fonril 's review for:

Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
4.0
challenging informative inspiring slow-paced
The writing in this book is exquisite, so expressive, evocative and detailed. It is a thing of beauty but it's also why it took me six months to finish - it's not the kind of book I could pick up and read cover to cover in a shorter timeline.  There is so much to take in with every beautifully described moment of a teenager's fascination with nature in all of its terrible beauty that I had to be in a mindset capable of absorbing it all to take the book in hand to read it. 

As well as admiration for his writing talent, this book reminded me of the need to sit and stare, in fact, he quoted lines from a favourite poem, one of few I remember any lines from - Leisure by W.H. Davies

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’Šπ’” π’•π’‰π’Šπ’” π’π’Šπ’‡π’† π’Šπ’‡, 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆,
𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 π’•π’Šπ’Žπ’† 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒆.

𝑡𝒐 π’•π’Šπ’Žπ’† 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’ƒπ’π’–π’ˆπ’‰π’”
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒔 π’π’π’π’ˆ 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒐𝒓 π’„π’π’˜π’”.

𝑡𝒐 π’•π’Šπ’Žπ’† 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆, π’˜π’‰π’†π’ π’˜π’π’π’…π’” π’˜π’† 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔,
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 π’”π’’π’–π’Šπ’“π’“π’†π’π’” π’‰π’Šπ’…π’† π’•π’‰π’†π’Šπ’“ 𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒔 π’Šπ’ π’ˆπ’“π’‚π’”π’”.

𝑡𝒐 π’•π’Šπ’Žπ’† 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆, π’Šπ’ 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅 π’…π’‚π’šπ’π’Šπ’ˆπ’‰π’•,
π‘Ίπ’•π’“π’†π’‚π’Žπ’” 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔, π’π’Šπ’Œπ’† π’”π’Œπ’Šπ’†π’” 𝒂𝒕 π’π’Šπ’ˆπ’‰π’•.

𝑡𝒐 π’•π’Šπ’Žπ’† 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒕 π‘©π’†π’‚π’–π’•π’š'𝒔 π’ˆπ’π’‚π’π’„π’†,
𝑨𝒏𝒅 π’˜π’‚π’•π’„π’‰ 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕, π’‰π’π’˜ π’•π’‰π’†π’š 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆.

𝑡𝒐 π’•π’Šπ’Žπ’† 𝒕𝒐 π’˜π’‚π’Šπ’• π’•π’Šπ’π’ 𝒉𝒆𝒓 π’Žπ’π’–π’•π’‰ 𝒄𝒂𝒏
π‘¬π’π’“π’Šπ’„π’‰ 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’”π’Žπ’Šπ’π’† 𝒉𝒆𝒓 π’†π’šπ’†π’” π’ƒπ’†π’ˆπ’‚π’.

𝑨 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓 π’π’Šπ’‡π’† π’•π’‰π’Šπ’” π’Šπ’‡, 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆,
𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 π’•π’Šπ’Žπ’† 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒆.