The first\u00a0 most apt suggestion is Bernd Heinrich\u2019s The Snoring Bird. My Family\u2019s Journey through a Century of Biology<\/strong> because the author is virtually one with the woods, any woods maybe, but mostly in his life, the Maine woods.\u00a0 He lives in them, observes, studies, practically inhales them, and shares his woods-life with us. This is a great anticipation read; it gets you ready to see what is there.<\/p>\n Well, it's a tree for the occasion or a knees-down view of a decorous giant. See below for a better -- and the only other -- tree option. Otherwise, bushes rule.<\/p><\/div>\n Maybe equally apt, but more difficult to justify is Leanne Shapton\u2019s<\/strong> rough-paper beauty, The Native Trees of Canada.<\/strong> Okay, the tree types are \u201cof Canada,\u201d but Maine timberlands abut Canada, and birds fly expansively and drop seedy dinners.\u00a0 Also this book is a many-aspect upper for a dreary day.\u00a0 So how about a tromp through the woods to identify which trees \u201cof Canada\u201d are “of Maine,” too? Then enjoy a winter fire with good books (from RB, of course) and find appreciations of the tree-types in the writings of the observant. (Ms. Shapton did this in her NYTBR back page essay, maybe October, 2010<\/strong>.)\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, I admitted it was a stretch, but this little treasure is too good to pass up.\u00a0 Most recently, I took it with me to the yarn shop for color inspiration when getting ready to knit my next.<\/p>\n Top of my current pile of Roseledge Books possible is T.R. Reid\u2019s Healing of America: Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care<\/strong>, then Steven Johnson\u2019s Where Good Ideas Come From: Natural History of Innovation<\/strong> (okay, I couldn\u2019t wait and bought it in hardcover), Dan Brown\u2019s The Lost Symbol<\/strong>, which I worry may be yet another iteration of Nicholas Cage\u2019s hugely ho-hum National Treasure movies, and Lee Child\u2019s 61 Hours<\/strong>, which I heard him say uses only the cold, not the terrain, of South Dakota as a story element.\u00a0 I am always ready for Jack Reacher, but cold-only SoDak may make this adventure less interesting than usual because I know Dakota cold well from a childhood of frolicking n the (clearly) harsher North Dakota version.<\/p>\n Amazingly, Lee Child gives me a segue into mentioning my latest must read: Richard Thompson\u2019s Big Wheat: A Tale of Bindlestiffs and Blood.<\/strong> Don\u2019t get too excited, but it is a murder mystery that takes place in 1919 in North Dakota.<\/p>\n More later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greetings from my less-new digs where today\u2019s aerie (12th floor) view is one of soft fog resting on treetops and temperatures are so mild that the birds alit on the upper bush branches after eating their fill from Bob\u2019s daily … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/roseledgebooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/img_2564.jpg\" "\\"Well,")
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