Book picks similar to
Hard Water by Jean Sprackland


poetry
recommended
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environment

On Balance


Sinéad Morrissey - 2017
    The poems also address gender inequality and our inharmonious relationship with the natural world. A poem on Lilian Bland – the first woman to design, build and fly her own aeroplane – celebrates the audacity and ingenuity of a great Irish heroine. Elsewhere, explorers in Greenland set foot on a fjord system accessible to Europeans for the first time in millennia as a result of global warming. But if life is fragile then its traces are persistent, insistent, and in ‘Articulation’ we are invited to stop and wonder at the reconstructed skeleton of Napoleon’s horse, Marengo, ‘whose very hooves trod mud at Austerlitz’, suspended in time ‘for however long he lasts before he crumbles’.

Water is for Fighting Over: and Other Myths about Water in the West


John Fleck - 2016
    In recent years, newspaper headlines have screamed, “Scarce water and the death of California farms,” “The Dust Bowl returns,” “A ‘megadrought’ will grip U.S. in the coming decades.” Yet similar stories have been appearing for decades and the taps continue to flow. John Fleck argues that the talk of impending doom is not only untrue, but dangerous. When people get scared, they fight for the last drop of water; but when they actually have less, they use less. Having covered environmental issues in the West for a quarter century, Fleck would be the last writer to discount the serious problems posed by a dwindling Colorado River. But in that time, Fleck has also seen people in the Colorado River Basin come together, conserve, and share the water that is available. Western communities, whether farmers and city-dwellers or US environmentalists and Mexican water managers, have a promising record of cooperation, a record often obscured by the crisis narrative. In this fresh take on western water, Fleck brings to light the true history of collaboration and examines the bonds currently being forged to solve the Basin’s most dire threats. Rather than perpetuate the myth “Whiskey's for drinkin', water's for fightin' over," Fleck urges readers to embrace a new, more optimistic narrative—a future where the Colorado continues to flow.

A Brief History of Time


Shaindel Beers - 2008
    These poems, many of them award-winning, span a wide range of styles-from plainsong free verse to sestinas to nearly epic works. The characters/speakers in Beers' poems range from the rural working class to mythological characters. These poems look at the world with an honest, unflinching eye. She is one of the up-and-coming poets from Generation X we will be hearing a great deal from in the future.

Jackself


Jacob Polley - 2016
    In one of the most original books of poetry to appear in the last decade, Jackself spins a kind of 'fictionalized autobiography' through nursery rhymes, riddles and cautionary tales, and through the many 'Jacks' of our folktale, legend, phrase and fable - everyman Jacks and no one Jacks, Jackdaw, Jack-O-Lantern, Jack Sprat, Cheapjack and Jack Frost. At once playful and terrifying, lyric and narratively compelling, Jackself is an unforgettable exploration of an innocence and childhood lost in the darker corners of Reiver country and of English folklore, and once more shows Polley as one of the most remarkable imaginations at work in poetry today.

Fiber


Rick Bass - 1998
    It is a story about last chances, about crafting solutions from the wreckage of a devastated place, and about the high cost, emotionally and physically, of hope in the presence of despair. Writing from the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, the wildest valley in the Lower 48, Rick Bass portrays the plight of the artist deeply embedded in a place he loves. The author asks how a writer survives amidst the destruction of the natural world around him, if, like Bass, the writer must struggle passionately to protect a place like the Yaak from devastation. As a work of fiction, "Fiber" elegantly follows the life of the narrator as he evolves from the geologist who takes, to the artist who gives, to the activist who fights, and finally to the troubling and magical 'log fairy.'

Still Life With Insects


Brian Kiteley - 1989
    In this brief, gloriously bold novel, Brian Kiteley lays bare the unquiet soul of an amateur entomologist, giving voice to our own deepest intimations of immortality.

Darwin: A Life in Poems


Ruth Padel - 2009
    His five-year voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, when he was in his twenties, changed his life. Afterward, he began publishing his findings and working privately on groundbreaking theories about the development of animal species, including human beings, and he made a nervous proposal to his cousin Emma.Padel’s poems sparkle with nuance and feeling as she shows us the marriage that ensued, and the rich, creative atmosphere the Darwins provided for their ten children. Charles and Emma were happy in each other, but both were painfully aware of the gulf between her deep Christian faith and his increasing religious doubt. The death of three of their children accentuated this gulf. For Darwin, death and extinction were nature’s way of developing new species: the survival of the fittest; for Emma, death was a prelude to the afterlife.These marvelous poems—enriched by helpful marginal notes and by Padel’s ability to move among multiple viewpoints, always keeping Darwin at the center—bring to life the great scientist as well as the private man and tender father. This is a biography in rare form, with an unquantifiable depth of family intimacy and warmth.

Night Rebels Motorcycle Club Series (Books 1 - 4): Night Rebels MC Romance Box Set


Chiah Wilder - 2019
     Four full-length, heart-pounding MC romances filled with suspense, explosive chemistry, and hot bikers who will take you on a fast and steamy ride. Book One: STEEL Steel is the fierce and feared President of the Night Rebels MC, one of the most notorious outlaw clubs in Colorado. With his tatted muscular body, ebony hair, and green eyes, he is a magnet to women. Never turning away a sexy body, he indulges in casual sex, but nothing more. Until he meets his daughter’s feisty social worker, Breanna. Their attraction is intense. Steel has his hands full when danger comes knocking at his door. Time is running out as a dark force threatens to destroy his family and Breanna—the woman whom he has vowed to make his own. Book Two: MUERTO Muerto, six feet of muscles and tats, is an officer in the Night Rebels MC. Women clamor to him, but he’s never found a woman who stirs something deep inside him. Until Raven comes into the club’s pool hall, hustles the customers, and then gives him some attitude. Her boldness and sassiness pique his interest, and her smoky gray eyes pull him right in. Raven is drawn to the handsome biker, but she’s sure he’s nothing but a heartbreaker. Slowly she lets her guard down and allows herself to trust him. But unknown to her, someone is lurking in the darkness watching her ... waiting to strike. Will Muerto be able to save her in time? Book Three: DIABLO Diablo, Sergeant-At-Arms of the Night Rebels MC, doesn’t chase women the way his fellow brothers do. Even though women flock to him, he pushes them away. His past haunts him and rage burns deep inside him. But when he sees Fallon—his employer’s daughter—her hazel eyes reflect sadness and regret, and he’s drawn to the loneliness that fills her up. He knows he should stay away from her but he can’t. Fallon doesn’t trust men, but when her eyes lock with Diablo’s, she sees kindness behind his rough and gruff exterior. Just when Fallon and Diablo learn to trust each other, shadows from years ago emerge from the darkness, turning their world upside down. Book Four: GOLDIE Goldie, Road Captain of the Night Rebels MC, loves women and women love him. He’s a simple man who only needs his Harley, whiskey, and women—in that order. But when his best friend's little sister stumbles into his tattoo shop, wanting an ink job on her sexy bottom, his easy life becomes complicated. Hailey can’t believe what a hunk her brother’s best friend turned out to be all these years later. She’s always had a crush on him, and now they are both all grown up. Goldie appreciates that Hailey has filled out so nicely in all the right places, and he knows he should stay away from her. She’s off limits and he should forget all about her. The problem is that he can’t Hailey or her sweet tattoo out of his mind. Forbidden love never tasted so sweet. Now all they have to do is make sure no one finds out and all will be good. Yeah … right. Each of the books in the Insurgents MC Romance Series are standalone romance novels. The books contain violence, sexual assault (not graphic), strong language, and steamy/graphic sexual scenes. They describe the life and actions of an outlaw motorcycle club. HEA. No cliffhangers.

Epitaph For A Desert Anarchist: The Life And Legacy Of Edward Abbey


James Bishop Jr. - 1994
    Through Abbey's own writings and personal papers, as well as interviews with friends and acquaintances, Bishop gives us a penetrating, compelling, no-holds-barred view of tile life and accomplishments of this controversial figure.

The Wild Within


Paul Rezendes - 1998
    Exploring nature as a tool for learning about the spiritual self, this title offers a narrative of the author's wilderness adventures, and provides exercises for turning off the conscious mind and achieving enlightenment.

52 laws of love


Himanshu Goel - 2019
    52 laws of love by Himanshu Goel (author of A Rational Boy in Love) is a journey of love in 52 poems through all its aspects, from the honeymoon, to the sacrifices, to the bitter end and forever after.

Penguin's Poems for Life


Laura Barber - 2007
    Beginning with babies, the book is divided into sections on childhood, growing up, making a living and making love, family life, getting older, and approaching death, ending with poems of mourning and commemoration.Ranging from Chaucer to Carol Ann Duffy, via Shakespeare, Keats, and Lemn Sissay, this book offers something for each of those moments in life, whether falling in love, finding your first grey hair or saying your final goodbyes, when only a poem will do.

The Earth Speaks


Steve Van Matre - 1983
    Second printing, 1984, The Institute For Earth Education, IL, Paperback, Book Condition: UsedVeryGood, 012164 1B

I Praise My Destroyer: Poems


Diane Ackerman - 1998
    Ackerman muses on the confines of therapy sessions, where she intersects "twice a week/in a painstaking hide-and-seek/making do with half-light, half-speak"; relishes the succulent pleasure of eating an apricot, with its "gush of taboo sweetness"; and imagines the "unupholstered voice, a life in outline" in her stunning elegy to C. S. Lewis. Whimsical, organic, and wise, the poems in I Praise My Destroyer affirm Ackerman's place as one of the most enchanting poets writing today.

Anatomy


Karina Vigil - 2020
    This small collection of poems explores how time influences loving another, loving yourself and loving the life you own. This quick but fulfilling read, explores these topics in three sections: the head, the heart and the lungs.