![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Last Morning
Jan. 7th, 2010 09:01 pmThe Last Place on Earth, by Mike "Nick" Nichols
An incredibly stunning collection of photographs of wild places in Africa, published in a very large format (about 16" X 11.5") and with graceful framing text by the likes of David Quammen (who told me to seek out megatransect stuff in the first place) and Mike Fay (the originator of the Megatransect - the guy who Nichols and Quammen were following through the bush - more about him later because I'll be reading excerpts from his journals shortly). Amaaaaaaaaaazing. If you can ogle this you should. As an aside, I do not know what it says about me that I generally find myself most moved by photos of reptiles and amphibians... but this book has some keen shots of those, in addition to the equally gorgeous pictures of chimps, gorillas, leopards, bongos, elephants (LOTS of elephants), etc.
(7/200)
First Darling of the Morning, by Thrity Umrigar
Short, easy-to-read-but-literary memoir (a series of short essays, really) about growing up in Bombay. Powerful and endearing. Recommended but with the caveat that none of the stuff on the cover of this book led me to believe that some of the family stuff (only a few essays, but) would be as dark as it was. May be triggery for those who had a physically or emotionally abusive parent. (I don't usually bring this stuff up, but like I said - there was NO warning of this in what I'd read about the book or saw on the cover before reading it - kind of a shock to read such things when you are expecting more or less "light and happy" and sitting in a public place.... most of the book is quite delicate & cheerful in tone, and it's not that the sad parts don't fit, they totally do, I just wasn't mentally prepared for them. The Booklist review on the amazon page I linked to *does* give a good idea of this content so you may want to read it if you are concerned.)
(8/200)
An incredibly stunning collection of photographs of wild places in Africa, published in a very large format (about 16" X 11.5") and with graceful framing text by the likes of David Quammen (who told me to seek out megatransect stuff in the first place) and Mike Fay (the originator of the Megatransect - the guy who Nichols and Quammen were following through the bush - more about him later because I'll be reading excerpts from his journals shortly). Amaaaaaaaaaazing. If you can ogle this you should. As an aside, I do not know what it says about me that I generally find myself most moved by photos of reptiles and amphibians... but this book has some keen shots of those, in addition to the equally gorgeous pictures of chimps, gorillas, leopards, bongos, elephants (LOTS of elephants), etc.
(7/200)
First Darling of the Morning, by Thrity Umrigar
Short, easy-to-read-but-literary memoir (a series of short essays, really) about growing up in Bombay. Powerful and endearing. Recommended but with the caveat that none of the stuff on the cover of this book led me to believe that some of the family stuff (only a few essays, but) would be as dark as it was. May be triggery for those who had a physically or emotionally abusive parent. (I don't usually bring this stuff up, but like I said - there was NO warning of this in what I'd read about the book or saw on the cover before reading it - kind of a shock to read such things when you are expecting more or less "light and happy" and sitting in a public place.... most of the book is quite delicate & cheerful in tone, and it's not that the sad parts don't fit, they totally do, I just wasn't mentally prepared for them. The Booklist review on the amazon page I linked to *does* give a good idea of this content so you may want to read it if you are concerned.)
(8/200)
