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Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Annie Dillard

Start date: June 1, 2026

Finish date: July 1, 2026

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: spoko

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What Members Thought

Oct 05, 2014 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read2014, creative-non-fiction, around-the-usa, pulitzer, location-usa-virginia

You think Annie Dillard is talking about parasitic wasps and then WHAM she's talking about God or humanity. That's what the journey of reading this book is like. She writes throughout one year at Tinker Creek in Virginia, observing and pondering in a way only she can.

Between this book and Holy the Firm, I suspect Dillard considers herself a bit of an anchorite. She specifically mentions that while she is writing this book, she is reading the Apophthegmata, and I think I'm learning that it is the ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2009 Loretta rated it did not like it

I just could not get interested. Not even remotely. I could appreciate the writing, the language, the description, but there was no story, no plot, and I had been led to believe that things would happen. Nothing ever happened. I'm as literary as the next gal, but I just couldn't find anything to pull me into this book. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 14, 2007 J.D. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A glorious work by someone who has mastered the English language and has put together something of sheer brilliance. My only frustration with the book was how unfortunate it was that I had not read it until this point. She paints a vivid picture of her backyard and invites us in to observe what she does and we are lead to places overlooked. I hope to come back into this gem often.

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