Welcome to Litsy!

This is a travel writing book exploring ancient pathways in Britain and some abroad. It is divided by geological type and country. It is a really impressive exploration of what drives and has driven humans for centuries to walk and create these pathways that have stood the test of time. (Cont. in comments 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻)

#Naturalitsy #Midwintersolace

My selection for week 8 #Fridaynightshare is the 1st Robert Macfarlane book I read, The Old Ways. He has such a poetic turn of phrase, that really lends itself to his descriptions of landscape, flora and fauna. Beautiful, poignant, and observant writing. Outstanding nature writing.

@Chrissyreadit @TheBookHippie @jenniferw88

Another one that would‘ve been better to read than listen to. Robin Sachs may have been too perfect a choice to narrate Macfarlane‘s expressive prose. As his sultry voice described beautiful landscapes, and made accessible a world I knew nothing of, I would find myself wondering what had happened.

Consequently, as far as I can tell, The Old Ways is about ancient pathways and the people who still walk them. But what it‘s about? I can‘t quite say.

Thank you Anne! this was perfect!! i love the tea garden seeds so much- and i needed a garden flag!!! and i also love tea towels!!! The Naturalist Journal is gorgeous 😍😍😍😍and i am so happy with the books you chose! Thank you Jenny and Debbie for hosting a LOVELY swap! #midsummerswap #naturalitsy

I liked this book, but it was hard to read on a #LMPBC timeline. It was the type of book I would have liked to have read a bit at a time. I‘ll be mailing it on this week.

#JoyousJanuary

I completely forgot to update on Monday. I finished Demon Copperhead and David Copperfield, a result in itself #chunksters
Bailed on An intro to English poetry 😴
Still dipping into Holly McNish's delicious anthology and the tagged.
I did get distracted by 2 excellent #Netgalley reads Weyward and The wheel of the year.

All on all, a success. Although the journal still awaits 🙈

@Andrew65

#Naturalitsy

I'm really enjoying revisiting this amazing book, the last in Macfarlane's trilogy on landscape.

A free choice for #NaturaLitsyBingo2023
One of a non-fiction trilogy for #Serieslove2023 @Andrew65 @TheSpineView

https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/19/robert-macfarlane-paths/

Perfect book to listen to on audio while out walking

McFarlane‘s book about walking ancient pathways really resonated. My photo is from a walk across the mud flats at low tide to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne a few years ago. The author does not include this path in the book, but devotes a chapter to another tidal route, The Broomway off the Essex coast.

Thanks for the reminder @wanderinglynn

#kindledeals #kindledeal #ebooksale

This book is slow and quiet. If you can bring your mind to a still place long enough to take it in, you will be rewarded with a beautiful reading experience.

I was introduced to MacFarlane‘s work through his beautiful concept art book The Lost Words and wanted to learn more about him and his writing. With the highly anticipated release of Underland coming out this June, I wanted to catch up on his back list titles. The Old Ways didn‘t disappoint. The way Rebecca Solnit blends myth and literature into politics, MacFarlane does for nature and travel. I‘m now obsessed & am going to read his entire ouvre.

Today‘s #litsyaudiowalk - 1.5 miles on the track at the YMCA. Not bad considering I‘ve hardly exercised in years and that I strained something in my hip yesterday (totally my fault). I‘m listening to this wonderful book by Robert Macfarlane about his experiences walking through England on old footpaths. It‘s almost like listening to a 21st century Thoreau! Of course, now I want the book in print!#audiowalking #lunchtimewalking

1. Rural
2. Any! Though usually I'm on the plains and I'm not that into the desert. I like a lot of trees.
3. 🥾🚴‍♀️🛶
4. I really want to try some kind of glamping!
5. I want to read more of this author, this book is the only one I have. His Instagram is great too.

#hellothursday or Friday... 🤷
@wanderinglynn 🙋

#MusicalNewYear #day6 #OnMyOwn Before I got sick,nature was my drug. I loved bushwalking in the mountains,the more remote the better.I miss that so much, the smell of the bush, dripping leaves, mist & the pureness Of the air. This book is about McFarlanes own solo walking trip along the ancient roads & pathways all over Great Britain. There‘s something magical about being on your own in nature, it‘s the best feeling in the world. God I miss that😞

I picked this up from the library and was excited to read it but am having so much trouble focusing! I don't know if it's the book or just today...probably the latter. I'm trying to find a good baby boy name that my husband will also like (we don't know the gender yet, but it's one of the few things I can do right now). Any suggestions from you Littens?

Rafferty is very interested in “The Old Ways”. It may have something to do with his name. 🇨🇮

"Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual."

And still on the tbr (of course!)
#tracks #nuyear @Cinfhen @TrishB

I have a pretty large mythology/folklore/fable collection. There are three shelves below this one. Now I need to start reading them more.

#uncannyoctober #fablesandfolklore @RealLifeReading

I really liked this book. He's a walker & hiker of the U.K., with an easy, natural erudition that had me reaching for my journal. The paths are fascinating, especially the world's most dangerous one that goes miles out to sea at low tide (near an ordinance proving island), a path always just under water. Nature & our relation to the land makes for great reading in his hands. It's not a fast read, but meandering trails & thoughts shouldn't be.

"As the pen rises from the page between words, so the walker's feet rise and fall between paces, and as the deer continues to run as it bounds from the earth and the dolphin continues to swim even as it leaps again and again from the sea, so writing and wayfaring are continuous activities, a running stitch, a persistence of the same seam or stream...

An amazing compendium of #stories from #travels, #research, #musings, and connection with both the #history of the #land and human history, twisted or poignant as it may be...loved it!