Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
In his latest collection of carefully crafted essays, Sanders, an author (Staying Put) and a professor of English at Indiana State Univ., reflects on the sense of belonging he has found while raising his family in the Midwest, and on his career as a writer. He eloquently expresses his love of the land and the responsibility he feels for preventing further erosion of our natural resources, including a description of a canoe trip he took with his daughter into northern Minnesota. The simple joys of domestic life unfold in an account of a morning spent baking bread, and he also explains how a dreaded kitchen renovation provided him and his wife with unexpected pleasure. In one informative essay, Sanders ties his feelings for the Midwest to what other writers such as Willa Cather and Sinclair Lewis have written about the area. He views writing as his chosen work, one that must be attended to daily and in solitude, and values it only insofar as it articulates his vision of community. (Oct.)
Library Journal
In this collection of 12 essays, Sanders (English, Indiana Univ.) writes about family, community, the natural world, the Midwest, the art of writing, academia, and his own life. Sanders has published nonfiction, fiction, and children's works to some acclaim; he writes, he says, to glimpse the condition of wholeness that occurs when individuals are not separate from their fellow beings and communities are one with the natural world. "The earth needs fewer tourists and more inhabitants, it seems to mefewer people who float about in bubbles of money and more people committed to knowing and tending their homeground." Consequently, he finds himself baking bread or canoeing with his daughter. Some of his essays have been published previously; they sometimes overlap or fail to acknowledge each other, but they are essays of substance and beauty, and they belong beside the work of Annie Dillard, Samuel Pickering, and Wendell Berry. For both academic and public library collections.Nancy Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.C.
School Library Journal
YA-The essays in this collection can stand alone, but together they complete the picture of a self-described writer of place whose place is the Midwest. Sanders's themes include ``...our place in nature, our murderous and ingenious technology, the possibilities of community, love and strife within families, the search for a spiritual ground.'' At the same time, the author offers 12 examples of clear, concise, lyrical writing. In the essay ``Voyageurs,'' a father and daughter paddle a canoe together and learn more about one another as they face danger in the wilderness of northern Minnesota. YAs will find both inspiration and hard truths about creative writing as a career in essays such as ``Writing from the Center,'' ``The Writer in the University,'' and ``Letter to a Reader.'' There is also much here for those interested in discovering what in the world around them is essential to their own well-being.-Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA
Booknews
The new-agey text on the dust jacket nearly obscures the fact that these essays are elegant, thoughtful, and utterly engaging. Sanders just won the big, fat 1995 Lannan Literary Award, thereby joining the ranks of Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, and others. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
