Journal of a Sabbatical

1999 Reading List


I was a bit of a slow reader this year. The year's themes seem to be natural history writing, the Merrimack River, and a little detour by the Danube.

On the stack unfinished (carried over to next year): 

Writings and Drawings by John James Audubon
Related Entries: November 23, November 27
Wild Fruits by Henry David Thoreau
Related Entries: November 15, December 9
New England Natives by Sheila Connor
Related Entries: November 11 
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Related Entries: June 15, August 19, October 9
Living on the Wind by Scott Weidensaul
 

Finished this year:

From Ponkapog to Pesth by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Related Entries: December 15, December 20, December 28
Two Ornithologists on the Lower Danube by Kirke Swann
Related Entries: December 7
North Woods by Peter J. Marchand
Autumn: from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake
Related Entries: December 11, December 12
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Related Entries: December 7, December 8 
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Related Entries: December 5
Woman Alone: A Farmhouse Journal by Carol Burdick
Related Entries: November 30
Bird News by Vernon Laux
Born Naked by Farley Mowat
Related Entries: November 15
Pieces of White Shell by Terry Tempest Williams
 Related Entries: November 7
The Secret Reader by Willis Barnstone
 Related Entries: November 6
Thirty Years by John Marquand
Related Entries: October 7, October 9 , November 2
Rhode Island Geology for the Non-Geologist by Alonzo W. Quinn 
New England Hurricane by Federal Writers Project
Related entries: October 15, October 19
Danube by Claudio Magris
Related Entries: Sept.10, Sept. 11, Sept. 22 , October 19
Food Habits of North American Diving Ducks by Clarence Cottam
Related Entries: October 7
A History of Game Birds, Wild-Fowl, and Shore Birds of Massachusetts and Adjacent States by Edward Forbush
OK, so I didn't read this cover to cover. It's a reference book anyway. I read the sections on piping plovers and buffleheads.
 
Out of the Crater: Chronicles of a Volcanologist by Richard V. Fisher
Related Entries: Sept. 5, Sept. 7 , Sept. 11, Sept. 13
 
Up and Down the Merrimac by Pliny Steele Boyd
This is the funniest 19th century travelogue I have ever read. Boyd goes from a simple observation like an eagle taking off from a rock to pages upon pages of speculation on why the founding fathers chose it as the national bird instead of the wild turkey. His chapter on the Sabbath, which parallels Thoreau's chapter on the same subject in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, is as insightful as Thoreau's and way funnier. He makes his points with humor instead of philosophy. I hope I can find other stuff by this guy.

 

Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary
Related Entries: August 30
Ralph can drive a motorcycle even though he is a mouse. AJ can read chapter books aloud even though she is old and tired. The parts I, AJ, liked best dealt with how the press misconstrued the students' presentation on mice as a complaint about mice infesting the school and created a crisis where there wasn't one. This is the subtlest criticism of the press I've ever seen! And Ralph is so cute! When I finished it, Andrea wanted me to read another chapter book aloud.
 
Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson
I read this on the plane on the way to/from Budapest and loved it. A romantic tale of the South American jungle - very escapist.
 
American Nature Writing 1999 edited by John Murray
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West
Related entries: July 16 - let's face it, I'm going to leave this unfinished having read the Kosovo and Bosnia chapters
Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson
Related entries: June 8, July 1, July 16, July 20
The Boy Allies in the Balkan Campaign by Clair M. Hayes
Related Entries: July 8
The Storm Petrel and the Owl of Athena by Louis J. Halle
Related Entries: June 29, July 5, July 8
The Feather Quest by Pete Dunne
Related Entries: July 3 , July 5
Salt Tide by Curtis J. Badger
Related entries: May 18
The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders by Clair M. Hayes
Related entries: May 9 , July 8
Murder on the Prowl by Rita Mae Brown
Murder, She Meowed by Rita Mae Brown
Pay Dirt by Rita Mae Brown
Murder at Monticello by Rita Mae Brown
Rest in Pieces by Rita Mae Brown
Related entries: May 19
Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown
Related entries: May 18
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
The Adventure of Birds by Charlton Ogburn
Waiting to Fly by Ron Naveen
Related entries: March 8, March 11, March 12, March 15
The Trees in my Forest by Bernd Heinrich
Related entries: January 7, January 28
The Merrimack by Raymond Holden
Related entries: January 28, February 3, October 7
Summer at Little Lava by Charles Fergus
Related entries: February 19, March 2
Winter: From the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by HGO Blake
Related entries: February (all month), December 21, December 26 
Timothy Dexter Revisited by John Marquand
Related entries: February 2, February 9, February 11, February 18, March 5. October 7, October 15

100 Books that have influenced my life || 1998 Reading || 2000 Reading || 2001 Reading

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Copyright © 1999, Janet I. Egan