As a homeowner, landowner, gardener, farmer, parent – or just generally a human being in 2021 – labor never stops, not even on Labor Day. Still, if you get the chance, take a moment to slow down, sit down and relax a little today, especially with a good book, if you can.
September 6 is National Read a Book Day, and almost three-quarters of Americans have read at least one book in the past 12 months. If you’ve perused the local bookstore lately, either in person or online, you know there’s a lot to choose from, so today, we humbly offer you some of the best books on Editor Courtney’s shelves as options.
First is the quintessential self-sufficiency tome, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden.” First published in August 1854, the book is the Transcendentalist author’s reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and in some ways a how-to on self-reliance. (It’s to be taken a little less seriously when you learn later on that Henry’s mommy used to bring him sandwiches at his little cabin by the pond, but still.) His descriptions are poetic and easy to visualize in your mind’s eye, and it’s not a far leap to understand the appeal of Transcendentalism, a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern U.S. A core belief is in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent. (If you read “Walden” in school, I highly recommend revisiting it.)
Next is “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben. The subtitle of this book is “What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World,” and if you’ve never pondered about the kind of life a tree leads, maybe you should. Wohlleben, a German forester, shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific mechanisms behind trees, of which there are more on the planet Earth than there are stars in our visible sky.
“Letter from an American Farmer” was a gift to me from an old boss, and I truly cherish it. Written by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, a French American who lived in Orange County, NY, until his death in 1813. The book was first published in 1782 and is comprised of 12 letters covering a wide range of topics, from the emerging American identity to the slave trade. Written during a period of seven years prior to the Revolutionary War, it is told from the viewpoint of a fictional narrator in correspondence with an English gentleman, and each letter concerns a different aspect of life or location in the Colonies. The language can be a bit obtuse at times – it is very old – but it’s fascinating to learn how a farmer viewed the monumental happenings of the time while still doing his daily diligence.
Finally, there is “The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees” by Welsh author Robert Penn. A lovely amalgamation of self-sufficiency and adoration of trees, it describes in detail how Penn cut down an ash tree to see how many things could be made from it. Journeying from Wales across Europe and Ireland to the U.S., he finds that the ancient skills and knowledge of the properties of ash, developed over millennia making wheels and arrows, furniture and baseball bats, are far from dead. The book chronicles how the urge to understand and appreciate trees still runs through us all like grain through wood.
Because we like to support local, if you’re interested in any of these titles, make sure to use Bookshop’s locator link to find an independent book store near you.
