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tommyhousworth's review
5.0
I truly cannot say enough about how I cherish this book. It was one of those books I stumbled upon in a random bookstore, flipped through, and realized I must have it, without any knowledge of the author or any reviews to fuel my decision.
I'm glad I trusted my impulse because I've been savoring these brief, miraculous essays for almost two months, when my instinct was to devour this book in a single weekend. Doyle explores experiences, people, places, and things that evoke wonder for him. While he is a Catholic essayist, his approach to religion has a very light touch, free of dogma, as he's more interested in the beauty at hand than defining the source of it.
Hummingbirds, typewriters, games of catch, literature, a beer with a fellow writer, a pick-up basketball game, language, whales, The Dalai Lama, hawks, libraries, his ill newborn, his resilient marriage, his cancer diagnosis, even his impending death and final beatitude - all provoke wonder in him, glistening with wisdom, humility, and humor. His prose is rhapsodic, yet earthy, reportedly captivating everyone from Anne Lamott to Christopher Hitchens.
I highly recommend seeking this collection out. If wonder is missing from your life, or you're trying to reconnect with your waning sense of it, Doyle knows the pathway there...and he'll lead you there with a gracious grin on his face.
I'm glad I trusted my impulse because I've been savoring these brief, miraculous essays for almost two months, when my instinct was to devour this book in a single weekend. Doyle explores experiences, people, places, and things that evoke wonder for him. While he is a Catholic essayist, his approach to religion has a very light touch, free of dogma, as he's more interested in the beauty at hand than defining the source of it.
Hummingbirds, typewriters, games of catch, literature, a beer with a fellow writer, a pick-up basketball game, language, whales, The Dalai Lama, hawks, libraries, his ill newborn, his resilient marriage, his cancer diagnosis, even his impending death and final beatitude - all provoke wonder in him, glistening with wisdom, humility, and humor. His prose is rhapsodic, yet earthy, reportedly captivating everyone from Anne Lamott to Christopher Hitchens.
I highly recommend seeking this collection out. If wonder is missing from your life, or you're trying to reconnect with your waning sense of it, Doyle knows the pathway there...and he'll lead you there with a gracious grin on his face.
arielamandah's review
4.0
Doyle is one of those writers who, somehow, through paper and ink and the magic of a book, I deeply connect with. His wild, loose, but carefully crafted prose, his observations about the world and people bubble up all the emotions (tears, laughter). For me, his writing reminds me to connect with people, to love big, and to feel deep. A tossed off note in this medium isn’t going to capture what it means for me, so, suffice to say I have a fierce love for his books.
anneofgreenplaces's review
4.0
I had to be careful about reading this in public because there was always a good chance of tearing up! As he doesn’t shy from declaring in the last essay in the collection (“Last Prayer”), no man ever had more wonder and gratitude for life and its people than Brian Doyle. Although I must admit to sometimes feeling a bit saturated by his waves of exuberance and sentiment, wondering if he was saying anything new in yet another un-punctuated list of superlative reasons for joy, I also admire how unabated that energy was through a collection spanning his life, as well as how humorously self aware and unapologetic he is about that exuberance. Taken in moderation these essays are a balm. And of course there were many pieces undeniably brilliant in their spinning out of human experience from daily details and sensitively interwoven nature images (see my favorites below). It’s also eye opening to read someone who I resonate with in terms of family, faith, humanism and nature, who is also fanatically devoted to sports, which I am not, and to see the same literary sensitivity and passion applied to that less familiar subject—similarly, what’s it’s like to grow up in a pile of highly physical brothers (e.g. “We did”).
My top favorites:
Tyee, Hawk Words, Bird to Bird
Other nature favorites: Joyas voladoras, The Praying Mantis Moment, Heartchitecture
Poignant tributes to his family members:
We did
Catch
The Old Typewriter in the Basement
The Four Gospels
Hawk Words
Bird to Bird
His Listening
Tender Insights:
[Silence]
Pants
Irreconcilable dissonance
God Again
Self deprecating humor:
Selections from Letters and Comments on My Writing
Pure pathos: Leap
My top favorites:
Tyee, Hawk Words, Bird to Bird
Other nature favorites: Joyas voladoras, The Praying Mantis Moment, Heartchitecture
Poignant tributes to his family members:
We did
Catch
The Old Typewriter in the Basement
The Four Gospels
Hawk Words
Bird to Bird
His Listening
Tender Insights:
[Silence]
Pants
Irreconcilable dissonance
God Again
Self deprecating humor:
Selections from Letters and Comments on My Writing
Pure pathos: Leap
lizaroo71's review against another edition
5.0
I'm not sure how I've made it through teaching for eighteen years without encountering an essay by Brian Doyle. I'm just glad I was made aware of him by my good friend Denise.
I started reading this book in January and took my time with it. I would read an essay or two a day (most are only a page or two) and savored the time it took me to read it.
Doyle writes about the smallest of moments and captures the emotional enormity with the perfect language.
I can't do the book justice at all. You just have to read one or two essays to know you are dealing with a writer of immense talent. I now have to get to his back catalog.
This NYT's review does a great job saying what I can not.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/books/review/one-long-river-of-song-brian-doyle.html
I started reading this book in January and took my time with it. I would read an essay or two a day (most are only a page or two) and savored the time it took me to read it.
Doyle writes about the smallest of moments and captures the emotional enormity with the perfect language.
I can't do the book justice at all. You just have to read one or two essays to know you are dealing with a writer of immense talent. I now have to get to his back catalog.
This NYT's review does a great job saying what I can not.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/books/review/one-long-river-of-song-brian-doyle.html
modeislodis's review
3.0
You can tell Brian Doyle is a really great guy. His writing style isn’t for me, but spending time with him was very pleasant.
nedhayes's review
5.0
I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know the writing of Brian Doyle this past year. I was introduced to his work by the wonderful and amazing Kirstin McAuley at the Oregon Episcopal School, and she’s kindly agreed to allow me to re-post her audio reading of Doyle’s essay from his post-humous book One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder.
Here's a short biography of Brian Doyle, as well as a recorded audio version of one of the essays from this marvelous post-humous book: https://nednote.com/briandoyle/
Here's a short biography of Brian Doyle, as well as a recorded audio version of one of the essays from this marvelous post-humous book: https://nednote.com/briandoyle/