This is the second book by this author that I have read and I am hungry for more. My Austin, Texas buddy Dave gave them both to me and OK Dave you have me hooked. John Graves is the author and he may not be well known outside of Texas so you may never have heard of him.
And I suppose being a local phenomenon the author’s writing may be local and it is in that it is centered there. This one is about the Brazos River in north central Texas. But somehow his writing transcends also. He says look, look at the history here in this particular place and you the reader are curious and also spurred (good one) to think about the history where you are standing.
His canoe trip is three weeks long in the 1950’s and through an area of the river that is slated to be damned so he is saying goodbye for himself and for all of us really. But it is not an angry book but one that sees the peace in it all and that has a place for all the brutal details. I think that is what I like about it best.
His other book Hard Scrabble that I have reviewed in the past was about Texas also but had a different twist. It chronicles his later life with a tired piece of land that he had purchased and his attempt to heal it. The story is akin to Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac that you may have read or heard about.
So thank you Dave for enriching my life with these books and thoughts. Raven Ranch will be a better place for that. Seeing ourselves and our efforts in the context of history is a healthy thing.
enriching loves, Felipé.
Phil, I had never heard of John Graves until I moved to Texas 30 years ago. He’s been described as “our best loved and least known outside of Texas author”. We live on rocky ground that would be described as hardscrabble by anyone unfortunate enough to have to farm it and we’re just a couple hundred yards from Lake Austin, which is one of several lakes created by dams on the “other” Colorado River, But John’s writing speaks just as much to me of the hill country where I grew up in Allegany County, NY. So glad that John’s work has found a place in the Raven Ranch Library. Best, Dave
Dave ~ the guy is a breath of fresh air although I don’t know how that is possible since he is so low keyed and funky and the 1950’s is hardly current. But I guess it is his take on the way history works that is the jewel. The good, the bad and the ugly all have their honored position in the story. And he reads this like a book from the condition of the land that he sees as he paddles along. Or he reads it from the condition of the water that runs off those drainages. What was his work, do you know? I think we are seeing him as a retired guy. And I see that he has more books. Have you read any of those? Felipé.
Phil, Aside from some time teaching at the University of Texas and Texas Christian University I believe that John made his living from his writing. He was a long time contributor to Texas Monthly—also unknown outside of Texas but a wonderful magazine (I still look forward to its arrival every month)—as well as other publications. I’ve also read the book he wrote about his early life ‘Myself and Strangers’. It’s a bit of a Hemingway story; he even spent some time wandering around Spain. I haven’t yet read ‘From a Limestone Ledge’, which along with the two you’ve read completes his trilogy. Another connection you’d feel with John: he was a Marine officer in WW2. Best, Dave.