Barkskins

by Annie Proulx

“Dieter, through no doing of my own I was born in this country. It is a population where each settler vies to be more of a Nichtswisser than his neighbor—learning is considered shameful—but I am used to it.

this is sadly, still very much in effect today.

“ ‘The sweetest joys on earth are found/ In forests green and deep,’ ”

“I wonder if you know how badly the robins are hurt when we cut down their trees,” murmured Dieter. “We take their trees away and they are forced to build nests over whirling saws.”

lines like this kept me going to the bitter end