Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard

The Avoca Public Library's summer reading theme of Read, Renew, Repeat, and seeking personal and environmental sustainability, has made me want to revisit one of my favorite nonfiction books: Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Dillard takes her readers through an exploration of her rural Virginia home situated alongside Tinker Creek, contemplating nature and our place within it. I’m always amazed by Dillard’s ability to write prose that is both so poetic and so easily accessible. While her writing is fast and conversational, her musings are so beautiful that they are worth lingering on. And poetic as it may be, Dillard doesn’t pull any punches, considering nature in all its cruel detachment and cold reality. The effect is a meditative experience that spans generations and geographies.