
5 Books to Take Your Time Reading
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Kristen McDeavitt is a queer writer and backpacker. She has lived in California, Wyoming, Texas, and in Alaska on a glacier.
Twitter Handle: @songofmyselfie
Some of the best books are the slow ones. Not the ones that drag on and just won’t end, but the ones that make you slow down to match their pace. Actually, these books are usually on the short side, substituting lengthy narrative for intense detail. It is these books that move me most and stir me to creative heights. Here are a list of some of my favorite books to savor.
One of the best-loved works of nature writing, A Sand County Almanac calls us to rethink our interactions with our world. Leopold describes the natural life around his Wisconsin cabin and from his travels and lays out an ecological ethic that remains evergreen 70 years after it was written. Although an ecologist by trade, he proved to be an incredibly poetic writer. Reading this book, you imagine yourself sitting next to him as he guides your eyes and ears to beautiful places you never would have noticed on your own.
M Train is in its very purpose contemplative. Patti Smith’s meditation on her own art and life, told in diary-like stream of consciousness, is clear and purposeful, even when it seems meandering. Reading M Train, you can tell that that Smith gathers her inspiration from the small moments in life, and she spends time and care on them—making a cup of coffee, mending her clothes, reading or writing a poem. M Train is a book to take your time on.
Some of the best books are the slow ones. Not the ones that drag on and just won’t end, but the ones that make you slow down to match their pace. Actually, these books are usually on the short side, substituting lengthy narrative for intense detail. It is these books that move me most and stir me to creative heights. Here are a list of some of my favorite books to savor.