|
by Suzanne
Buchert
Harvest Moon: A Wisconsin Outdoor Anthology It is a time, this harvest moon, when those who love the land Come together and celebrate the gifts Earth has bequeathed them.
And to remember their lives are ephemeral, as the fruits of the field.
Anonymous “Harvest Moon: A Wisconsin Outdoor Anthology” contains writings originally published elsewhere and collected into this volume by editor Ted Rulseh. Some of them are aimed at sportsmen, some at environmentalists, all at lovers of the Wisconsin outdoors. A number of years ago I decided to buy some books for my husband as Christmas gifts. I spend lots of time before turning out the light and settling down for sleep, reading in bed and felt that if I presented him with the proper materials, he might come to discover the relaxing pleasure of late evening reading also. As the books were to be a surprise, I went to my area Walden’s bookstore and began searching for books I thought might appeal to him. I admit I am a bit of a reading snob, believing that sportsmen are not usually readers. So, I was quite surprised to find more than enough titles to satisfy my urge to fill out the Christmas list. The gift books were wrapped and placed under the tree, opened on Christmas eve along with the other more typical gifts, and put in the “duck room” where my husband keeps all things sportsmen like. One at a time they were brought out and read, and I believe that he enjoyed them all. This book would have fit neatly into that stack. It has articles by writers such as August Derleth and Aldo Leopold, nature writers whose names would be recognized throughout our country. Gordon MacQuarrie is included in this volume; he is a particular favorite of my husband who dearly loves MacQuarries’ stories about the “Old Duck Hunters Club”. There are writers of local fame who had columns of many years standing in Wisconsin newspapers and who wrote for national sporting magazines. There is even an article by a former assistant pastor of our church. These authors have something in common beyond their devotion to hunting and fishing. Their love of the land and the beautiful descriptions they present of being out in the land overshadow the pleasure of the actual hunting and fishing. This book would make a great gift for the sportsman in your family, and you would even enjoy it yourself! Along with “Harvest Moon”, I have a couple of others to cover briefly this month. I found an old copy (priced at $.60 on the front cover) of “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” by Katherine Anne Porter at the coffee shop recently. Many long years ago I saw the film made of her novel “Ship of Fools” and through the years thought that if I should run across that book, I would read it. It has never crossed my path in these decades since the film came out and so I opted for “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”. Porter was quite popular for a while in the ‘60’s when her only novel came out to much acclaim. She was not a prolific writer, with only a short list of published collections listed in the front of this book, beginning with “Hacienda” in 1934. Wikipedia lists others stories, both earlier and later than “Hacienda”. After “Ship of Fools” she seems to have slowed down even further and slowly fell off the must read lists. “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” is one of three short novellas or long stories collected within this volume. Two of them are concerned with a young woman named Miranda, who is based loosely on Porter herself. The third is a somber piece, “Noon Wine” set on a run down farm in the middle of the depression. I found the stories interesting, mostly as an insight to someone who had once been a force in the writing world. Interestingly, her last published piece was on the Sacco and Vanzetti case. I may have to look for that one when I am next at Powell’s in Portland. Lastly, I began E.L. Doctorow’s “Lives of the Poets”, a novella and six stories. Began and quit after about 50 or so pages of a writer (obviously Doctorow himself) whining about his difficult life in New York city. Yikes! I hope he has got it together for the other book I have on my shelf, “The March”. This is a disappointing offering from the man who gave us the superb “Ragtime” and “The Book of Daniel”, a fictional account of the lives of the surviving children of the Rosenbergs who were executed as Soviet spys in the 1950’s. They are two fine books that I enjoyed thoroughly and highly recommend. I ran across the following information in a recent AARP magazine and thought I should share it. On December 2 and 3 the city of Galveston, Texas holds a “Dickens on the Strand” festival complete with a reading of excerpts of “A Christmas Carol” by Dickens’ great-great-grandson. Galveston?, Texas? Take a look at www.dickensonthestrand.org. Keep reading……Have a very happy holiday season, however you choose to call it.
Suzanne Buchert and her husband, Keith, own several restaurants.
sbuchert@hotmail.com
|
