The Faraway Nearby

By Rebecca Solnit,

Book cover of The Faraway Nearby

Book description

From the author of Orwell's Roses, a personal, lyrical narrative about storytelling and empathy-a fitting companion to Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award

In this exquisitely written book by the author of A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit explores the…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Faraway Nearby as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

All of Solnit’s writings have been an inspiration but this book’s oscillations between the intimacy of her relationship with her dying mother, the poignant degradation of apricots, and the many little-known and fascinating histories that she miraculously weaves into a truly magical book. Solnit has a way of offering hope in the darkness of some of life’s most challenging times, by swinging from details of her own life to those of others she knows or has studied. It’s a remarkable read as it takes you along on the nimble journey of her mind and heart.

From Laura's list on reimagining the present.

The Faraway Nearby is a poetic journey. Solnit reminds us, throughout the book, of the impact and importance of storytelling in our lives. But what I found most compelling and moving on this intensely personal walk with the author was the way in which she wanders here and there to explore many topics but comes back, time and again, to her mother. Stricken with Alzheimer’s, her already difficult mother is initially even more obstreperous. When Solnit’s brother gives her a voluminous harvest of unripe apricots from a tree in their mother’s garden, their ripening presence on Solnit’s floor helps create…

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