OF PLACE & PERSONS: CONTEMPLATIVE NONFICTION

In An Ignorance of Trees: A Memoir in Essays, Jim Daniels writes about trees, backyard swing sets, above-ground swimming pools, pets, and hoarding, carrying his beloved Detroit with him wherever he goes. Doubling as a rich, textured biography of place, An Ignorance of Trees enriches the terrain of the Midwest with heart, as bruised and beautiful as ever. In Of Slash Pines and Manatees: A Highly Selective Field Guide to My Suburban Wilderness, Andrew Furman contemplates his place in a subtropical landscape by exploring touchpoints between his everyday suburban life and the environment in South Florida. His meditations give rise to an environmental ethic that challenges distinctions between nature and culture, wilderness and civilization, solitude and family life. In Other People’s Mothers, a collection of interconnected, autobiographical essays, Julie Marie Wade explores the relationship between a daughter, her mother, and the other mothers present in their lives. Here is a young woman in the late 20th century grappling with gendered expectations, beauty and body ideals, and complex messages about who she is permitted – or destined – to become.

Buy An Ignorance of Trees: A Memoir in Essays – Daniels

Buy Of Slash Pines and Manatees: A Highly Selective Field Guide to My Suburban Wilderness – Furman

Buy Other People’s Mothers – Wade