Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in Reading with Style

May 05, 2020 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: late-20th-century, women, 5-star-reads

I am not a re-reader, I am not a re-reader, I am not a re-reader. And so I was astonished to find myself thinking that, if I weren't reading for a challenge, I'd go back to the beginning and read this one again - immediately, if not sooner! I honestly don't know why this struck such a chord with me. I am at best (!) a very casual observer of nature. There is a tree just off my deck that every year I marvel how beautiful it is coming into leaf. This year I decided to take a picture of it daily as I am not a re-reader, I am not a re-reader, I am not a re-reader. And so I was astonished to find myself thinking that, if I weren't reading for a challenge, I'd go back to the beginning and read this one again - immediately, if not sooner! I honestly don't know why this struck such a chord with me. I am at best (!) a very casual observer of nature. There is a tree just off my deck that every year I marvel how beautiful it is coming into leaf. This year I decided to take a picture of it daily as it unfolds. I feed the birds and like to watch them squabble over the abundance. I know there are at least 4 different kinds of slugs in my yard.

Annie Dillard says she is not a scientist. She is definitely not a casual observer of nature. She spends hours stalking, waiting, watching. I marked only a few places, but I might have marked dozens. Her delight at seeing something she has never seen before is simply infectious.

There is real power here. It is amazing that trees can turn gravel and bitter salts into these soft-lipped lobes, as if I were to bite down on a granite slab and start to swell, bud, and flower. Trees seem to do their feats so effortlessly. Every year a given tree creates absolutely from scratch ninety-nine percent of its living parts.

In one chapter she tells how she spent years knowing of the existence of muskrats but had never seen one. Suddenly one was there and she stalked it. Of course, the muskrat knew she was there and quickly and quietly disappeared. Now that she knew where they were, she learned more patience. In essence, she played hard to get. But that first time? I felt a rush of such pure energy I thought I would not need to breathe for days.

In addition to observing nature, Dillard has obviously read extensively. I wondered at her catalog of quotes she must maintain. I wondered even how she had it organized. She has managed over the years to collect some facts and they are sprinkled here and there. I didn't find them boring. She is obviously also fascinated with other cultures who live close to nature, and she often references Alaskan Eskimos.

Alaskan Eskimos believe in many souls. An individual soul has a series of afterlives, returning again and again to earth, but only rarely as a human. "Since its appearances as a human being are rare, it is thought a great privilege to be here as we are, with human companions who also, in this reincarnation, are privileged and therefore greatly to be respected." To be here as we are.

I was privileged to have been able to read this. Dillard's enthusiasm for just being alive is contagious. What marvels might I see today? I can hardly wait. ...more

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Oct 15, 2009 Juniper rated it it was ok

Shelves: nonfiction, 2011-books, memoir

Well, this is a peculiar book that started out ploddingly yet picked up steam after the halfway point. At times it whines, shrilly, as self-indulgent and precious (though I guess any author could be accused of this) yet at other times has dazzling moments of brilliance and soulfulness. I thought I had no expectations going into this read but at the end I thought "Hmm, that was not what I expected at all." Of course now the problem is I don't know what I thought I would be in for, reading this bo ...more

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Mar 28, 2025 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, voluntary-simplicity, classics, va, non-fiction, memoir-a-b, nature, 2025aty, 2025pop

A lovely little book that won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (1975) that describes in great detail a young woman's interaction with nature for one year when she is 24. ...more

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Jul 28, 2019 Chinook rated it it was ok

Shelves: america, 500-women, 1-kindle, audiobook, nature

This book sort of wasn’t in my normal wheelhouse. The god bits particularly. Though honestly, they were fine. There wasn’t that much religion and the kind of religion that was present was that I don’t mind hearing about.

It was the nature I was here for and that was beautiful. The thing was, somehow my brain just couldn’t hold on to any of it. I found myself avoiding reading rather than to read it. I didn’t really dislike it, exactly, it just didn’t work for me. I think that for many this would ...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Maybe I was trying to read this too fast, maybe it needs to be read the way Annie Dillard "stalks" the creatures along Tinker Creek but I was a little disappointed. Dillard's observations of nature are beautifully written, her insights are sharp and brilliant but somewhere she leaves me behind when she makes a leap into the cosmos and leaves the here and now. ...more

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Jun 06, 2021 Frankie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2021

Lots of beautiful writing, but I was bored.

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Feb 10, 2008 Miriam rated it it was amazing

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Jun 07, 2008 Ray rated it liked it

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Aug 12, 2010 Miki rated it really liked it

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Jan 17, 2011 Lisa rated it it was amazing

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Mar 04, 2011 Krista marked it as to-read

Shelves: non-fiction, non-fiction-award-winner, essays, setting-usa, time-1950-1999, environment, nature, setting-usa-va, audio-library-dwnlded, faith

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