Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese

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Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese

4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 · rating details · 727 ratings · 186 reviews

A gorgeously observed chronicle about getting out of the city and living life on the land, in the tradition of Anne Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek."When acclaimed novelist Brad Kessler started to feel unsatisfied by his Manhattan lifestyle, he opted to tackle his issues of over-consumption and live a more eco-friendly life. He and his wife moved to a seventy-five acre...more

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published June 23rd 2009 by Scribner

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

Down on the Farm

9th out of 68 books — 118 voters

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Locavore Reading List

12th out of 50 books — 155 voters

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Aug 19, 2009 Dina rated it 5 of 5 stars

I know when I really love a book, I tell everyone that they need to read it. I also know that it rarely happens, and that it's even less likely to happen when the book in question is on goat farming. But Goat Song is about so much more than just goat farming. Sure, Kessler walks you through his process of buying, raising and milking goats, but don't expect this to be some utopian 'back to our roots' foodie lit. This is the real deal, right from the goat vulva to the spinal parasites that threate...more I know when I really love a book, I tell everyone that they need to read it. I also know that it rarely happens, and that it's even less likely to happen when the book in question is on goat farming. But Goat Song is about so much more than just goat farming. Sure, Kessler walks you through his process of buying, raising and milking goats, but don't expect this to be some utopian 'back to our roots' foodie lit. This is the real deal, right from the goat vulva to the spinal parasites that threaten one goat's life. This is a book that's graphic in it's description of goat raising; idealists beware. That's not to say there isn't beauty here. It's exactly where you would expect it to be - a baby goat's first steps, it's crying for milk from it's mother, the herd grazing calmly beneath blue Vermont skies. And there's sadness too - the aforementioned goat falling ill to a spinal parasite, real recognition of separation as kids are taken away from their mothers. A real emotional roller coaster, this one.

Kessler also does an amazing job of making goat herding seem ancient and universal, bringing in examples from across languages and around the world. In fact, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in etymology - agricultural etymology, sure, but the examples are so far reaching and permeating that I think they would be of interest to anyone. There's also a lengthy and interesting discussion of goat imagery in religion, from the ancient Greeks to modern Christianity. Hardly surprising as goats are one of the first domesticated animals, another interesting tid-bit as they obviously didn't end up the way their similarly domesticatied counterparts (cows, pigs, chickens) did, confined to factory farms and essentially a mass produced meat commodity.

There is a fair amount of religious musing here too, but handled in the least imposing way. Kessler brings his love of goats and cheese to an almost spiritual level and while that might sound laughable at face value, there is a true beauty in the interconnectedness of his thinkings that I guess you'd just have to read to understand where I'm coming from, as I don't have the vocabulary to describe it other than effortless, I guess. His sentences flow casually and slowly, slowly, you too will see the process of raising goats and creating cheese as Kessler does, a timeless connection between man and nature that skirts on transcendent.

There's really so much to love about this book, whether you're into agriculture, anthropology, history, religion, biology and on and on. It seems as though it would be nearly impossible to tie all of these themes together without sounding rambling or preachy or muddled, but Kessler handles it with first rate flying colors, letting each unfold and interweave at its own pace, only when appropriate. Hands down one of the best books l've read in a long while. (less)

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Mar 16, 2009 Cameron rated it 5 of 5 stars

If the joy of escaping with a book is one of life's pleasures, then the rapture at being utterly engaged by a book is inestimable. Enraptured was I today with Kessler's Goat Song. From his invitation to follow where his goats lead, to his introspective and spiritual conclusion in which he reads an anagogic parable within cheesemaking, his affinage of milk and spirit, Kessler crafts his sentences, story, and references with the grace and reverence he displays in his relation of raising, herding,...more If the joy of escaping with a book is one of life's pleasures, then the rapture at being utterly engaged by a book is inestimable. Enraptured was I today with Kessler's Goat Song. From his invitation to follow where his goats lead, to his introspective and spiritual conclusion in which he reads an anagogic parable within cheesemaking, his affinage of milk and spirit, Kessler crafts his sentences, story, and references with the grace and reverence he displays in his relation of raising, herding, and caring for his goats. Absolutely a peer to the agricultural sociologic works of Pollan and Kingsolver, Goat Song bespeaks the need to rediscover an American terroir, tapping into the zeitgeist of eating locally, of relearning what processes and connections exist within a sustainable and harmonious food system, of becoming engaged individually in the joy and profound rightness of cultivating one's own sustenance.

Kessler's peripatetic, caprine-led story meanders from history of language to history of place to history of religion, discovering in each the pastoral underpinnings of human nomadism that reverberate to this day, even if largely unnoticed and forgotten. Though his human mind draws intriguing comparisons and conclusions from the act of herding, Kessler complements his circumlocutions with a plain-spoken assortment of very basic tasks and explanations - dovetailing his pedagogic tangents with the mucking of stalls, the epicurean bliss of making faisselle, the harvesting of the summer hay with neighbors. These history lessons are penned alongside the dramatic - a goat's debilitating illness and coyote predation - and the comedic, epitomized by the trope of animal observation and the life cycle: the copulation scene; providing a literal and figurative sense of the word "horny" and a visual enjoinder to the caprine roots of the word "capricious," Kessler's estrous does are mated to a nearby farm's buck who caprioles and charges and humps any nearby creature to satiate his lust, and, after several attempts, finally inseminates the desired target (but not before achieving a masturbatory feat of auto-fellatio).

Like the bellwether goat guiding the herd, Kessler builds his story to the culmination of raising goats - the cheesemaking - while drawing this act in whorls of meditative and spiritual discovery. He avoids a doctrinate overemphasis, drawing liberally from Jewish, Catholic, and Buddhist sources to examine the threads of land, goat, milk, bacteria, and human that culminate in a wheel of cheese, his tomme, which stands in for and beside the tome that he writes. Both exercises take on the notes of the spiritual quest, the quest around the wheel of time, leading to the never-ending and "imperfectible" state of affinage, French for the final stage of aging and refining a cheese, which Kessler aptly carries to the personal quest he travels.

Shriven of the urban disassociation from nature by the character and caretaking of his goats, Kessler has crafted a piquant pastoral autobiography, attesting to his reacclimation to the rhythms of nature through the goat-eyed perspective that takes bliss as it comes, whether in the form of rich provender or still-cooling chèvre.(less)

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Aug 21, 2012 Madame X rated it 4 of 5 stars

This memoir describes Kessler's first year as a goat farmer. Kessler describes the day-to-day details of a pastoral existence, its seasonal chores, and mixes in erudite reflections and classical quotations ("the cry of a goat is so haunting and dramatic our word tragedy comes form it: tragoidia in Greek - the cry of the goat. The goat song."). The result is eloquent, literary, but also warm and conversational.

Kessler's memoir not only describes a year in the life of a shepherd, it also describes...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book came into my life in an unusual way.

I recently finished a series of three IRS exams to become an Enrolled Agent. For the final one, I found a colleague who was also studying for the same test, and we became study partners. Two times a week, for 10 weeks, we met at a Panera in between our two homes and shlogged through the very difficult and boring material.

One of the topics was Farm Taxation. Now, there are no farms to speak of in metro Boston, and the odds of either of us EVER doing a...more This book came into my life in an unusual way.

I recently finished a series of three IRS exams to become an Enrolled Agent. For the final one, I found a colleague who was also studying for the same test, and we became study partners. Two times a week, for 10 weeks, we met at a Panera in between our two homes and shlogged through the very difficult and boring material.

One of the topics was Farm Taxation. Now, there are no farms to speak of in metro Boston, and the odds of either of us EVER doing a farm return are slim to none. But nonetheless we were tested on the arcane rules of farm taxation.

Did you know that the profit on a dairy cow is taxed differently than the profit on a cow for slaughter? Did you know that farmers have an entirely different set of rules for estimated tax payments, if they meet the definition of "qualified farmer"? Right, I didn't either.

One day, during the farm chapter, my study partner told me he had read this amazing book about a guy who moves to Vermont to raise goats and make cheese. "That sounds interesting", I said (meaning, interesting that YOU read it, but I don't think I would care for it). The next session, he brought me the book.

So I felt obligated to at least start it. And guess what? I liked it a lot. I thought the story would be along the lines of "yuppy spoiled Manhattanite moves to Vermont; is a farmer wanna-be and becomes a joke amongst the real Vermonters".

But I was pleasantly surprised. The author and his wife go into this project with open eyes and clear heads. They work hard and do not romanticize the really difficult parts of raising animals. They pitch in and help their neighbors and don't take shortcuts.

Besides the goats, the author weaves in fascinating stuff about religion, word origins, history, cheese, and poetry. He does a great job of describing the individual personalities of each of his goats, and I mourned with him when one of his best goats became seriously ill.

All in all, a darn good book. I'm going to return my friend's copy, but buy another one to pass on to others. And I might even market my tax skills to goat farmers. NOT!(less)

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Sep 06, 2011 Skostal rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a sweet book in the genre of "over-educated urbanites, usually writers, who move to Europe or to the country, preferably Vermont, to escape mid-life responsibilities and find their souls via artisanal foods." Snarkiness aside, I liked this book, especially Kessler's admirable musings on the life and spirituality of a shepherd. It is a great lesson on the food chain and circle of life. When he describes recalling the heat of the summer when he feeds his goats, in the midst of winter, the...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Lee Ellen rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: my best friend

Recommended to Lee by: chad gadya

Shelves: food-travel

My best friend and I have a dream of living out our retirement on a mountain with goats; this will at least help me support my addiction to goat cheese. Thus, I was very interested to read this book by Brad Kessler, who has taken the earnings from a somewhat successful writing career and bought a goat farm in northern Vermont. When he and his wife were crooning over a lump of fresh, creamy chevre covered in chopped fresh chives, I knew I had the narrator as a kindred spirit. I was not disappoint...more

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Dec 15, 2010 Lorileinart rated it 5 of 5 stars

A few weeks back, we were considering the purchase of an old farmhouse in New Hampshire. The rolling hills, the historic barn (complete with working grain elevator), the swaying grasses of the meadow...all these things led to the idea of raising a few goats to provide me with artisinal chevre (the fantasy also including a journey to the French countryside, where I worked as an apprentice to learn the trade from the masters). This book sat on my nightstand long after the fantasy had ended, and on...more

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Feb 25, 2010 Kristine rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this book about goat-herding and cheese-making because I'd read beautiful fiction by this author, Birds in Fall. Kessler and his wife (a photographer and doula) lived in New York City but bought an old farmhouse in Vermont and decided to live off the land, growing food and raising dairy goats. This is a very unusual book. I never thought I would find it so fascinating to read about goats and cheese, but I did. Kessler writes about the nitty gritty of goat-herding and cheese-making an...more

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Jul 04, 2009 Tattered Cover Book Store added it

Shelves: indie-next-noteables, jackie-recommends, joe-recommends, staff-recommends

Jackie says:

Writer Brad Kessler and his photographer wife Dona had a successful Manhattan life, but longed for the country, for fresh air and the chance to grow their own food. At last they found the perfect place in Vermont, and decided to become dairy farmers--specifically goats. They string fencing over a 3 acre square, refab an old chicken coop into a barn, and buy their first 4 goats. And so the adventure begins. And what an adventure it is. This is a love story between human and animal, pa...more Jackie says:

Writer Brad Kessler and his photographer wife Dona had a successful Manhattan life, but longed for the country, for fresh air and the chance to grow their own food. At last they found the perfect place in Vermont, and decided to become dairy farmers--specifically goats. They string fencing over a 3 acre square, refab an old chicken coop into a barn, and buy their first 4 goats. And so the adventure begins. And what an adventure it is. This is a love story between human and animal, past and present, earth and food. Kessler has an eye for detail in his storytelling that lets you hear the soft "talking" of the goats, smell the hay, feel the sun on your face and the cool forest breeze on your skin. And while there is plenty of the nitty gritty of life with goats (manure and hormones, antics and worries), there is also the joy of being there when a man realizes his dream as his first tomme of cheese glistens from it's mold in perfection and promise on a warm summer night. It's the cold but mesmerizing trek through snow covered woods trying to figure out where a coyote went. It's helping your neighbors just because you can, and savoring the spice of food grown, picked and cooked with your own two hands. I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!

Joe says:
To say I loved this book would be an understatement. I got angry every time I had to put it down. Really, I did. I didn't want to stop reading.

This is the story of writer Brad Kessler's journey to goatherder and cheesemaker. His writing paints a sublime picture of the pastoral joys of living off the land and communing with goats. I had no idea that goats were so interesting. Filled with great historical, linguistic and sociological detail, this is a fascinating study of not only the domestication of ungulates but their effect on many of this planet's human cultures.

Toward the end of the book, Kessler really shows his reader how the process of cheesemaking affects him. The book turns contemplative, like the monks who live on the mountain above him. Just as buying goats and making cheese was a journey for Kessler, this book is a journey for the reader. Kessler's writing is beautiful and addictive.(less)

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Mar 18, 2009 Jackie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jackie by: Wendy from S&S

Shelves: 5-star, cooking-crafting, work-review-related-reading, nonfiction

Writer Brad Kessler and his photographer wife Dona had a successful Manhattan life, but longed for the country, for fresh air and the chance to grow their own food. At last they found the perfect place in Vermont, and decided to become dairy farmers--specifically goats. They string fencing over a 3 acre square, refab an old chicken coop into a barn, and buy their first 4 goats. And so the adventure begins. And what an adventure it is. This is a love story between human and animal, past and prese...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Aspen Junge rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: food

Yet another memoir of an arty Manhattanite with a substantial off-farm income who moved to the boonies and discovered the meaning of life by tilling the soil and eating the produce of his farm. His book is contemplative, historical, and literary as he extolls the joys of herding his goats through the countryside. Read it, and realize that this story has been told eleventy-bajillion times before in just the last decade, not to mention during the back-to-the-land period of the 60's and 70's, and p...more

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Nov 17, 2010 Janie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Chris

Recommended to Janie by: goodreads

Shelves: non-fiction

Cheesus. Well well done.

Kessler is simile's master and commander. (Or at least its shepherd.) He manages to make magnificent all the most potentially sophomoric figurative tricks. (I did roll my eyes a little that the moon is never "the moon". It's always the "[adj] + moon", the moon++.) He's great with tone and audience. The first half is hilarious *and* contemplative. The back end keeps up. I loved how recognizable his joy, his rhythm is. This is the way a story sounds from a person who is mak...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, nonfiction

With tensions high during the presidential political campaign, I decided to pick a decidedly nonpolitical and noncontroversial book for my book club to discuss in November 2012. I already had Goat Song on my list of potential books and moved it to the top.

The book’s subtitle tells a potential reader a lot about what to expect: “A seasonal life, a short history of herding, and the art of making cheese.” Author Brad Kessler and his wife left New York City for a remote farmhouse in Vermont, where...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Lukie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brad Kessler, an award-winning novelist with leanings towards the monastic life, and his doula wife, were already well-suited to an agrarian lifestyle when they left Manhattan to become goat farmers. Unlike other tales of expat city dwellers floundering about in field and barn, Kessler and his wife calmly began breeding, birthing and milking goats, eventually making restaurant-quality artisanal cheese. Other than a few alarming events—prowling coyotes, the frat house atmosphere of lusty bucks, a...more Brad Kessler, an award-winning novelist with leanings towards the monastic life, and his doula wife, were already well-suited to an agrarian lifestyle when they left Manhattan to become goat farmers. Unlike other tales of expat city dwellers floundering about in field and barn, Kessler and his wife calmly began breeding, birthing and milking goats, eventually making restaurant-quality artisanal cheese. Other than a few alarming events—prowling coyotes, the frat house atmosphere of lusty bucks, and the near-fatal illness of one doe—the contemplative tone persists. Kessler whiles away the hours herding his goats up the mountain for nutritional-rich wild greens, where he reads and muses on the pastoral roots of modern culture. Why, he wonders, has shepherding typically been the job of the most impoverished, lowest members of society, but also of those with a divine connection (Moses, Krishna)? To wander is Taoist code for reaching ecstasy, he writes, and yet the practice of transhumance—shepherding a flock across land—has largely died out. By pursuing the age-old lifestyle, by patiently attending and turning his tommes of cheese, Kessler himself finds spiritual satisfaction. He likens the goats’ bells to the bells of the Carthusian monastery further up the mountain, and the tommes of cheese to tomes of wisdom. He writes: “How is a soul like a cheese? It starts out raw and unformed and tries to refine itself over time.” In the Epilogue, Kessler worries that in pursuing a license to sell his cheese, they have grown too big: Too many goats, which will require a milking machine, when all they ever wanted was to milk a few goats. “Largeness curses everything,” he says. “Could we keep the balance and trade a few wheels of cheese? We have yet to find that out.” I’m sure he’ll find a way.
As for my own attraction to a simpler, more pastoral life, I gained a great deal of respect and appreciation for goats reading this book, but also a more realistic picture of what keeping goats would mean. Rising in the first light of day to milk in a frigid barn is not that appealing! But I will always remember his description of a shepherd in India bringing the goats in from pasture. Each goat recognized, and turned in, at her own gate along the way. This conjures up the idea of a community in which everyone has a valued place and purpose, as well as a direct connection to the natural world that is largely lost to us today and that’s really too bad.
(less)

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Jan 01, 2010 Patti rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a fun book! Brad Kessler shares his adventure of learning to live with goats in the total sense of the word "live". It was a joy to become aware of connections to goats throughout our language. Kessler describes the fascinating process of cheese making while sharing his ruminations about life and our place in the web of life.

One of my favorite passages that sums up what he learned in his journey with the goats is a quotation from another writer.

"We need another and a wiser and perhaps more...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Dan Polley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: food

I expected it to be a bit more heavy-handed with information, but it was quite breezy and conversational in tone. The book is broken up into parts, and the middle part is perhaps the most intriguing.

It features a diary-like presentation with each page denoting one day with Kessler's thoughts on the day as well as how much goat milk was produced (and often why: to wit, if production was down, he would not a goat was not feeling right, or something of that sort) and notes on some of the cheeses he...more

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Sep 07, 2009 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, non-fiction, self-reliance

My brother in law gave this book to my husband, who then gave it to me. It is a wonderful account of a couple who take to the woods to raise and milk goats and make cheese.

The reflective nature of the book gives a great window on the full life of a small farm, from the good times through the tough times. He struck a good balance in displaying all the rewards and the hardwork in living off the land.

The writing is very soothing and relaxing...so much that I would fall asleep at night reading, th...more

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May 08, 2010 Jasmine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: foodie-farming-sustainability

Funny to be reading this immediately after reading "Ishmael". Kessler glorifies the pastoral and agricultural way of life, and even goes so far as to imply that the agricultural/pastoral way of life was superior, so foragers and hunter/gatherers just gave up their inferior way of life to adopt this new model. "The chieftains and their herding culture survived and spread. The foraging cultures diminished and died out." More probably they were forced to assimilate, or wiped out (except, of course,...more

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May 21, 2012 Lisa Maruca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

In the spirit of Annie Dillard, to whom the book is dedicated, Goat Song uses the natural world--here, the human relationship to herding--to inspire linguistically playful, philosophical musings on the meaning of paradise, poetry and pastoralism. This history-memoir hybrid uses the framework of the author's discovery of goat raising and cheese making to build a work than is so much more than the newest urban yuppie back-to-the land iteration (though with nonetheless riveting sections on goat mat...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Louisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: big-kid, cheesy-memoir, do-gooder, nf

If there was any question about whether I had drunk the pastoralism kool-aid, my having digested Brad Kessler's "Goat Song" in less than twenty-four hours should prove it.

While on the F train yesterday:

Lou: I want a goat.

Jeremy: No.

Lou: I want a pair of goats so they don't get lonely.

Jeremy: No.

Lou: You can feed six goats on $745 dollars a year.

Jeremy: Finish a book and then we can talk about it.

Lou: In five years? Then we can have a farm in commuting distance to the city and goats and one horse...more

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Sep 16, 2009 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This book was a fascinating look at the history of pastoralism, the art of cheese-making, and our changing relationship with animals and the earth. I was drawn to it because my husband comes from generations of goat farmers/cheese makers. He says it's in his blood. :) If his parents hadn't immigrated to the U.S. in the 70s he would probably be milking goats at this very moment.

I've learned a bit about raising goats during trips to Greece to visit my husband's family. It was really interesting t...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book! A treat from beginning to end, although a bit alarming in places because of how goats can and do behave sometimes. But I loved my vicarious life in Vermont as a goat keeper for awhile, as well as wonderful forays into the origins of the alphabet and the long deep human relationship with herding, the details of cheesemaking (and why it's so hard to get good cheese in this country), all the relationships among humans and animals in a particular (beautiful) place. There's also a Ca...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Mickey Kammeyer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-read

Beautiful book! I thought it odd at first that my wife got it and started reading it to me in the car on our summer vacation but Brad Kessler quickly draws you into this simple and ordinary adventure with his easy, yet vivid prose. There are a few chapters in the middle that slowed down a bit for me when he started going into the history of goats and pastoralism at length but the rest of the book describing his escape from the modern and finding peace and satisfaction and faith in retreating to...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jessica by: Wendi Jean

Shelves: non-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 22, 2011 Katy Meldau Cummings rated it 5 of 5 stars

Maybe it was all the wheat cutting, but I can't help thinking that Leo Tolstoy would have liked this book.

Kessler beautifully illuminates the ancient, sacred and mostly forgotten relationship our cultures have with pastoralism- how the great prophets so often found god in the wilderness while tending their animals, how we long for the paradise of a garden flowing with milk and honey, how manual labor, under the right circumstances, births poetry.

I've never been a big fan of goats. I often pas...more

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Aug 04, 2009 Marjanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Who would have thought a book about raising and herding goats would be so interesting. I really enjoyed this book, and in some ways it made me want to move to a small town, get some goats and spend the rest of my life making cheese. In the last few years I've become a total convert to goat cheese, so it sounds great. I had to keep reminding myself that I really don't want to have to be responsible for goats, or cheese for that matter. I enjoyed how the author told his personal experiences but in...more

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Jul 04, 2009 Bryan Miller rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

What a wonderful book! Brad Kessler approaches agrarian living as a poet and a spiritual journeyman. He and his wife abandon life in New York City to start a goat farm in the mountains of Vermont. They maintain their normal occupations, he a writer and his wife a photographer, and discover that the daily rituals of milking, mucking and making cheese leave them satisfied and fulfilled at the end of the day. Kessler's thoughts wander between daily chores, the history of pastoralism and extracting...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, nonfiction

Absolutely lovely writing characterizes this book. No matter what subject Kessler could have chosen - including a detailed description of how goats reproduce - the beautiful way he pieces together language transcends. I especially liked how he kept to a pastoral tradition, even directly discussing it at many points throughout the book, but never allows the book to become idealistic or precious in an annoying sense. He stays true to the purity of the life he depicts with simple, clear, pure langu...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Flori rated it 4 of 5 stars

Picked this up at the library hoping to learn more about the goats my in-laws are helping to raise. I was surprised when I couldn't put this down and found myself carried away by the poetic images, pastoral scenes, and fascinating facts about goats and cheese making. I loved the idea of self sustaining and connection to land/creature/nature. Especially in this cold, dreary month, I loved escaping to the grassy meadow to frolic with the goats! Maybe not interesting for everyone, but I really enjo...more

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Feb 15, 2010 Disparlure Nagle rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by my father. He made it sound a bit kooky but entertaining. To me this meant rural pulp, and thinking along these lines I've put off reading this book for a while.

Additionally I tend to have a hard time with this type of book (i.e. rural autobiographical). While the stories are often entertaining or inspiring the writer's lack of skill makes slogging through the book a chore. Not so with this book. In Goat Song the rural autobiographical genre is taken on by an e...more

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About Brad Kessler

Brad Kessler’s novel Birds in Fall won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His other books include Goat Song, Lick Creek, and The Woodcutter’s Christmas. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, The Kenyon Review, and BOMB, as well as other publications. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and the Rome Prize from the American Acad...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5975656-goat-song?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347457109l/5975656.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5975656-goat-song?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese by Brad Kessler[/url]

Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese

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