A Country Year: Living the Questions

by Sue Hubbell, Liddy Hubbell (Illustrator)

A “delightful, witty” memoir about starting over as a beekeeper in the Ozarks (Library Journal). Alone on a small Missouri farm after a thirty-year marriage, Sue Hubbell found a new love—of the winged, buzzing variety. Left with little but the commercial beekeeping and honey-producing business she started with her husband, Hubbell found solace in the natural world. Then she began to write, challenging herself to tell the absolute truth about her life and the things she cared about.   Describing the ups and downs of beekeeping from one springtime to the next, A Country Year transports readers to a different, simpler place. In a series of exquisite vignettes, Hubbell reveals the joys of a life attuned to nature in this heartfelt memoir about life on the land, and of a woman finding her way in middle age.   “Once in a while there comes along a book so calm, so honest, so beautiful that even the most jaded or cynical readers have to say thank you. . . . This is such a book” (The San Diego Union-Tribune).    

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Memoir, Biography, Essays, Science, Biography Memoir

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Sue Hubbell is a graduate of the Universtiy of Southern California. She received a master's degree in library science from the Drexel Institute of Technology and was a librarian at Brown University. In addition to her books she has written for Time Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The New Yorker, the New York Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She currently resides in Maine.

Reviews

[María · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Durante los últimos doce años he aprendido que los arboles necesitan espacio para crecer, que los coyotes cantan junto al arroyo en enero, que las abejas saben más que yo sobre la fabricación de miel, que el amor puede convertirse en tristeza y que hay más preguntas que respuestas."

[Floflyy · Rating 5 out of 5]

c'est même pas un roman de pseudo développement personnel caché, c'est juste Sue dans un cabane, c'est juste beau, c'est juste apaisant. c'est pas chiant, c'est frais, c'est vif comme le bourdonnement des ruches de la Dame aux abeilles. j'ai tout bonne adoré, une année c'était trop court

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I have reread it countless times because Hubbell's memoir of her life in the midst of nature in rural Missouri never fails to transport me away and bring my mind back refreshed and see the natural world in whatever less-than-idyllic place I'm living. Her work really reminds me to be aware of all the creatures and plants around me and notice how they "make a living" and interact with the human world. And her insights on how to live the questions of life that were inspiring to me when I first read it as a twenty something still ring true as I go through my fifties. A well-crafted and humane book.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading "A Country Year" I was continually reminded of Oscar Wilde's apology for sending a long letter -- he did not have time to write a short one. Sue Hubbell has taken the time to write a short book filled with concise gems, each as long as it should be and no longer, and I am much the richer for having read it.

Other than the transcendent writing, what impressed me most was Sue's eye and mind. She notices things that I would not, and then she reflects upon them and understands them better than I think I would. She is anything but arrogant, yet I continually felt humbled (in a very good way) while reading.

She is a Writer, and I'm a fan.

[Cherisa B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked it though it ended abruptly and unexpectedly. She had some neat ideas about an older woman living on her own and the freedom of having that option without harassment and ostracism being so new in the world.

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me da igual la historia, pues no la hay. Solo un personaje y plano, pues vale. Pero me encanta. Es de esas novelas q deseas leer por tan solo leer, no tienes la emoción de el qué pasara, es simplemente placentero.

Cuenta a través de las 4 estaciones sucesos que le han llamado la atención, la mayoría de las veces centrado en las abejas, que es a lo que se dedica para subsistir. Leerlo con música ambiente de una lluvia cayendo y los pájaros piando significa viajar de verdad mientras estas leyendo.

[Eibi82 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Me ha gustado muchísimo pasar Un año en los bosques con Sue Hubbell.
Enmarcada dentro del género nature writing la autora, nos cuenta su día a día en las montañas Ozarks, en el Medio Oeste de EEUU, su trabajo de apicultora y las distintas situaciones que va viviendo a lo largo de un año.
Una lectura totalmente evocadora y llena de curiosidades que me ha hecho entrar en modo zen y disfrutar de ese entorno bucólico y salvaje, como una habitante más.

No os voy a engañar, no creo que sea el tipo de libro que le guste a todo el mundo, es pausado y descriptivo pero tiene muchos momentos de humor y desprende un gran amor y respeto por la naturaleza. Una lectura perfecta para dejarse llevar y desconectar. Estos días, no me hubiera importado pasar una temporadita por allí, no digo más.

¡Ah! si os animáis a visitar los Ozarks, recomiendo acompañar la lectura con Bon Iver , garantizo una inmersión completa ;)

"La semana pasada fui a una fiesta con amigos. Cuando algunos de los presentes supieron que vivía en el campo, me preguntaron por las arañas reclusas pardas. Como me había picado una recientemente, y había leído sobre el tema, me metí de lleno y les conté un poco más de lo que querían saber. En realidad querían oír hablar de la parte en que la piel se pudre y se cae. Tras divertirme un rato asustándolos, varios de ellos decidieron cancelar su planes de pasar un fin de semana en los Ozarks, y entonces caí en la cuenta de que uno de los principales puntos fuertes de la araña reclusa parda es que mantiene a los turistas a raya".

"Durante los últimos doce años, he aprendido que los árboles necesitan espacios para crecer, que los coyotes cantan junto al arroyo en enero, que en el roble sólo se puede clavar un clavo cuando está verde, que las abejas saben más que yo sobre la fabricación de miel, que el amor puede convertirse en tristeza y que hay más preguntas que respuestas".

[Antonio Ceté · Rating 4 out of 5]

De la serie Gente Que Se Pira Al Campo, ¡una mujer! Menos osos y bisontes, más carpintería y abejas. A favor, aunque no te cuente nada. O sí.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seasonal diary that runs from one spring to the next, this is a peaceful book about living alone yet finding community with wildlife and fellow country folk. At her farm in southern Missouri’s Ozark Mountains, Hubbell had a small beekeeping and honey production business, “a shaky, marginal sort of affair that never quite leaves me free of money worries but which allows me to live in these hills that I love.” After her 30-year marriage ended, she found herself alone in “the afternoon of my life,” facing “the work of building a new kind of order, a structure on which a fifty-year-old woman can live”. In few-page essays she reflects on the weather, her interactions with wildlife (from bats and black rat snakes to a fawn caught in a fence), and country events like a hog roast. She’s even bitten by a brown recluse spider, the most poisonous species in the USA, but is absolutely fine.

This was a random find at The Book Thing of Baltimore last year. I love introspective books like this one that balance solitude with nature and company and that showcase older women’s wisdom (Joan Anderson, May Sarton and Barbara J. Scot also write/wrote in this vein). Hubbell, who died at age 83 in late 2018, wrote broader scientific narratives about evolution and genetic engineering, as well as detailed books about bees and other insects. I’ll look out for more of her work.

Favorite lines:

“Winter is not an enemy. It is a time of less going about and brings quiet and peace.”

(of older women) “We have lived long enough and seen enough to understand in a more than intellectual way that we will die, and so we have learned to live as though we are mortal, making our decisions with care and thought because we will not be able to make them again.”

“waves of people who find the cities too complicated have come here, meaning to lead lives of simplicity. What they have not yet discovered is that a life is as simple or as complicated as the person living it, and that people who have found life in the city overwhelming will find it even more so here, where it is much harder to make a living.”

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt compelled to read A Country Year right after I finished Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I vaguely remembered thinking A Country Year reminded me of the Annie Dillard book when I read both of these the first time long ago. And I would say A Country Year still reminds me of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Both are memoirs. Both are stories of women who spend time alone with nature. Both have aspects of moving-and-starting-over tales. Both are satisfying tales, but I would say that Hubbell spends less time contemplating the Big Ideas that living in nature evokes.

Sue Hubbell tells the story of her life after she is living her own as a beekeeper on a Missouri plot of land. It's a story of struggle and difficulty; Hubbell is quick to quell all the romantic notions of the back-to-the-land folks prominent in the time in which the book was written.

There are lively stories about Brown Recluse spiders and snakes and termites and Black Widows, and I don't think I've read a clearer account of life working with bees.

[Marisa Muñoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una lectura interesante que se lee con fluidez a pesar de no ser una novela sino el relato de las vivencias y reflexiones de la autora sobre la vida en sintonía con la naturaleza 🐝🌼🌿🐦

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how many times I have read this book...my all-time favorite. I still remember how it found me on the shelves of Willard Public Library in the 1990s. I've carried my tattered paperback that bears her autograph with me all these years. I was inspired to read it again while camping this summer, feeling the urge to take a solo trip in the future. It has been at least a decade since I last picked it up. Once I opened it, I knew I needed Sue to remind me how she made a life her own way. This time I was not only transported to and inspired by the natural world on her hilltop farm in the Ozark mountains but I was healed, in a way, reading about how she carried on in midlife on her own after divorce. I admire her strength and her humor. This book is one of my treasures.

[jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a woman who lives in the Ozarks on a small farm. After a 30 year marriage, her husband leaves and she eeks out a difficult living keeping bees. The rural people of the Ozarks are her friends and occasionally her comrades, but mostly she is alone with her farm. It's almost a lie to say she lives alone. She has the dogs, and her cat (Black Edith. hello, awesome cat name), all of the bees, the coyotes, termites, copperheads, the goldfinches, indigo buntings, humming birds, blue-winged warblers, and all the other birds. Sue Hubbell is never really very alone. I don't think she misses offices, cubicles, nosy neighbors, or bustling sidewalks. This is like one of those "back to nature" triumph-of-the-human-spirit books, but with more authenticity and integrity. Felling trees for firewood, Sue shares her trials when the tree falls the wrong way. When she robs the bees of their honey, it is a beautiful bee-lady dance. She teaches her hired help to collect bee stings, day after day, to build up a tolerance to the multitude of inevitable stings during the harvest. Botanizing plants in her path and learning the ways of the birds, Sue Hubbell is alive and connected to the natural world in that serene, sincere, filthy way that makes the palms of my hands ache for callouses. I had a lot of those "fuck you, be you, i wanna fucking be you" moments while I was listening to this book.

Sue Hubbell is a former librarian, and I wonder if that gives her the indelible sense of wonder and patience she carries through her daily work. And I love how she comments in a sidelong way about her gendered experiences - the all-male spaces (junk yards, for example) she has to puzzle through as a woman in middle age and on her own. There is a quiet appreciation for the aging process of a woman here, too.

"It makes good biological sense for males to be attracted to females who are at an earlier point in their breeding years and who still want to build nests, and if that leaves us no longer able to lose ourselves in the pleasures and closeness of pairing, well, we have gained our Selves. We have another valuable thing, too. We have Time, or at least the awareness of it. We have lived long enough and seen enough to understand in a more than intellectual way that we will die, and so we have learned to live as though we are mortal, making our decisions with care and thought because we will not be able to make them again. Time for us will have an end; it is precious, and we have learned its value.

Because our culture has assigned us no real role, we can make up our own. It is a good time to be a grown-up woman with individuality, strength and crotchets. We are wonderfully free. We live long. Our children are the independent adults we helped them to become, and though they may still want our love they do not need our care. Social rules are so flexible today that nothing we do is shocking. There are no political barriers to us anymore. Provided we stay healthy and can support ourselves, we can do anything, have anything and spend our talents any way that we please."

I've never read Sue Hubbell before. I was looking for books about keeping bees, and this came up as one of the "Customers Who Bought This Also Liked..." I requested the audiobook from the library, and listened to it secretly when I wasn't carpooling or schlepping my family around. At first, it was a little slow. The material seemed dense, the lady who was reading it had a weird voice, and I had a hard time relating to the story, but I kept listening. By the end of the book, I was totally engaged and very sad to end it. I can't wait to read more of her stuff.

[inès · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce livre contemplatif m’a offert une pause paisible dans mon quotidien, et c’est exactement ce que je cherchais en le prenant. J’ai commencé à le lire dans une période très anxiogène (élections, travail, fatigue…) et j’avais donc besoin d’un livre qui me permettrait de m’évader, de respirer un peu. C’est ce que Sue Hubbell m’a apporté avec son carnet.

En lisant ce livre, j’imaginais (vraiment) le chant des abeilles et les paysages de la campagne américaine. J’avoue qu’au début, je m’ennuyais un peu et j’avais peur de pas le finir (💀) mais en fait, je me suis vraiment prise au jeu et j’ai beaucoup aimé l’accompagner dans son quotidien. La plume de Sue Hubbell m’a petit à petit emporté avec elle, dans une espèce de joie simple imprégnée de mélancolie (avec les passages sur les vétérans, sur son mari décédé, sur la pauvreté dans les Ozarks). Ce livre est une vraie lettre d’amour à la nature.

Une année à la campagne est un livre sans prétention qui m’a apaisé. Je le recommande à toute personne qui a besoin d’une pause calme et toute douce 🤍🌱

[Maghily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une invitation à nous arrêter sur la nature qui nous entoure et à nous émerveiller des petites choses tout en étant conscient•es de l'impact que nous avons sur notre environnement.

Une parenthèse enchantée.

Ma chronique : https://www.maghily.be/2024/05/une-an...

[Moka Aumilieudeslivres · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Pendant ces douze années, j'ai appris qu'un arbre a besoin d'espace pour pousser, que les coyotes chantent près du ruisseau en janvier, que je peux enfoncer un clou dans du chêne seulement quand le bois est vert, que les abeilles en savent plus long que moi sur la fabrication du miel, que l'amour peut devenir souffrance, et qu'il y a davantage de questions que de réponses."

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a really long or really magnificent book, I always have to take a break and read something simple and easy. Wide line spacing, 6th grade vocabulary, no more than 200 pages. It’s like a palate cleanser for the brain. That’s what this book was— the crackers to my wine. And thank goodness for that, because I was barely upset by its mediocrity.

I’ve read a lot of books about lives in seclusion (mostly because I plan to spend my retirement years as a mountain-bound recluse and am preparing myself via memoirs). Cozy little cabins and isolative, introverted people etching their lives from backcountry land, miles away from civilization and complication. These folks usually have insightful and profound commentary about a quieter, more soulful way of life and subsequent reflections about the universe and the Meaning of It All (see Amy Irvine, Edward Abbey, Susan Chernak McElroy, etc.).

Sue Hubbell, while technically living the life of a master of solitude, recalled mildly amusing stories about bugs and birds but didn’t really dig into the meat of “living the questions.” There were a couple of deep(ish) moments, but 99% was skimming the surface of the very rich and very beautiful concept of solitude in nature (oxymoron?).

I may not have gotten much of philosophical use from this book, but it definitely wasn’t a total loss. I did learn that bees communicate with dance and chemicals; that moths not only have ears, but also get ear mites that are somehow cognizant of, and careful to preserve, the moth’s ability to hear; and that processionary caterpillars will walk for seven days without sustenance if they don’t have a leader to take them to food.

The more you know.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable, comfortable read about one lady's experiences over the course of a year as a beekeeper in the Missouri Ozarks. I like her observational approach to life and nature. She's the type of person who takes field guides with her so that she can learn the common and scientific names of the plants, flowers, and animals around her. She seeks to live in harmony with even the less savory of creatures around her including snakes, wood roaches, wasps, termites, coyotes. I like how she speaks up for these creatures because she understands their place in the natural order of things.

I've found myself relating anecdotes from this book to my daughter as we've gone out on walks. ...About how a bee worker needs to gradually build up a tolerance to bee stings by letting themselves be stung more and more each day until multiple stings no longer produce an allergic reaction. ...About how sitting down still wearing a beekeeper's outfit can lead to pain in your derriere from all the stingers left behind in the suit. ...How there's a certain type of caterpillar that only moves by following the leader and will keep walking until they collapse if you place them in a circle.

These types of tidbits and snippets of nature trivia and observation are the epitome of what I love to learn and pass on. I'm not sure I want to experience the isolation of living on a farm in the Ozarks, but I do envy the variety of animals and plants available for observation. If you enjoy nature observations and comfortable reading, I suggest spending a year in the Ozarks through the eyes of Sue Hubbell.

[Barbara Nourse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sue Hubbell writes a series of stories about her life from spring to spring in the mountains of the Ozarks in Southern Missouri. Her husband of 30 years has just left for the last time. They had started a business as bee keepers. That becomes her only source of income as she makes a living, barely, harvesting and selling her honey. Her stories are about her life on the land. And they are amazing! She is a careful observer of all the natural world that surrounds her. The stories also give an insight into the people who have always lived there mixed with newcomers finding their way in this landscape.

I loved this book!

[Rocío Lira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro en el que no podía dejar de pensar en la soledad y no soledad al mismo tiempo.
Sue relata la vida en medio de la naturaleza, en medio del bosque mismo, donde la humanidad no hace falta para nada ni se le extraña, donde todo tiene su tiempo y ritmo, y donde el respeto hacia ello es fundamental para coexistir.

[Sophie St-Amour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une histoire que je suis moins habituée de livre, mais tellement agréable. On vit une année à ses côtés à la campagne à observer la nature et l’environnement. C’est paisible, instructif et plein de belles surprises. Un livre qui nous fait relaxer et apprécier la nature.

[Buchdoktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sue Hubbell und ihr Mann waren typische Aussteiger, denen ihre sicheren Arbeitsplätze eines Tages viel zu behaglich geworden waren. Sie kauften eine Farm in Missouris Ozark Mountains, idyllisch gelegen zwischen einem Nationalpark und einer weiteren Fläche, die unter Naturschutz steht. Da sie von Landwirtschaft nichts verstanden, begannen sie, Bienen zu halten und von der Imkerei zu leben. Sue Hubbell brachte als Biologin für das Leben auf dem Land zumindest die theoretischen Grundlagen mit. Ihr Vater war Botaniker gewesen und als Kind hatte sie die pflanzenkundlichen Spaziergänge mit ihm sehr genossen. Nach der Trennung von ihrem Mann lebt sie zur Entstehungszeit ihrer kurzen Zeitschriften-Kolumnen als Fünfzigjährige seit Jahren allein auf der Farm und erledigt fast alle schweren körperlichen Arbeiten selbst. Neben der Versorgung ihrer Bienenvölker und dem Verkauf ihres Honigs muss sie sich um das Holzmachen, die Instandhaltung der Gebäude, des Brunnens und ihres betagten Pick-Ups kümmern. Wenn man allein Bäume fällt, kann das Leben sehr schnell zu Ende sein. Wer in den Ozark Mountains lebt, hat sich gegen ein einfaches Leben und für ein geringes Einkommen entschieden. Hubbells Tauschwährung sind der Honig und gegenseitige Nachbarschaftshilfe. Ihre Nachbarn jagen, fällen Bäume, sammeln Nüsse und wertschätzen auch die bescheidenste Einnahmequelle. Sie alle machen keine großen Worte, empfinden die Befriedigung durch Können und Tun dafür umso intensiver.

In Zeiten der Muße beobachtet Hubbel die Tier- und Pflanzenwelt, sinniert darüber, wann ihre Hunde lernen werden, sich nicht mehr mit Kojoten zu prügeln und welchen Vorteil Schlangen auf einer Farm haben, wenn die Mäuse überhandnehmen. Ich weiß nicht, wen der Diogenes Verlag mit seinem verschrobenen Klappentext ansprechen wollte. Wenn mir jemand versprochen hätte, dass hier das Buch einer Berufsimkerin auf mich wartet, auf deren Land es Kojoten, Opossums, Termiten, giftige Spinnenarten (Loxosales reclusa) und Kupferkopfnattern (Agkistrodon contortrix) gibt, hätte ich dagegen sofort zugegriffen. Dass hier ein wunderbar entschleunigendes Buch seine Leser glücklich machen würde, ließ sich hinter dem merkwürdigen Begriff „lebt auf einer Bienenfarm“ nicht vermuten. Wo ein Imker lebt, ist nebensächlich, die Bienenstöcke werden ohnehin aufgestellt, wo Bienen willkommen sind und Futter finden.

Sue Hubbell berichtet sehr nüchtern, selbstironisch und mit einem trockenen Humor, der sich sicherlich auch aus der nüchternen Art ihrer tatkräftigen Nachbarn gespeist hat. Mit passendem Vorsatzpapier und Lesebändchen äußerlich ein beneidenswert schönes Buch, zum Thema Umbrüche im Leben inhaltlich zeitlos - Naturliebhaber wird es mit Sicherheit glücklich machen.

„Heute gibt es in meinem Leben Frösche in Hülle und Fülle, und das beglückt mich, aber so eingenommen von mir bin ich heute nicht. Zum einen ist mein Leben nicht so verlaufen, wie ich es mir vorgestellt hatte, zum anderen bilde ich mir nicht mehr ein, über irgendetwas alles zu wissen. Von Fröschen beispielsweise habe ich keine Ahnung, und besonders klar wird mir das, wenn sie meine Fenster besetzen, in mein Bett springen oder meinen Schutz benötigen.“ (S. 31)

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sue Hubbell, author of A Book of Bees And How to Keep Them- a delightful book which has as much to do with naturalism and our place in nature as it does about bees -- lives in the Ozark mountains on some 95-100 acres where she maintains 300 beehives throughout the surrounding hills.

She writes extremely well, and in this book she reflects on nature's intricacies and "queerness" and man's place in the world. She (and the reader) become captivated by such oddities as the chigger whose chewing on the human for food causes an allergic reaction which leads to its destruction; i.e. the human scratches killing the chigger, clearly a case of "lack of host adaptation" or evolutionarily speaking a Terrible Mistake. In a very Gouldian chapter she muses, with the help of her entomologist cousin, on moth ear mites and bats and their inter-relationship. Bats love these moths, but the moths have evolved the ability to hear the sonar emissions of the bats and thus can evade the oncoming enemy . The mites which need to survive in the ear of the moth (I never really thought of moths having ears) cause hearing loss in the moth which would be evolutionarily a dead end but curiously the mites live and attack one ear only thus preserving not only the moth but the mites as well. Hubbell ponders the human's psychomythology toward nature. We fear bats, spiders, snakes; an irrational fear, which leads to more misinformation about these creatures because we fear to observe.

Her part of the Ozarks is populated, as is much of the South, by the brown recluse spider, known for its venom. After being bitten one day on her way to a swim, and suffering no more than a mild reaction she ruminates on the fear of her friends. They refuse to come to the Ozarks, yet the venomous nature of these spiders was not commonly known until the early hazard since they inhabit the same kinds of places humans enjoy. Coexistence has been successful for thousands of years. Why worry now? Of course, a major benefit is the reduction in the tourist population. We live in a world that is not only queerer than we think but queerer than we can think. The human is part of all this, and being human we insist on meddling and interfering; but, having a mind we can hopefully recognize that some meddling causes more reverberations throughout "the whole" than others.

[Ignacio · Rating 5 out of 5]

No poseo el hábito de escribir sobre aquello que observo. Después de múltiples intentos relativamente forzados de mantener diarios, hacer reseñas o afines, decidí dejar de presionar y contemplar callado un tiempo.
Este libro resuena con ideales cultivados desde temprano. Creo que desde que conocí el sur, desde que vi que era posible salir de una ciudad cuna y establecerse en más lugares (algo bastante evidente ahora, pero en su momento impactante), he anhelado una vida apasible y extraviada en la lejanía del campo, en contacto directo con el entorno y consciente del lugar que ocupo.
Creo que he dirigido mis intentos hacia aquel ideal. Abandonar mi ciudad hace un par de años y dedicarme a estudiar para abrir puertas a la independencia y a la posibilidad de concretar el sueño fue un inicio. Ahora que me he visto forzado a volver al origen, estando resguardado del entorno que ha pasado a ser hostil y peligroso, he replanteado bastante mis motivaciones y este sueño constante.
En particular con este libro sentí un registro de aquello a lo que aspiro, a cómo me gustaría verme en varios años más. La manera en que Sue Hubbell describe su entorno en plena sintonía con las especies que comparte lugar, reconociendo los diferentes modos de vivir y apreciando la armonía con la que se sostienen los bosques, o el aparente orden al menos, cautiva inmediatamente y te transporta a los valles que habitan los ozarkers y al estilo de vida que llevan asociado a este lugar. Me he conmovido en muchos pasajes del libro descubriendo cómo crea el nexo entre su experiencia y un día a día en apariencia monótono, pero lleno de novedad y de eventos para quien intente reconocerlos. Siento que en ese esfuerzo consciente de apreciar el cotidiano, del intento de reconocerte como parte de aquello que te circunda y apreciarlo -pero realmente apreciarlo-, reside algún tipo de verdad. Me he entretenido estos días intentando verbalizarla, aún creo que es algo que se siente estando ahí.
Gracias a aquellas personas que recomendaron este libro, fue un bello viaje a los bosques y al interior de una mujer muy entrañable y fuerte, algo bastante necesario en estos meses de encierro y de incertezas.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this one, but it was underwhelming for me. When Sue Hubbell gets divorced in her 50's she ends up taking over the beekeeping business she and her husband had built on their land (and surrounding rented spots) in the Ozarks. This is a collection of seasonal essays about her life in this remote spot. While some parts were slightly interesting there were several that were very odd or depressing (a suicide at the nearby VFW campground, bugs, a neighbor killing a bobcat, etc.). Overall, I didn't love it. The subtitle "living the questions" didn't seem to really be explored at all in the book. I was hoping to read this one, then her Book of Bees, but I might skip that one now. One thing I found very interesting was while I was reading this book I searched to see what year it was originally published (1986) and found an article about her death in 2018 where it said she had been suffering from dementia and after wandering away from her home and being lost for over 14 hours she moved in with her son and decided she didn't want to slowly die of dementia so she stopped eating and drinking and died 34 days later. Somehow that article and how she chose to die was more powerful than this book for me. Maybe because it's older, but for whatever reason I just didn't get into this one and am not compelled to read more by her. There is a LOT of better nature/self-sufficiency writing out there now.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I ran into my 8th grade biology teacher about a month and a half ago (my favorite science teacher of all time, hands down), we naturally had a discussion combining the subjects that we teach: science and literature. Once we professed our mutual love for Barbara Kingsolver, she recommended Sue Hubbell to me.
What an awesome book. Maybe I appreciate it more because she reflects on life in the Ozarks and observes the flora and fauna I'm familiar with, but her calm and intriguing style is accessible to all. I say anyone who has lived in Missouri should read this book in order to either acquaint themselves with the natural habitat or to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for the state. She loves and is acutely aware of her surroundings--bees, fixing trucks, dogs-domestic and wild, termites, Good Old Boys and Simple Lifers, copperheads vs. cottonmouths, carpentry, chicken telepathy, serviceberry, water politics, just to name a few. This is an easy-going read with easy-going language and chapters of easy-going length. And while she wrote this coming out of a divorce, she examines her connection as a strong and independent woman to the natural world rather than taking on an "Oh, God, what do I do now?" stance, which I also appreciated.
You should read it.

[Dana DesJardins · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this quick, wise book, Sue Hubbell writes about living alone in the Ozarks, insanely competent and delighted to be part of the natural world. Considering how both she and a spider called a black and yellow argiope use bees -- she for their honey and the spider as prey -- she refers to all three creatures as "bundles of chemicals... presented with problems posed by our chemistry and our quickness," all having found unique solutions. "Living in a world where the answers to questions can be so many and so good is what gets me out of bed and into my boots every morning."
Hubbell writes with humor and self deprecation, whether she is describing overhauling her ancient truck, "Press On Regardless," introducing a new queen bee to her hives, or sharing her bed with a frog. Having left a husband and a job as a librarian at Brown, she revels in the challenges presented by hard physical work. In spring, she writes, "That is why I stopped sleeping inside. A house is too small, too confining. I want the whole world, and the stars too."
A great book for year two of the pandemic's isolation.

[Gerti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leben auf dem Land, frei von Verkehr, Hetze und dem Lärm der Zivilisation. Das wünschen sich viele aber nur wenige halten das aus.
Denn dass das Leben auf dem Land, sollte man da seinen Lebensunterhalt noch verdienen müssen ziemlich anstrengend ist und einen vor manchmal unvorhergesehene Situationen und vielleicht ungebetene Gäste stellt, das kann man in diesem interessanten autobiografischen Buch von Sue Hubbell nachlesen.
Sicher wird es einem beim Lesen bewusst, wie leicht man es in der Zivilisation hat. Aber es entgeht einem auch der unvergleichliche Blick in die Natur, der Gleichklang der Jahreszeiten, das Zusammenspiel von Insekten, Kojoten, Termiten und vor allem das Innenleben der Bienen. Denn eine Bienenfarm macht viel Arbeit aber sie kann auch sehr zufrieden machen.
Auch der Abschluss des Buches hat mir gut gefallen und so manche Lebensweisheit, die eigentlich völlig selbstverständlich sein sollten, macht uns Sue Hubbell wieder bewusst.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this but I would like to go back to it in print, to pick out again my favorite parts.

Goes from spring to spring, in the Ozarks hills, where a former college librarian is keeping bees to make a living, observing nature and her neighbors while trying to restructure her life after husband of 30 years has left it.

I particularly liked her descriptions of the birds, the wildflowers, and frogs -- book was written in the mid-1980s so I wonder if the wild diversity of nature still exists there. Even then, beekeeping and honey sales were down because of cheap foreign competition.

Sue Hubbell will go on to write several more books after this one and I would like to read another.

[Carolw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a true story of a year in the life of a middle aged woman living on her own as a bee keeper in the Ozark’s in Missouri. Sue Hubbell is an observer of all things around her; the plants, the birds, the spiders, the caterpillars, the termites, the cockroaches, the bees and even the people. I found some of her observations fascinating, especially about the bees, but some of them were a little tedious. It is an uplifting story about a woman who is of an age that society believes doesn’t contribute anymore but she perseveres and manages a wonderful life for herself.