A little something for you to ponder.
Photo by Kettie Olsen
“The most precipitous chapter of life always begins before we quite know it is under way.” ~ Ivan Doig, Worksong
(If you aren’t familiar with Ivan Doig’s writings, you’ll want to avail yourself of the privilege. He’s a master wordsmith able to leap large mountains with a single word.)
The Daily Post from WordPress, offered up a writing prompt that I couldn’t resist. “Tell us about a book you can read again and again without getting bored — what is it that speaks to you?”
Some books never lose their ability to instill a sense of wonder. When you own two or more copies of the same book that’s a big clue that it’s a keeper, a novel I want to read again and again and again.
The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig is just such a marvel. His prose rolls, dances, sings, pirouettes, lilts, surprises, soars and weaves magic in the air. Every page presents a fresh perspective, a nuance never thought of, the use of a word custom designed for his sentences.
Cover of The Whistling Season
His descriptions and explanations don’t overshadow or standout or get in the way like some writer’s “big words” tend to do. No, in The Whistling Season you’ll find yourself transported to the time and place, sights, scents and sounds of the very world he presents. Mr. Doig is a magician with words, deft, precise, entertaining and awe-inspiring.
Characters in this novel become your neighbors, your friends, your relations. You find yourself caring more deeply than you ever thought possible about a person on paper. Your heart will race, you’ll break out in a sweat, you’ll want to close the windows to shut out the weather blowing from the leaves of the book.You’ll feel as if you’re on that horse, crouched behind that outcropping, walking through that field, sitting in that very classroom. Even more, you’ll want to wrap your arms around these people and protect them from the heartaches, the struggles, the meanness, the chill, the noise and the progression of time. You’ll have to hold yourself back from cheering, restrain your tears and keep yourself from singing along.
Rereading The Whistling Season lets me relive a life I never actually lived. I’m transported and entranced any time I read a even a short passage from its jewel-laden pages.
If you’ve ever wondered what excellent writing looks like, feels like and sounds like, here is your chance to find out. You’ll be charmed, captivated and bound up in the very seams of this book.
Another photo from a shared walk with my cousin last year. A month later I actually crossed this bridge and took the less traveled rocky ledge of a path. So glad I did.
“The most precipitous chapter of life always begins before we quite know it is under way.”
Funny how life doesn’t give us any road signs, warnings, ominous theme music, or any other clues that some big change is waiting around the corner. Life is not like a movie at all. It’s simply putting one foot in front of the other, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.
Sometimes we have a choice to take one path or another, never knowing the outcome of what the other path might have brought us to. That’s all probably for the best.
I am glad my path has taken me here to where I am right now. What bridges lay ahead of me? Don’t think I want to know. Whatever maps I might create or use to plan the road ahead will be rendered useless by life’s fickle sense of humor, fate’s sense of irony and God’s will for me.
I breath in. I breath out. I enjoy what I can and love as much as possible. I give my best.
I keep walking.
Enjoy your journey.
Kami's Beautiful Morning 