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Christian Wallace's avatar

For Texas: Goodbye to a River... probably.

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Boyce Upholt's avatar

Wes said the same! I'm open to it.

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The Unforgotten's avatar

John Graves cornered the market on prestige Texas nature writing so long ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see Rick Bass (who is excellent, of course). I guess last year's collection, Fortunate Son: Selected Essays from the Lone Star State, was a little too on the nose?

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Boyce Upholt's avatar

Didn't know about Fortunate Son! I still have to read Deer Pasture, and I guess I'll have to check out this, too.

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Lauren Rhoades's avatar

So many great books to add to my reading list! Was surprised (in a good way) to see Faulkner & Ward on the list for MS. Relatedly, have you read Welty's fabulous essay Some Notes on River Country?

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Boyce Upholt's avatar

Somehow I have not! That will be remedied shortly.

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Philip Kiefer's avatar

the delmarva peninsula (which makes up a substantial part of delaware) 100%%%% has a claim on the south! the classic on rural chesapeake bay is "beautiful swimmers," a cultural history of blue crabs, which won a pulitzer in the 70s

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Boyce Upholt's avatar

I've driven through the Delmarva Peninsula, and I concede this point. (This is also where industrial chicken production emerged, which went on to be a very Southern industry.) Not sure there are any *books* worth reading about Delaware nature, though...

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Joshua Ross's avatar

John Graves all the way for Texas. Even Rick would concede this. (Much love, Rick.) Some of Graves' writing in his book Hard Scrabble approaches perfection.

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