{"id":2691,"date":"2023-12-06T20:49:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T20:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/?p=2691"},"modified":"2024-05-07T13:39:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T13:39:08","slug":"ls-a-walk-in-the-woods-bill-bryson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/12\/06\/ls-a-walk-in-the-woods-bill-bryson\/","title":{"rendered":"LS* \u2013 A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">November 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">* <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-gray-color\"><em>This is part of a small project of reading essays that focus on landscape and natural history, the idea being to familiarize myself with this genre, and develop a better sense of what I like and do not lik<\/em>e. <\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While, overall, it was an enjoyable read that managed to keep my interest, I was not that keen on it. It is an example of what I am expecting is a subgenre of writing where the author sets out on an &#8216;adventure&#8217; with little or no preparation (and often with an even less prepared companion), and then recounts his misadventures. Amusing, but to someone who believes research and preparation, a bit difficult to engage with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bryson is, in fact, a good writer, and when he actually turned his eye on the environment around him managed to craft some nice phrases. The phrases I tended to like often fell into a few rhetorical categories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He often presented sensory information by evoking humans either singularly, as with sighs, fidgets, and murmurs, or collectively, as with his simile of &#8220;the noises of a convalescent ward after lights out.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>He was very effective giving the reader a sense of being immersed in space, with trees that surround and loom, or drawing on the simile of a child &#8220;lost in a crowd of strange legs.&#8221;  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And he was good at givign the landscape &#8212; especially the forest &#8212; a sense of agency, often a somewhat ominous one. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/12\/06\/ls-a-walk-in-the-woods-bill-bryson\/#Phrases_I_like\" >Phrases I like<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/12\/06\/ls-a-walk-in-the-woods-bill-bryson\/#Sentences_I_like\" >Sentences I like<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/12\/06\/ls-a-walk-in-the-woods-bill-bryson\/#From_Silent_Noon_by_D_G_Rossetti\" >From Silent Noon, by D. G. Rossetti*<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Phrases_I_like\"><\/span>Phrases I like<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>clear, articulated noises of the forest at night<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the sighs and fidgets of wind and leaves<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the weary groan of boughs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the endless murmurings and stirrings, like the noises of a convalescent ward after lights out <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>trees surround you, loom over you, press in from all sides. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Woods choke off views and leave you muddled and without bearings. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They make you feel small and confused and vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stand in a woods and you only sense it. They are a vast, featureless nowhere. And they are alive.<br><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Sentences_I_like\"><\/span>Sentences I like<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I would put myself in darkness and lie there listening to the peculiarly clear, articulated noises of the forest at night, the sighs and fidgets of wind and leaves, the weary groan of boughs, the endless murmurings and stirrings, like the noises of a convalescent ward after lights out, until at last I fell heavily asleep.&nbsp;&nbsp; p. 51&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Woods are not like other spaces. To begin with, they are cubic. Their trees surround you, loom over you, press in from all sides. Woods choke off views and leave you muddled and without bearings. They make you feel small and confused and vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs. Stand in a desert or prairie and you know you are in a big space. Stand in a woods and you only sense it. They are a vast, featureless nowhere. And they are alive.&nbsp; p. 44&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"From_Silent_Noon_by_D_G_Rossetti\"><\/span>From Silent Noon, by D. G. Rossetti*<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(*quoted in Bryson, I think)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the pasture gleams and glooms<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>beneath billowing skies that scatter and amass<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>visible silence, still as the hourglass,  deep in the sun-searched growths<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Views: 9<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 2023 * This is part of a small project of reading essays that focus on landscape and natural history, the idea being to familiarize myself with this genre, and develop a better sense of what I like and do not like. While, overall, it was an enjoyable read that managed to keep my interest, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2023\/12\/06\/ls-a-walk-in-the-woods-bill-bryson\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">LS* \u2013 A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federate","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,39,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-notes","category-craft-of-writing","category-landscape-essays-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2691"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2735,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691\/revisions\/2735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}