Living Mountain

A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland

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Nan Shepherd, Jeanette Winterson, Jeanette Winterson, Robert Macfarlane: Living Mountain (Hardcover, 2019, Canongate Books)

Hardcover, 176 pages

English language

Published Sept. 30, 2019 by Canongate Books.

ISBN:
978-1-78689-735-0
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4 stars (1 review)

'The finest book ever written on nature and landscape in Britain' Guardian 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.

5 editions

reviewed Living Mountain by Robert Macfarlane

Naturally Poetic

4 stars

Nan Shepard has this way of writing that is just so naturally poetic and unbelievably vivid. With each word, you can feel the intellect and passion behind Shepard's personality. Although this may be rather controversial (and could be for a number of factors), I think I still prefer Robert MacFarlane's literary abilities. Which, might I add, is not a critique of Shepard but is a testament to MacFarlane. There is just something about the cold, harsh terrain of Scotland that I often find somewhat less captivating than the bucolic, freshness of the South. Overall, both authors are beautifully talented and never fail to affect onto me a newfound appreciation for nature.

Subjects

  • Nature
  • Environment
  • Scotland