mentored herself by nature and senses. She had myrad reflections that encompassed all living forms as well as earth's minerals. Her sense of smell was intriguing. It felt like an extrasensory journey. Plus it had a special interest because she spent time in many Northwest spots with...more
Damn amazing prose......this is a stunning book. Not just for the grieving, but for the living who love Nature and its many solaces, lovers who know how to just spend time together, for that is, ultimately, her message to everyone who peruses these pages--be a lover of Nature and what it can teach us about our place in the beauty. Do read her intro first--it is the opening premise and an important one. Really a beautiful find.
There were several essays that really struck me with beautiful writing and thinking--the essay about snakes in springtime was so beautiful. One favorite passage:
"For how smart we think we are, how facile with words, we don't have a word for this feeling, the feeling of being blessed by belonging. If the universe is an unfolding bud, then I am a part of its creative surge, along with the flowing of water and the growing of pines. I can find a kind of camaraderie in this universe, once I recover f...more
"For how smart we think we are, how facile with words, we don't have a word for this feeling, the feeling of being blessed by belonging. If the universe is an unfolding bud, then I am a part of its creative surge, along with the flowing of water and the growing of pines. I can find a kind of camaraderie in this universe, once I recover f...more
A small book from an Oregon author on the comfort of nature. Short essays come together to help the author cope with her grief in a year of losing many loved one's. Her writing style is beautiful, making you feel as if you are sitting right next to her in that kayak on a dark lake, hiking through the old growth forest, the smell of earth around you. A beautiful work of art.
This was a thoughtful and challenging read as it originates from the author's grief. Dean Moore is a keen observer of the natural world. She looks at nature through the lens of a philosopher to arrive at a place of grace. I found this book to be uncomfortable at times but also powerful. I'm ultimately glad I stayed with it.
This was a beautifully written, poetic collection of nature essays. The author is a philosophy professor, and I loved the philosophical rumblings of many of the essays. I am interested in finding more of her writings & now planning a trip to Mt. St. Helens. Reading was a bit slow for my - the essays are beautiful and thought-provoking, so I wanted to savor and mull over them. Recommended.
The book is described as being a collection that grew from the author's grief a several people she knew p...more
The book is described as being a collection that grew from the author's grief a several people she knew p...more
Wild Comfort is reminiscent of Annie Dillard's classic Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Moore does not look at nature in a new way, but she does explain how nature may ease the grief one feels over the loss of a friend or loved one.
This book spoke to the way that I look at nature around me. I felt a connection to the authors zeal for nature, she paints for all of my senses with the simple arrangement of her words on the page.
One of my favorite authors.. She brings the sense of nature/life to a feeling within- to a meaning to the self : and allows the reader to see how death has a proper/ necessary position in all.
Some very nice imagery. Moore determines to find "solace in Nature," and to some extent, she does. Two of my favorite essays: "Never Alone or Weary," Winter Geese in a Green Field."
Beautifully written book. Every time I had to put the book down to come back to reality, I was disappointed. I'm going to check out the author's other writings to see if they measure up.
this is a really good book. beautifully written, but i just didn't get that excited about it. i wish there was a bit more of her personal story throughout her musings on nature.
This was a beautiful book! I loved it, and could hardly put it down. I did not find it sad at all, it was a wonderful journey that this woman went on accepting the sorrow that sometimes comes into our life. This is something to experience, and move with, and then let it wash over and through you. Its beautiful stories of how nature held her as she was sad and healed her so that she could remember the beauty in each person that she lost (and not dwell on the sadness of losing them, but celebrate...more
A lovely meditation on what nature has to teach us about life and death. Something to savor, I think.
I really enjoyed the writing and the ideas. interactions with nature causing musings on life.
A quietly powerful selection of short essays on the healing power of nature. Kathleen Moore is an amazing writer. Strongly recommended; a great springtime book.
One of my favorite books. Poetic, philosophical, pacific northwest-- love it.
This makes a beautiful gift for other wild ones in your life.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I found the variety of stories dealing with nature, both spiritual, harsh reality and all in-between quite refreshing. I also felt the descriptions and various places comforting – I was able to picture myself in the places described and it felt like I was outdoors while reading inside. What I did not like is that this book did not seem as cohesive as I expected. It is just stories and various memories and toward the end those stories and memories are not as fl...more
Lyrical essays as the author pays attention to nature, grief, loss, hope, and joy.
Dec 22, 2011
Marianna
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-read-2011,
memoir
Beautiful writing.
Oct 15, 2012
Bea Bolinger
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
kindred-spirits
I suppose I've been reading too many self help books because when I saw this title I thought it would be a more scientific "solace from nature is" blah blah blah. Instead I was surprised and delighted with how beautifully written this book was and how it was just raw emotion. Her ability to powerfully recall a moment on a fishing trip in beautiful detail or her changing feelings as focused on the natural world around her and the moment she shared with it. Not what I was expecting but glad I read...more
Beautifully written with poetic imagery, but it never actually went anywhere. Although her writing was exemplary and incredibly expressive, it never culminated in a point of any sort.
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Environmental philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore writes about moral, spiritual, and cultural relationships to the natural world. In 2000 she founded the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State, which brings together the practical wisdom of the environmental sciences, the clarity of philosophy, and the emotive power of the written word to re-imagine humankind’s relation to the natural world. In addition...more
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I'm now on a 3rd book of this author's and just purchased another book. I'm reading them backwards. So far Wild Comfort is the best, imho.
Dec 29, 2010 01:04pm