Mark's Reading Place: Chapter Nine

-Grant Wood



-Sandhill Crane & Colt



“We need the tonic of wildness... At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

"I go to NATURE to be SOOTHED and HEALED, and to have my SENSES put in order."

--John Burroughs

Audiobook:



Graphic/Comic:



March:

19- The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder by Siddharth Kara 4.3 stars (audio)
20- Vigil by George Saunders 3.7 stars
21- The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney 4 stars
22- On the Beach by Nevil Shute 4.4 stars
23- Henry Himself by Stewart O'Nan 3.6 stars (audio)
24- A Far-flung Life by M.L. Stedman 4.5 stars
25- Lucas Wars by Laurent Hopman 4.3 stars GN
26- Heart the Lover by Lily King 4.2 stars
27- A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey 4.6 stars (audio)
28- The Glorians by Terry Tempest Williams 4.4 stars E
29- Brawler: Stories by Lauren Groff 4.2 stars

April:

30- Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang 4.5 stars (audio)
31- Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves 4 stars
32- World Without End: Illustrated Guide to the Climate Crisis by Christophe Blain 4.4 stars GN
33- We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker 4.2 stars
34- Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit 3.8 stars (audio)
35- An Unfinished Season by Ward Just 4 stars
36- You Can Never Die: A Graphic Memoir by Harry Bliss 4.3 stars GN
37- Go as a River by Shelley Read 3.8 stars (audio)
38- The Feather Wars by James H. McCommons 4.5 stars E
39- Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden 3.3 stars GN
40- The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer 4.3 stars (audio)
41- John of John by Douglas Stuart 4.6 stars E
42- Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug 4.7 stars

May:

43- Sunset Park by Paul Auster 4 stars
44- A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth by Daniel Mason 4.8 stars E
45- Glyph by Ali Smith 3 stars E
46- A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper 4.5 stars E
47- The Violence: My Family's Colombian War by Adriana E. Ramírez 5 stars (audio)
48- Letters From Eden- Julie Zickefoose 4 stars

June:

49- Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach 4.2 stars (audio)
50- The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon 4 stars
51- Night Watch: Poems by Kevin Young 4.6 stars E
52- The Director: A Novel by Daniel Kehlmann 4.8 stars
53- The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman 4 stars
54- Swing Low: A Life by Miriam Toews 4.3 stars
55- London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe 4.2 strs (audio)
56- The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout 4.3 stars
57- Visitations: Poems by Julia Alvarez 4.6 stars P
58- Villain: A Novel by Natalie Zina Walschots 4.3 stars
59- The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller 3.7 stars (audio)

July:

60- Whistler by Ann Patchett 4.4 stars
61- No Ordinary Bird by Artis Henderson 4.2 stars (audio)
62- Land: A Novel by Maggie O'Farrell 4.6 stars

P: Poetry
GN: Graphic Novel
E: E-reader
RR: Reread

^ I have really enjoyed doing our shared reads in 2025 and I would like this to continue through 2026 and beyond. Primarily, I would like to read books off shelf, but I could be swayed by an irresistible title. I also would like to do a few rereads. Here are some titles already planned. Let me know if you have any ideas.

2026

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos Benita, Jeff, Bill July
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry Kristel, Irene, Ella, Stasia, Benita August?
Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen Benita, Kristel, Marianne Dec

Any suggestions?

Flyway

The wind has come up

and now there is a cloud behind the mountain.

How many times did she tell me the story

of my birth? The story ended when she’d say,

and that was the happiest day of my life, and

I’d feel a little sad because I’d had no child

and would never have a day like hers. Sometimes,

I can see the river bottom and its glitter

of stones. Then a fish leaps in sunlight rippling

the surface. Sometimes, I listen to the birds,

our seers, the pileated always laughing. I’ve read

the dead in dreams are never dead,

and yes, it is their aliveness that is reassuring,

their going on even as they leave us here. Just now

the shadow of wings, and a far-off child’s voice

shouting Hey, Mom.

-Maxine Scates From Poem-A-Day