If You Like Nature Writing, Then Read….

If You Like, Then Read is a feature where we offer reading suggestions based on books you already like, scheduled once a month. If you have more suggestions, feel free to tell us in the comments! You can check out the rest of these lists here.

 

“Tintern Abbey” by Henry Wordsworth

Technically “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey , on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour July 13, 1797.”  This poem has come to represent all of the Romantic movement for many critics.  Wordsworth describes a pastoral scene, relates how his appreciation of nature has grown and improved with age, and explains how being in and observing nature can make all our lives better.  Read it.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau spent two years living on the shores of Walden Pond in a house he built himself.  Like Wordsworth, he believed that living in nature, and paying true attention to nature, could make you a better person.  His thoughts range from details descriptions of the pond, animals, and plants to musings on the correct way to approach society, economics, and education. Review to come.

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

Abbey spent time in the deserts of Utah as a park ranger.  His descriptions of the awe-inspiring scenery are perhaps more powerful a call for us to preserve nature, and our natural parks, than all his tirades against tourists and their destructive requests for such things as roads or park trails. Review potentially to come.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Readers generally love Montgomery for her characters, but she also offers some of the most beautiful descriptions of nature found in literature—ones that make readers agree and think, “Why, yes, a sunset is that beautiful,” instead of prompting them to hastily turn the page.  She has a particular affinity for trees, and in Anne we can see that she spent a lot time attempting to invent names for natural places that would match their beauty.   See my review.

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien was an avid lover of the natural world.  Some of the scenes in his books are based on actual experiences in his life, such as hiking over the mountains.  His descriptions are rich and add to the beauty of Middle Earth.  And his invention of Ents is a very strong call for us to appreciate the trees in our own lives.