Country Year

I felt compelled to read A Country Year right after I finished Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I vaguely remembered thinking A Country Year reminded me of the Annie Dillard book when I read both of these the first time long ago. And I would say A Country Year still reminds me of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Both are memoirs. Both are stories of women who spend time alone with nature. Both have aspects of moving-and-starting-over tales. Both are satisfying tales, but I would say that Hubbell spends less time contemplating the Big Ideas that living in nature evokes.

Sue Hubbell tells the story of her life after she is living her own as a beekeeper on a Missouri plot of land. It's a story of struggle and difficulty; Hubbell is quick to quell all the romantic notions of the back-to-the-land folks prominent in the time in which the book was written.

There are lively stories about Brown Recluse spiders and snakes and termites and Black Widows, and I don't think I've read a clearer account of life working with bees.