Things I have to do before next week – I have to finish the two books (yes, apparently there are two) for reading group. One of them I have written about here and which I am really enjoying and is so well-written and interesting, I sometimes re-read parts. This book is ‘The Emergence of England‘ by Charles Boundy’ and I look forward to his next book which is due to be published in the summer. The other book I haven’t even started, and I confess i did forget that we had a second book, and I think I forgot because subconsciously, I didn’t want to read it. That’s very naughty because the point of any book group or club is to extend your reading experience – and everyone has preferred subjects and genres. No doubt when i do read it I’ll be pleased that i did and will take something from it.
The second book we’re reading is ‘The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland’ by Nan Shepherd:
In this masterpiece of nature writing, Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. There she encounters a world that can be breathtakingly beautiful at times and shockingly harsh at others. Her intense, poetic prose explores and records the rocks, rivers, creatures and hidden aspects of this remarkable landscape. Shepherd spent a lifetime in search of the ‘essential nature’ of the Cairngorms; her quest led her to write this classic meditation on the magnificence of mountains, and on our imaginative relationship with the wild world around us. Composed during the Second World War, the manuscript of The Living Mountain lay untouched for more than thirty years before it was finally published. (Wikipedia
Nan Shepherd was born Anna Shepherd in 1893 on the 11th February 1893 – so she would have been a similar age to my maternal grandma. She was born in Cults, a suburb of Aberdeen. Her grandparents were farmers but her father was an engineer and Nan went on to Aberdeen University. She became a lecturer at Aberdeen College of Education and began to write, poetry and novels, which were published. ‘The Living Mountain’ which we are reading grew from her love of walking in the Cairngorm mountains – so although it’s not my usual genre for reading, I’m sure it will be very interesting, and maybe even inspiring! I don’t, however think it will lead me to start hill-walking – I was always a swimmer, not a walker!
Nan never married although she had various relationships – ” In her late twenties however, she had a passionate love affair with the married philosopher John Macmurray, and the despair of this frustrated passion gave rise to confessional poetry, autobiographical reflection, and ultimately a mystical relationship with the Cairngorm Mountains. These were the foundations of her literary output” (Wikipedia)
Shortly after her eighty-eighth birthday, Nan died in Aberdeen. I will write more about her and her writing after reading her book, and after our book group meeting.
My featured image isn’t Scotland, unfortunately I have no images from there!
Lois Elsden 