“You have an intimacy with the faraway and distance from the near at hand… the depth of that solitude of reading and then writing took me all the way through to connect with people again in an unexpected way. It was astonishing wealth for one who had once been so poor.” Every other page of this book has been dog eared because it’s just overflowing with moving passages about life, death, family, art, nature, faith and the connectedness of all things. Lyrical, reflective and profound. ( )

beautifully written. ( )

Solnit is a strong writer and much of what she writes about is huge and perspective-shifting. Sometimes I found myself a little lost in this book, however, as she wandered from personal anecdote to broader discussion and back again. ( )

Probably should not be read as an audiobook. I had no problem getting to the end, but found I didn't connect with it well. One of the first sentences--paraphrased: how we can learn more about our own lives by examining them as a story-- really interested me, but then the book barged right on into her own opinion of women often waiting for Prince Charming. That would not be my story, I'm more the Little Matchgirl type. I suppose I could have turned off the book & spent some time meditating on how I would approach my life this way, but the only time I'm listening to audiobooks is when I am traveling and have no other method of distraction (woops, did I just admit that I'm a distracted driver?).
I also have no interest in Frankenstein, so all those metaphors were uninteresting. Hooray for her for getting a free trip to Iceland, and I did appreciate hearing how distanced the culture is to visitors. Kind of reminds me of the Minnesota Norwegian stereotype.
Her comments on the apricot windfall had me wondering who would store apricots on a floor where you know they are going to ooze all over and destroy the surface. How m ny weeks were they lying there? Oh, well, guess I'm just as hypercritical as her mother.

I was surprised not to like this book, given the large fan base that Ms. Solnit enjoys. But I found her too preachy and given to sweeping generalizations that are simply not true. No, it is not the case that in children's literature "most of all, there are doors". Which she follows by focusing on doors in the Narnia chronicles only. She makes too much of story, and pumps metaphor until it is ready to explode, so full of air she has given it. She seems to have a very high opinion of Writers and the role they play, and Story which, in her view, is everything. Well, that broad a definition diminishes the power of story, in my opinion. Her prose has startlingly lucent and beautiful phrases; I especially enjoyed her explorations of Mary Shelley's life and work; but in the end, I was annoyed by Solnit's approach. ( )