[x]
Could not find that book.
My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps
by
Ted Kooser
Ted Kooser describes with exquisite detail and humor the place he calls home in the rolling hills of southeastern Nebraskas cooking are juxtaposed with reflections about the old-fashioned outhouse on his property. When casting his eye on social progress, Kooser reminds us that the closing of local schools, thoughtless county weed control, and irresponsible housing developm...more
Paperback, 158 pages
Published
March 1st 2004
by UNP - Bison Books
(first published 2002)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
288)
Chrissie
rated it
I cannot think of any person who could possibly not love this book......
BEFORE READING THD BOOK:
This book grabbed my interest in a blink of an eye. Against all logical reasoning, I am putting it on the shelf from which I buy books. This is terribly out of character for me..... No, it does not take place in Czechoslovakia, but in fact in southeastern Nebraska. Many of the people living in this area were originally from Czechoslovakia. There are also many people of German descent...more
BEFORE READING THD BOOK:
This book grabbed my interest in a blink of an eye. Against all logical reasoning, I am putting it on the shelf from which I buy books. This is terribly out of character for me..... No, it does not take place in Czechoslovakia, but in fact in southeastern Nebraska. Many of the people living in this area were originally from Czechoslovakia. There are also many people of German descent...more
view all 24 comments
There is a quote on the cover of this book from Kooser's friend Jim Harrison: "The quietest magnificent book I've ever read." Brian and I have been reading this book aloud for the past year, and each time I'd put it back on the nightstand, I'd see that quote and think what a fitting description it was. I've always been a fan of Kooser's poetry, also for its quiet insights, so I was excited to read these essays. They are organized by season and range from observations of his rural Ne...more
Random musings in prose from one of our best poets. He's the guy I'd like to be stranded with at a truckstop in a snowstorm. Interesting to read his prose, which is in parts lyrical, in parts elegant, and in parts reassuringly ordinary. Kooser words make me think of Andrew Wyeth's paintings, and sometimes even Edward Hopper's. There's that certain slant of light to nearly every page. He's got a fierce love of the land, in particular his own Nebraska soil, and of his neighbors who work that land.
This is NE's One Book One Nebraska read in 2011. Luckily I had a close friend who went to the U of NE - Lincoln and introduced me to Kooser (and Kuzma and Kloepfkorn) back in the '70's - way before he became the US Poet Laureate.
It helps to have lived in NE, and it definitely helps to know there are a lot of Czechs in NE. Kind of a journal of his musings through a year, each season gets about 35 pages. I find when he tries to achieve poetic insight within his prose that I tended t...more
It helps to have lived in NE, and it definitely helps to know there are a lot of Czechs in NE. Kind of a journal of his musings through a year, each season gets about 35 pages. I find when he tries to achieve poetic insight within his prose that I tended t...more
When this book was lent to me, I was not sure I wanted to read it. I also wasn't sure after reading the first twenty to thirty pages. Then, I just absolutely began to love it. I really enjoyed the anecdotes throughout, the pace of life, and the heartland stories. Kooser, a former US Poet Laureate, definitely has a way with words. I enjoyed his stories. I felt this story was the equivalent of a warm mug of cocoa or comfort food.
Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate, and a friend of a friend living in Iowa. He writes about the Midwest praire with his gentle soul. Interesting that another GR edit compared his words to the visuals of Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper, both 20th cy Regionalists. Also similar to New England's Robert Frost of another century.
Essays from the poet laureate. The introduction is a nice synopsis of the feel of Nebraska. The essays are by season, and are nice, like you would expect essays by a poet to be. Somewhat disjointed, like a journal, by season. Since I was visiting Nebraska in winter, I started there, and enjoyed them.
Amblingbooks.com
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
available-on-audio,
nonfiction
"Ted Kooser's Local Wonders is the quietest magnificent book I've ever read." - Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall
Listen to Local Wonders on your smartphone.
Listen to Local Wonders on your smartphone.
Just as he does with his poetry, so Kooser does with his prose also - he manages to convey images beautifully with a minimum of words. Many of his observations connect two (apparently) dissimilar topics in a way that can't help but bring a smile to the readers face. He sees the world through a poet's eyes and in doing so opens our eyes to see those local wonders also.
Eileengaler Galer
is currently reading it
this book is a delight. i keep turning the pages, but have decided that i don't want to finish it too soon. i want to savor the life that flows from the pages of this book written from a very quiet, provincial place.
My grandmother (and mother) are from Nebraska and I traveled there a lot in my youth. You don't have to be from Nebraska to appreciate this book, but I bet it helps to be familiar with this rural kind of landscape.
ted kooser celebrates the simple things--and he does it beautifully. i've read this book of short "essays" MANY times--and will read it MANY more!
Let's hope we see more prose from poet Ted Kooser. This book about simple daily living on his Nebraska homestead is poetry walking . . .
Beautiful, life affirming, a bit sad, extremely nostalgic, full of detailed rural imagery... it's a meditation. The kind of soothing, open spaces, small brushstrokes book you turn to when you're bored or uninspired by city and suburban life.
Loved it, a la Kathleen Norris's 'Dakota'. I will now go and read everything he has written.
This is a book to go out and buy immediately. It was my introduction to Kooser, a former US poet laureate, and literally made me feel ashamed that I'd never heard of him. It is a wonderful book.
I read it last February, home sick with a horrible fever. I started reading to keep me focused, and I can't help but think that this book made me well. I've re-read it several times since, and can't suggest it highly enough.
I read it last February, home sick with a horrible fever. I started reading to keep me focused, and I can't help but think that this book made me well. I've re-read it several times since, and can't suggest it highly enough.
Beautifully written.
Who has my copy of this book? Shannon Meisinger? I miss it! This is agreat book for native Nebraskans or folks living there or headed there. The narratives give you a sense of the seasons, prairie wildlife and native plants and life in the country.
completely delightful
If you live in Nebraska, you need to read this book. And if you don't live in Nebraska, you will enjoy it because Kooser reminds us that beauty is everywhere.
My words won't capture the beauty of this book. My best suggestion? Go to the book itself; you'll find all of the right words from Kooser himself.
I love Kooser's insights into his "little" world. It's the same life that I lead, but he lives it in such a prettier way.
Wonderful! With his characteristic dry humor and folksy wisdom Kooser writes about his ordinary life in eastern Nebraska.
I wish I could say I enjoyed this more - but it just did not ring any of my bells. It might ring yours though.
Wonderful book.
Lovely book, a pastoral with subtle insights to life in Nebraska and beyond.
Siobhann
added it
Beautiful, gorgeous....a must-read for native Nebraskans.
Kooser's best for me so far!
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Ted Kooser lives in rural Nebraska with his wife, Kathleen, and three dogs. He is one of America's most noted poets, having served two terms as U. S. Poet Laureate and, during the second term, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection, DELIGHTS & SHADOWS. He is a retired life insurance executive who now teaches part-time at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The school board in L...more
More about Ted Kooser...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
