Customer Reviews

Letters From Eden: A Year at Home, in the Woods

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The stories in Letters from Eden are a shimmering blend of humor and heartbreak as the author shares the gifts, loss and lessons that come from an intimate relationship with nature. I find myself savoring each story and taking time to digest each one. The writing is exquisite, the field drawings are a treat, and the watercolors express the vibrancy of the life they portray. I love this book!

To give this book five stars is a bit risky. It has a minor flaw or two. It raises the question of what a person can do when Julie Zickefoose writes an even better book. However, this book goes straight to a bird lover's heart. Readers of Bird Watcher's Digest have long enjoyed Zickefoose's essays and paintings. This collection of essays reminds us that she is one of the best nature writers publishing today.

Almost every emotion finds its way into "Letters from Eden." There is the expectation, discovery, and excitement of going with Julie on her walks through the southern Ohio forest. The walks can also provide a quiet time. There is the humor of the essay on bullfrogs or Julie poking fun at herself because she wants some chickens. There is loss as human thoughtlessness harms an animal or bird. There is tenderness as Julie, ever the rehabilitator, nurses birds and animals to the point of releasing them into the wild. There is wonder as various wild things demonstrate intelligence beyond what humans normally expect of them. Raising young children in an area where there are copperhead snakes can lend a touch of terror. That is counterbalanced by Julie's faith in all things natural. Not least among the emotions is the reader's enjoyment in these delightful narratives.

Then again, there is always balance in Julie's stories. She recognizes that predators must eat, even when it means the death of a loved bird. Weedy brush from foreign soil tries to overrun everything but provides needed shelter for wildlife. House sparrows introduced from England are a threat to native species but Julie notes that it is through no fault of their own. She is a vegetable gardener who rues the damage birds and animals do to her crops, but weighs that against the benefit they gain from her garden and the joy she gets from seeing them there.

Zickefoose is a mother and her young children are ever present in these essays. Again, there is a nice balance between the love of family and the fact that they cut into the time available for studying the outdoors and writing.

Julie's art is a perfect complement to the essays. There are simple pencil drawings and quick watercolors. There are also some beautifully finished paintings and ink drawings. The text is very easily read, although the field notes accompanying some of the sketches are sometimes hard to make out.

The thirty-some essays were originally meant to stand alone. Julie has organized them here by seasons of the year. Therein is a minor flaw. The essays do not lead into one another easily and they jump back and forth in time. Zickefoose recognizes the problem and mentions it in her Foreword. Still, it is a flaw and leaves room for an even better book - a book that gets six stars out of five.

Seldom does one person serve as both writer and illustrator of a book. Julie Zickefoose proves that she is adept at both. She paints with brush and pen (or keyboard) pictures of what life can, and should, be like if we only take the time to appreciate it. Her 80 acres seem even larger, for all that occurs on them.

After reading her book it will be the rare person who will not look at the world around them more carefully and enjoy it more fully. While she is no swami, she imbues her words with magic.

Emile Zola wrote, "The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." In Julie Zickefoose?s book "Letters From Eden," you will find both. The gift shines from every page, in her glowing watercolors, in her lyrical prose, and in her obvious passion for the natural world around her. The work is evident in her field notes and pencil sketches, and in the tales she tells. The effort she exerts when protecting nesting piping plovers on a busy beach along the Connecticut coastline, climbing ladders to replace baby birds in their nests, or rehabilitating box turtles is demanding. If you would ask Julie however, she would not call this work, but a way of life, her life in the little piece of Ohio she calls Eden.

Come along with her as she shares her discoveries during a walk in the woods, or celebrates spring with tree swallows playing with feathers, or grieves for an opossum found dying in a trap. From the hilarious to the tragic, with the drama of a poisonous snake thrown in, "Letters From Eden" strikes just the right chord. Anyone with an interest in nature will feel right at home with this book. I know I did.

Julie Zickerfoose is a talented lover of Nature, an acomplished artist and a fine teller of stories. She lives her life immersed in what she loves and has a sense of all that is aroud her on this our beautiful Earth. Her storeis are entertaining and delightful. Water colors are precious. This is a work of art to be enjoyed by all who love Nature and the lessons it has to teach us. A good book to share with children of all ages.

Being a long time subscriber and reader of Bird Watcher's Digest, I was quite familiar with the art and writing of Julie Zickefoose. I pretty well knew what I was getting when I ordered this book. I am also an avid fan of the art of essay writing, a fanatical birder and armature naturalist. I have for years, been a reader and admirer of the writings of Edwin Way Teale, a sort of natural history literary God for me, and a rather obsessive reader of Thoreau, in particular his observations concerning the natural world around him.

Now there are several aspects of this volume that I find delightful, exciting and gratifying. First, Ms. Zickefoose is simply a better writer than Teale was, and there is no doubt in my mind that her knowledge has far exceeded his. As to Thoreau; I suppose taste comes into play here and while I always have and always will consider him one of the greats, I must admit that it is refreshing to read a series of natural history essays without having to plow through various social and political rants on every other page. Then there is the artistic aspect. This woman can draw and she can paint! In particular her bird and plant renderings can hold their own against anyone in the business today. Each plate, each picture is an absolute delight to the eye. I will gladly throw rocks at anyone who calls her a "mere illustrator" and not a true artist. Another, and probably the most important aspect of this work that has so impressed me is the author's absolute passion for the subjects she writes of. This passion simply drips, in a very good way, from almost ever well constructed sentence. I love it when people truly feel and feel strongly.

This is a series of natural history essays written at and about her home place in Ohio. It has been broken done in a sort of chronology, with representative work for Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall and back to Winter. The author has taken us with her on walks about her as she traverses her 80 acres, sharing her thoughts and observations. I was delighted to note that she has included her children, an obvious large part of her life, in with many of her tales. Her observations are quite astute and insightful. There again, I am not unfamiliar with the subject matter here, having a place of my own much as she describes; mine is in the Missouri Ozarks, but critters are critters and animals are animals. I must humbly admit that I learned much from reading this work. Her observations and the information she provides have me looking at certain aspects of my own ramblings in a complete different light. She has made many of the same observations I have made over the years, but in her case, she is able to articulate and record in the written word things that I simply do not have the skill to do. As I read her work I feel she is writing for me and to me and I completely understand what she is saying, I am simply not able to say or write with her skill. I simply do not have her formal training and I am so grateful for people like her that are able and willing to share their knowledge.

When I first received this work I felt that it would be a good one to set on my table, pick up occasionally and read a chapter here and there. No, no,no...that did not work out so well. After the first page she had me hooked and I had to read the thing cover to cover, almost non-stop. This is one thought that will be read over and over again by me over the years.

This is a very well designed book and well crafted. This is not a book that will fall apart after a few readings as so many newer books tend to do. High quality paper, print and craftsmanship have gone into its making. It is a pleasure to hold and read.

As a side note; her chapter on the Common Eastern Box Turtle is worth the price of the book alone. I had to laugh as she wrote of her tendency to rescue these wonderful little creatures from certain death as the cross roads. I have been doing the same thing for years and have dodged many a car in doing so.

All in all, a completely delightful read. Evan if you are not a lover of our natural world, one that is swiftly drifting away from us, you will love this work.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Julie Zickefoose is a multi-talented mother of two children (and a wonderful Boston Terrier we know as "Chet Baker"), wife, artist, writer, singer, and friend. Letters From Eden will move you. I savored every word and keep it displayed in my home. Often, I'll re-read a chapter for sheer pleasure. Her writing style is soft, humorous, and will make you laugh and cry in the reading of one page. Her love of nature is evident in her writings, spoken with her heart. Beautiful, in every way. A true gift.

I loved Ms. Zickefoose's little book. It's a publication one reads in small doses, enjoying her comments and her art. The style is like having a really good conversation with an interesting, accomplished naturalist. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys nature.

Author Julie Zikefoose is a frequent commentator on NPR's 'All Things Considered', and has painted nature all her life - so her book reflects not only an avid nature writer's appreciation for the wild, but a set of seasonal essays accompanied by black and white and color drawings that provide lovely first-person reflections. It's a truly lovely book highly recommended for either coffee table display at home or a public library acquisition.

I bought this book because of a review I read in "The Union Leader" by nature lover and writer, Stacey Cole. The illustrations are beautiful and accurate. Ms. Zickefoose was a field biologist for The Nature Conservancy at the beginning of her career. Any one who loves nature will adore this book.