Where the Silence Rings: A Literary Companion to Mountains

by Wayne Grady (Editor)

From Edward Whymper’s ascent of the Matterhorn in the 1860s to Jon Krakauer’s vivid profiles of modern mountaineers, this collection offers indelible impressions from writers who experienced the mystery and the grandeur of the mountains — and who lived to tell about it. Highlights include John Muir’s “A Perilous Night on Mount Shasta” and Belmore Browne’s heart-stopping “Conquest of Mt. McKinley.”

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2007

About the author

Wayne Grady is the award-winning author of Emancipation Day, a novel of denial and identity. He has also written such works of science and nature as The Bone Museum, Bringing Back the Dodo, The Quiet Limit of the World, and The Great Lakes, which won a National Outdoor Book Award in the U.S. With his wife, novelist Merilyn Simonds, he co-authored Breakfast at the Exit Café: Travels Through America. And with David Suzuki he co-wrote the international bestseller Tree: A Life Story.

He has also translated fourteen works of fiction from the French, by such authors as Antonine Maillet, Yves Beauchemin, and Danny Laferrière. In 1989, he won the Governor General’s Award for his translation of Maillet’s On the Eighth Day. His most recent translation is of Louis Hamelin’s October 1970, published by House of Anansi Press in 2013.

Grady teaches creative writing in the optional-residency MFA program at the University of British Columbia. He and Merilyn Simonds live in the country north of Kingston, Ontario.

Reviews

[Andrea Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book about mountains shares many perspectives. To some people mountains represent danger and death. To others they are an adventure, a chance to conquer. Climbing for the thrill, the adrenaline of the risk that the climber is taking.

The prose in this book are calling the reader to the mountains. The writers are are sharing their glimpse into nature, the face of God or the sheer beauty of being alive. We are humbled by nature. If you grew up around or ever visited the mountains you would understand that we are a speck in the universe beside the lands that are pushed up into the ever thinning air of the sky to peaks that would make it seem as if we were to stand on them we would be able to touch the sun, the clouds, the moon and the stars. We would be at the top of the world. This small volume of writing expresses the majesty and the danger of our beautiful, untamed mountains.

[Heep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book but there was definitely room for improvement. Some of the entries didn't work so well. The passage from the "Snow Leopard" is an example. It is very difficult to abstract a short passage from that book that makes sense on its own. You have to read the whole book.

There were some gems. "Thinking Like a Mountain" by Aldo Leopold is an example. It is a short little bit that beautifully captures a thought - in this case, the interdependence of nature.

It is a short work. I expect to return to it as time goes by, and small enough to easily bring on hikes.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some I liked and some made it difficult to get through this book at all. I liked the Crichton and Kincaid pieces the best, although the Wells one was the one that convinced me to keep going. A good book to read if you're in sight of mountains (I'm in Denver right now).