This was a year of marathons of reading. A few books I read for pleasure, but most as research for my book in-progress on Far West Texas. May you find the works listed here as remarkable and illuminating as I did. 2016 has been a blessed year in the reading department.
By Whitley Strieber and Jeffrey J. Kripal
A flying ax of apocalypse.
> Read my review of this book for Literal magazine.
2. River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West
By Rebecca Solnit
I grew up walking distance from the Stanford University campus, heart of what is now known as Silicon Valley, so for me this was especially compelling history. But for anyone interested in technology and cultural change the beautifully written and deeply researched River of Shadows is a must read.
3. The Comanche Empire
By Pekka Hämäläinen
A brilliantly argued and supremely important contribution to the history of North America. This book made me rethink everything I thought I knew about US-Mexico history.
> Read my review of this book here.
> This title also appears on my post, "Reading Mexico".
4. The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West
By Patricia Nelson Limerick
Magnificently masterful. What a treasure of a book.
5. The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity
By Jill Lepore
Few Americans know anything about this long-ago conflict between the colonists of New England and indigenous peoples that was nonetheless foundational to modern American culture. I found this work spell-binding and, for its verve and elegance, a great pleasure to read.
6. Tie:
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces
That Will Shape Our Future
By Kevin Kelly
and
What Technology Wants
By Kevin Kelly
Humanity has arrived at a lynchpin of a moment with technology; Kevin Kelly's books explain the whys and wherefores and what to expect. Vitally perceptive and original as these two books are, I am not so optimistic as to assume, as Kelly apparently does, that we will always and everywhere be able to plug into a well-functioning electric grid. We shall see. It is a strange moment in the US and in the world. That said, Kelly's books are tremendous contributions towards grokking this wild, ravenous thing he dubs "the technium." My mind is still doing pretzels.
7. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
By S.C. Gwynne
A real life epic tragedy, and a crucial story for everyone with any interest in North America. An engrossing read, too, by the way.
8. Walking the Llano: A Texas Memoir of Place
By Shelley Armitage
This wistful, knowledgable, and lyric memoir may be one of the best books ever to come out of the Texas Panhandle.
> Read my Q & A with Shelley Armitage for this blog.
9. Tie:
Salt Warriors: Insurgency on the Rio Grande
By Paul Cool
This meticulously researched and expertly told history of the El Paso Salt War of 1877 is essential reading for anyone interested in US-Mexico and Texas history, and indeed, anyone interested in US history per se.
> Read my Q & A with the author for this blog.
De León: A Tejano Family History
By Carolina Castillo Crimm
We often hear about the Tejanos (Mexican Texans or, as you please, Texan Mexicans) in Mexican and Texas history, but who were they? Crimm's De León provides an at once scholarly and intimate glimpse of one of the first and most influential Tejano families though several generations.
> Read my Q & A with Carolina Castillo Crimm for this blog.
10. Tie:
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680: The Secret Rebellion that Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest
By David Roberts
> This title also appears on my post, "Reading Mexico."
The Last of the Celts
By Marcus Tanner
How does it end and how has it ended for cultural groups from time immemorial? An at once somber and fascinating glimpse into the case of the Celts.
> See my post Cymru and Comanche
> Archive of all book reviews
> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.
Goethe advised, "Plunge into the the thick of life." It might not be so poetic, but certainly, one could walk into the thick of life. Walk, run, swim, climb, sail-- what travel writing is all about is not only the adventure itself, but bringing to it the sharp awareness that one needs to later shape a narrative to share with others (which leads to the sometimes thrilling, sometimes soul-chilling adventure of publishing...) I met travel writer L. Peat O'Neil at a Washington DC Women's National Book Association-sponsored event in the Rosslyn, Virginia Olsson's Book Store, where I read from my memoir and she read from hers. I've been a big fan ever since, and in my travel writing workshops, I always avidly recommend her book, what should be every travel writer's Bible, Travel Writing: See the World, Sell the Story. Over to you, Peat!Some day soon, if the yoga and creative visualization work, and I finish necessary edits, Pyrenees Pilgrimage will be available through Amazon.com. The book is about my solo walk across France from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean through the Pyrenees. A walk in the woods, French style.
Hah! Not so simple as that. I trudged and climbed, sweat and drank, following the French paths that feed into the Camino de Santiago de Compostello. I was walking away from Santiago and met several people on the trail near St. Jean Pied du Port who were headed to Spain. I even turned down an invitation to join a jolly group headed to the traditional pilgrimage destination. No, I was walking to the Mediterranean Sea.
An iconoclast, I like to look backwards to find out what’s ahead. On this journey, I visited landmarks, churches, chateaus and sites that illustrate the spiritual and political history of the region. I dug into ruins, sat in caves, scrambled up crumbling hillsides and meditated next to crosses honoring Resistance fighters shot dead by Nazis. A pleasure seeking pilgrim, I sampled local cheese, bread, meat and wine. I picked apples and cooked preserves. When my feet hurt, I rested and painted watercolors which lured the curious who sometimes became new friends. Lodgings ranged from bunks in mountain lodges to refurbished 17th century mansions. I stayed in schoolhouses converted to hostels and, when I arrived at the deserted seaside in October, I slept soundly in a room over a sports bar. Each walking day was different, but the repetitive rhythm of walking hundreds of kilometers alone hones a person’s spirit.
When opportunity presented, I conversed with the people of the region, learning much about animal husbandry, crops, the wars-- centuries of wars, legends, saints and ghosts. I attended an organ music festival and played the piano in a cellist’s home, slipped in a mountain stream and was patched up by an orthopedic surgeon who told me he had fixed similar broken wrists for Tour de France cyclists. I attended a Basque wedding reception and a funeral in Corbieres wine country.
I walked 40 days and 685 kilometers. I walked alone, wind and wildlife for company. One evening near St. Paul du Fenouillet, caught out after sundown, I witnessed boars wrestling with their tusks in the dusk. On the high plateaus east of Col de Mehatché, I stared up at circling Lammergeier and Griffon vultures soaring on thermals. One afternoon I carried a dead white owl found in my path to its final resting place.
The book should be out this fall on Amazon as an e-book.
Read an excerpt from Pyrenees Pilgrimage. And click here for travel information on the Pyrenees.
5 + links to aspects of walking and literature:
Interview with Rebecca Solnit, on Boston WBUR radio.
She’s the author of Wanderlust, a literary history of human perambulation. I devoured this book before starting my walk across France.
Kipnotes on Walking
Bibliography of narratives about walking journeys-– mostly literary, some how-to guides.
The Power Walk That Charges Your Phone
Here comes our future. A generator that harvests wattage from humans while they walk-- enough power to charge cell phones.
Run the Planet: Race Walking in Mexico
Race Walking in Mexico offers links to coaching and information sites for
walkers and runners.
Peace Pilgrim
Peace Pilgrim walked around the North American continent as a messenger of simplicity and peace.
PowerWalk
My blog about walking.
Walk On!
--- L. Peat O'Neil
--->For the archive of Madam Mayo guest-blog posts, click here.
