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Things That Are
by
Amy Leach
Things That Are takes jellyfish, fainting goats, and imperturbable caterpillars as just a few of its many inspirations. In a series of essays that progress from the tiniest earth dwellers to the most far flung celestial bodies—considering the similarity of gods to donkeys, the inexorability of love and vines, the relations of exploding stars to exploding sea cucumbers—Amy...more
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
June 19th 2012
by Milkweed Editions
(first published June 12th 2012)
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I decided to read Things That Are after having the pleasure of hearing Amy Leach read from her book through a class I'm taking at university. I was absolutely smitten with her writing style and the personality that shone through as she read her own work. Things That Are is first and foremost a lovely read that is simultaneously funny, whimsical, and seriously contemplative. Her writing style is utterly unique, as she uses words in ways they've never been used before, and she does a fantastic job...more
this book is not for everyone. I feel like I should recommend it to lovers of poetry. For whom the rythym, flow of thoughts and made up words would be familiar and allow an introduction to various environmental topics.
But the content might be of interest to those who like popular science.
The main reason I gave it three stars is because I'm not sure who would like this - people who would be interested in the content (many and varied facts about the earth / animals and the universe ) might be pu...more
But the content might be of interest to those who like popular science.
The main reason I gave it three stars is because I'm not sure who would like this - people who would be interested in the content (many and varied facts about the earth / animals and the universe ) might be pu...more
Each of Amy Leach's bite-sized lyrical essays is a plunge into a rabbit hole of her own devise, yet one that feels far less like a construct than the everyday flow of Leach's mind, which must be a wonderful place to inhabit.
For instance, in “Goats and Bygone Goats,” she posits what a world of sound we’d experience if sound waves did not decay but persisted infinitely in their travels, delivering to our ears the sounds of worlds long past - "extinct toxodons, and prehistoric horses wearing potter...more
For instance, in “Goats and Bygone Goats,” she posits what a world of sound we’d experience if sound waves did not decay but persisted infinitely in their travels, delivering to our ears the sounds of worlds long past - "extinct toxodons, and prehistoric horses wearing potter...more
If I was populist I would say that Amy Leach writes like Pratchett meets Bryson. I might also say she writes like Vonnegut narrating a nature documentary.
But I am not populist and Ms Leach writes like Ms Leach. Her essays on subjects ranging from the peacefullness of the diet of the panda to how we as humans on our great Earth will look to the stars for guidance and meaning. But even then I feel I am selling this book short.
Amy Leach, it says, has an MA in creative non-fiction writing. While thi...more
But I am not populist and Ms Leach writes like Ms Leach. Her essays on subjects ranging from the peacefullness of the diet of the panda to how we as humans on our great Earth will look to the stars for guidance and meaning. But even then I feel I am selling this book short.
Amy Leach, it says, has an MA in creative non-fiction writing. While thi...more
This book is quirky and that nearly did it in for me. If you like Sarah Vowel and such you will appreciate the quirky nature of the book, but for me that was a liability. Instead what redeemed it for me was the new look at nature I came away with and the brief but profound wisdom that came through the overly conscientious prose. The essay style is not my favorite and it is an easier style to write than one with more soul, but I still appreciated it in the end. Amy Leach and certainly write, but...more
I'm only about halfway through this book, and I will write a more extensive review when I've finished, but golly. I can't wait to tell everyone to read this. People love marrying authors to describe other authors, so I will say that if Brautigan and Toni Morrison collaborated without killing each other, there would be something as magically concise and earnestly complex as 'Things That Are.' What a pleasure. I find myself smiling down at the page, circling passage after passage like a fat kid an...more
I almost never impulsively buy books I've never heard of, but "Things That Are" was an exception; flipping through it in our nearby bookstore, I was drawn to its whimsical illustrations and tiny essays on the natural world. I've heard "Things That Are" described as a modern-day "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," which I read around this past Christmas and loved. Overall, "Things That Are" did not disappoint, though I slightly preferred Amy Leach's thoughtful essays on animals and nature than her much mo...more
THINGS THAT ARE: AMY LEACH
MILKWEED 2012
HARDCOVER $18.00
Leach debuts her lexicographic survey of the world in a pleasantly sassy read, blurring taxonomy, epistemology, astrology and mythology with the tenacity of a Darwinian explorer. Tackling peas and notions of God alike, readers will find themselves tottering through her prose as complacently as her “little cream puffs” totter through meadows. Poignant and original illustrations by Nate Christopherson usher readers through this adult fairytale...more
MILKWEED 2012
HARDCOVER $18.00
Leach debuts her lexicographic survey of the world in a pleasantly sassy read, blurring taxonomy, epistemology, astrology and mythology with the tenacity of a Darwinian explorer. Tackling peas and notions of God alike, readers will find themselves tottering through her prose as complacently as her “little cream puffs” totter through meadows. Poignant and original illustrations by Nate Christopherson usher readers through this adult fairytale...more
At first I thought this book would be a collection of anecdotes and quasi-humorous asides, but at least dealing with nature, which made the idea palatable. How grievously I misjudged Amy Leach's contribution to literature!
The small vignettes found within Things That Are each contributes a small yet potent philosophical (yet biologically-rooted) re-analysis of what the natural world means to us, what it gives to us, and what it means for us to take from it. For the casual reader, most of the deli...more
The small vignettes found within Things That Are each contributes a small yet potent philosophical (yet biologically-rooted) re-analysis of what the natural world means to us, what it gives to us, and what it means for us to take from it. For the casual reader, most of the deli...more
I wasn't enchanted the first time I picked this book up. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I am just so glad that I picked it up again. Mind-bogglingly complex and simple at the same-time essays that follow the brain of a very bright and thoughtful Amy Leach. I was so sorry to have finished these essays that I went back to the beginning the minute I finished the last word.
What an exceptional loon! Amy Leach transcends both nature writing and nonfiction in this book reminiscent of Alice's Wonderland. The flow of her chapters is flawless, and I legitimately fall over myself when I attempt to articulate how delightful this book truly is.
The beauty of Amy Leach's perception translates in everything from the amoebas to the cosmos.
The beauty of Amy Leach's perception translates in everything from the amoebas to the cosmos.
Amy Leach's sentences read as if the Cocteau Twins' Elisabeth Fraser sampled a jug of white lightning then sought out the sun and stars and moon, the plant and animal and insect; inviting them all to a tea party of epic prose proportions. These essays are to be savored for their sheer linguistic delight. Word lovers rejoice, Ms. Leach is "the wild what" you knew not was missing.
Wonderfully weird, smart, quotable ("the fluff up and eat some spiders and carry on for fifteen hundred more miles to Brazil for the winter--also known as 'the summer' in Brazil," "If your couch is emitting visible light GET UP IMMEDIATELY!"), and unafraid to confront loss and death, all with fun verbiage. But it was not fluff; you do have to pay attention to her metaphors.
I am only halfway through this book, and at first I hated it. But maybe that was because I was in a bad mood. I picked it up again the next day when I was relaxed and open to new vibrations, and I like this book a lot. Each sentence pleases me, each one is a tiny treasure. This is not a book to breeze through, you must take your time and savor each paragraph.
Thanks to Amy Leach, I now know how similar I am to the warbler bird and the pea.
Thanks to Amy Leach, I now know how similar I am to the warbler bird and the pea.
Essays that read like poems. Animals that put you in mind of mythology. Mythology that puts you in mind of science. From caterpillars to galaxies, I loved every single word of this beautiful little book. A genre bending delight from start to finish and completely original. Read this book, read this book, read this book.
In these brilliant, poetic little nature essays, Amy Leach tackles everything from jellyfish to Ursa Minor, pandas, and mayflies, and love-lies-bleeding. Lovely, lovely writing, full of unexpected metaphors and the occasional flight of fancy.
This would have been a 5-star book, but I made the mistake of reading the book cover-to-cover -- I highly recommend reading this one slowly, an essay at a time, over a week or so.
This would have been a 5-star book, but I made the mistake of reading the book cover-to-cover -- I highly recommend reading this one slowly, an essay at a time, over a week or so.
A little bit shakespeare, a little bit Canterbury Tales but mostly a glistening magical set of essays that use the animal kingdom, from the teeny tiniest to out of this world huge, to tell tales of wonder about life. It's a book of poetry that is not. I will buy this book to return to over and over to savor again and again.
It took me a long time to finish this because I would read a handful of essays and then not pick the book up again for a while. But I did really enjoy reading it. My favorite essay was "God" - like many of the essays, the full impact of it is only felt as you finish it. My favorite quote, from the essay "The Round-Earth Affair": "But perhaps nature needs us like a hostage needs her captors: nature needs us not to annihilate her, not to run her over, not to cover her with cement, not to chop her...more
"I will miss the freshness of grass crushed under my feet, I will miss the wasp-sting, i will miss seeing the pale green praying mantis sway and hesitate and look around before jumping into the air and flying away. But who . . . who. . . does not miss everything?"
I really love the way science is given song and image and metaphor in these essays -- it's natural science meets poetry. Perfect. I find the description of things I know very original, and there is so much I don't know, that I learn abo...more
I really love the way science is given song and image and metaphor in these essays -- it's natural science meets poetry. Perfect. I find the description of things I know very original, and there is so much I don't know, that I learn abo...more
I want to open with the fact that I read a sampler from this book, not the whole thing. I do, however, intend to buy the whole thing to finish reading it. Included in the 100 or so page sampler was a chapter (or possibly part of the chapter) on different kinds of flowers that all have “love” in one of their names. It was this beautiful raving on how we use love- to bind, to heal, etc. This book is not for everyone. It’s very metaphorical, and the author makes up her own words throughout. But if...more
What an odd, sweet, dear little book of essays about the intersection of life and nature -- as though they could exist apart. And that's the point. Like Mary Oliver (but not like Mary Oliver at all, really), Amy Leach points to the delicate details of the natural world as a subtle reminder of why we need to make better choices if we don't want to lose it all. Leach's sprightly, clever words make me feel very dull, in the very best way.
I wish I had just read an essay a day. Or one a week.
I super-loved this book when I started it, but the cute, quirky words amassed to such a degree that they rendered the whole thing precious and gimmicky.
I super-loved this book when I started it, but the cute, quirky words amassed to such a degree that they rendered the whole thing precious and gimmicky.
Absolutely beautiful! This came highly recommended by a friend & she did not steer me wrong. It's just a joy to read.
This book of essays/prose poems/thoughts/whatever is a sheer joy to read.
Apr 04, 2012
Anya
marked it as to-read
I know the author from my college days. I am intrigued!
Read selections from. Really beutifully written.
phenomenal and gorgeously whimsical
Exhaustingly whimsical
Wowwwwwww! Good one.
Amy Leach took GK Chesterton's statement to heart: "The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder." Simply put, this book wonders on the wonders of the world, and it is magical.
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“All bodies are radiant but not all radiance is visible: stars radiate visible light; planets and donkeys and couches radiate infrared waves. (If your couch is emitting visible light GET UP IMMEDIATELY!)”
—
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