Constance
New member
[Another quiet lunch-time so...]
By William Least Heat-Moon (aka Bill Trogdon!). His account of a motor-boat trip from New York across the US to the Columbia River in Washington. A thoroughly absorbing series of ground-level encounters with people, places, and social and environmental issues, punctuated by some moments of genuine nautical danger. Strikes exactly the write note, concern for people and environment whilst not taking himself too seriously. Must have read it 3 or 4 times. His crew changed frequently along the way, and changed gender so to speak, but he holds the book together with the brilliant device of ignoring this, calling his 'mate' by the Greek word Pilotis throughout. Travelling and writing about it is not all beer & skittles -- he hints at the cost to his personal life of this four-month journey, which took him 18 months to research and 3 or 4 years on & off to write up. Author of the admired 'Blue Highways' but also the, to my mind, impossibly turgid and worthy 'Prairy Erth' - I expect you had to be from the mid-west to appreciate that house-brick.
By William Least Heat-Moon (aka Bill Trogdon!). His account of a motor-boat trip from New York across the US to the Columbia River in Washington. A thoroughly absorbing series of ground-level encounters with people, places, and social and environmental issues, punctuated by some moments of genuine nautical danger. Strikes exactly the write note, concern for people and environment whilst not taking himself too seriously. Must have read it 3 or 4 times. His crew changed frequently along the way, and changed gender so to speak, but he holds the book together with the brilliant device of ignoring this, calling his 'mate' by the Greek word Pilotis throughout. Travelling and writing about it is not all beer & skittles -- he hints at the cost to his personal life of this four-month journey, which took him 18 months to research and 3 or 4 years on & off to write up. Author of the admired 'Blue Highways' but also the, to my mind, impossibly turgid and worthy 'Prairy Erth' - I expect you had to be from the mid-west to appreciate that house-brick.
