The Home Place discussion

[Becky]

Please enter your comments about The Home Place here.

[Becky]

I've gotten an electronic copy of this from my library / Hoopla today - will start reading tonight!

[Sher]

Who is planning on joining this read! I am afraid, if I join, it won't be until late month. Looks like great book!

[Judy]

Sher wrote: "Who is planning on joining this read! I am afraid, if I join, it won't be until late month. Looks like great book!"

I am....waiting on my copy still

[Lisa]

I requested a copy from my library - hopefully it won’t take too long.

[Becky]

I'm not very far into this yet - about page 16 or so - but I really love the author's writing style so far. It's very nostalgic and bringing up a lot of memories for me of my own childhood (even though I grew up in Wisconsin and not the South!)

[Ray]

Expecting my copy any day.

[Ray]

The introduction is a fine example of poetic prose.

[Ray]

Lovely descriptions of the farm and the family. I am about to finish the first section, titled Flock.

[Becky]

I'm about a third of the way through and enjoying it very much. But so far I expected more nature observations and less description of his family and where he grew up.

Made me laugh out loud where he said he pretended to be Jim from "Wild Kingdom" when he was out playing as a child. I grew up watching that show with my brother and we'd always joke about Jim having to lay his life on the line wrestling beasts while Marlin stayed safe in the studio.

[Patrick]

I have such happy memories of watching Wild Kingdom when I was a kid in the Sixties and early Seventies.

[Ray]

I liked that section too. Grew up watching Marlin and Jim myself.
The First-Sunday God chapter struck a resonate chord for me as well. I grew up in a conservative church which I have since left, first to ignore relegation and then to join a more progressive denomination. After moving to the South, I discovered that churches are still a focal point for community life. Women still sport new hats on Easter Sunday.

[Ray]

Sorry, that should have said "ignored religion."
The middle section is more specific to his relationship to the land. "Little Brown Icarus" is priceless. What child has not longed to fly? The chapter "Whose Eye is on the Sparrow" may be distressing to some readers. It is however a typical story of boyhood.

[Ray]

The final section has more nature observations.

[Ray]

The snippets of history are interesting, particularly his reference to Buffalo Soldiers. Black soldiers served in four Union regiments during the Civil War, and those who remained in the army following the war became Buffalo Soldiers. John Neihardt gives them a passing reference in his book Black Elk Speaks. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Becky]

Finished last night and really enjoyed it. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Ray]

Buffalo Soldiers mentioned in the book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo...

[Ray]

My review appears here. It is brief.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I have heard that Dr. Lanham may speak in Chattanooga later this year, and I look forward to hearing him if that happens. He is good friends with a local naturalist and storyteller. http://www.jimpfitzer.com/

[Becky]

Ray wrote: "My review appears here. It is brief.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I have heard that Dr. Lanham may speak in Chattanooga later this year, and I look forward to heari..."

Oooo! That sounds like a wonderful opportunity, Ray! Please let us know if you get a chance to hear him!

[Ray]

Chattanooga offers a lot of literary opportunities for such a small city. Wendell Berry regularly reads here because the Fellowship of Southern Writers has their home at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.