I read, read, read, as all writers do. Often, I have two or three or four books going at once, and usually one is fiction and one is nonfiction. I particularly enjoy books about the West and about World War II, but have a wide range of interests filled and excited by books.

My current favorites include

Walking Nature Home, A Life's Journey by Susan J. Tweit.  This memoir is a navigation of Susan's life from an early diagnosis of a life-threatening illness through healing in the natural world.  Her words are lyrical, her images striking and lovely, and her stories speak to the heart and mind.  The constellations by which she navigates head each chapter and guide her writing. Susan J. Tweit @ home in nature

Jackalope Dreams by Mary Clearman Blew, another story of horses and a lot more--suicide and its impact on a family, relationships, surviving and learning about oneself in the process.
Mary Clearman Blew

Read these two books, then follow them to other books by either author. You'll be well-rewarded.


The Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series by Jacqueline Winspear



My long time and all time favorites include:

Fiction:

A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, a magical tale set in New York City and elsewhere. I read it one hot summer on a dock in a lake in Idaho. I shivered so much, I had to read it from beneath my beach towel. Any book written by Mark Helprin is on my long time favorite list.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron, a fascinating book about a book.

Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy

All Good Women by Valerie Miner

All books by Alan Furst, but my favorite is The Polish Officer.

Nonfiction:

Soul of Nowhere and House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest by Craig Childs. All of Craig Childs's books are my favorites.

Brain Rules by John Medina.

The River That Flows Uphill: From the Big Bang to the Big Brain; A Brain for All Seasons; and Global Fever, all by William Calvin. I learned more history, more science, and more sociology in these books than in many years of schooling.

Broken Country and Sky's Witness by C. L. Rawlins, all about Wyoming.

Sky-Time by Robert Michael Pyle, a year in Gray's River, Washington.