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seaglasspoet's review against another edition
3.0
I very much enjoyed this collection of essays by Amy Leach. Because of the interconnection of nature and Leach's play with language, it reads a bit like Annie Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" got drunk on some Lewis Carroll, but that doesn't give Leach sufficient credit for the nuance and lyrical control that she brings to the collection.
Some essays hit better than others, with "Goats and Bygone Goats" and "Talent" evoking a satisfying note early on. When in her groove, I found myself leaning back and enjoying the view of the world from the angle in which she presented it to me.
3.7
Some essays hit better than others, with "Goats and Bygone Goats" and "Talent" evoking a satisfying note early on. When in her groove, I found myself leaning back and enjoying the view of the world from the angle in which she presented it to me.
3.7
fantakureader's review against another edition
It's the prose. I paused it because I had a hard time with it.
Tried again but I am unable to push through. Giving this up already cuz I am a quitter. I feel so stupid reading this because the metaphors and allegories didn't sink properly. It's not the author's fault, it's me.
Tried again but I am unable to push through. Giving this up already cuz I am a quitter. I feel so stupid reading this because the metaphors and allegories didn't sink properly. It's not the author's fault, it's me.
tinyatoxin's review against another edition
3.0
I know I'm supposed to like this more than I did, but it's just not my thing. Three stars does not reflect the quality of the writing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
cheemeego's review against another edition
5.0
Language is a playground that Amy Leach lords over, frolicking and somersaulting and singing and jingling throughout. Brimming with a scientific love for the natural world and delivered in a package of silly and childlike wonder, these essays are charming, whimsical, and the perfect note to finish 2023 off on.
bishplease3's review against another edition
5.0
This reads more like a collection of prose poems than a collection of essays, which I enjoyed. Sometimes I would wonder where she was going in an essay, but by the end of each, it all made sense. Leach's careful presentation and vast knowledge of her subjects was a fun and occasionally challenging read.
jessicalou_mn's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I had just read an essay a day. Or one a week.
I super-loved this book when I started it, but the cute, quirky words amassed to such a degree that they rendered the whole thing precious and gimmicky.
I super-loved this book when I started it, but the cute, quirky words amassed to such a degree that they rendered the whole thing precious and gimmicky.
kittyg's review against another edition
DNF-ed this one, I don't think that the writing style was for me, it was all just a bit too over-the-top and flowery, which I know works for some, but it wasn't what I thought it would be when I bought it.
chaoslibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a long time to finish this because I would read a handful of essays and then not pick the book up again for a while. But I did really enjoy reading it. My favorite essay was "God" - like many of the essays, the full impact of it is only felt as you finish it. My favorite quote, from the essay "The Round-Earth Affair": "But perhaps nature needs us like a hostage needs her captors: nature needs us not to annihilate her, not to run her over, not to cover her with cement, not to chop her down. We can hardly admire ourselves, then, when we stop to accommodate nature's needs: we are dubious heroes who create a peril and then save its victims, we who rescue the the animals and the trees from ourselves."
yaarya's review against another edition
2.0
just fine. some of the descriptions in it are beautiful but its kinda boring.
managed to finish this the day before i head back to uni so thats 22 books this summer :)
managed to finish this the day before i head back to uni so thats 22 books this summer :)
mattdube's review against another edition
4.0
I was somewhat overwhelmed by these lyric, funny, and compact essays about the natural world. The first. second, and third I read were my favorite thing ever. By the tenth or so I was exhausted and had to pace myself, reading two or maybe three at a sitting to not feel bullied by their idiosyncratic wonder.
To be more plain, each essay takes on an animal or two-- let's say bears, in winter, and anthropomorphizes it, gives it not just psychology and motive, but a peculiar identity, a personality. And this becomes the lens for encountering it. Leach's range of reference is wide, her sense of the science lucid but never dull. But, and this is a failing on my part, I'm more interested in people than animals (or in later essays, stars, trees, etc). So as much as I admire Leach her talent and am charmed by her technique, I found this a little hard to finish, and it's not a long book.
To be more plain, each essay takes on an animal or two-- let's say bears, in winter, and anthropomorphizes it, gives it not just psychology and motive, but a peculiar identity, a personality. And this becomes the lens for encountering it. Leach's range of reference is wide, her sense of the science lucid but never dull. But, and this is a failing on my part, I'm more interested in people than animals (or in later essays, stars, trees, etc). So as much as I admire Leach her talent and am charmed by her technique, I found this a little hard to finish, and it's not a long book.