Jim Minick

I've been excited to read this book since its release, especially since I grew up in the community where the story takes place; my father worked summers at the same Blue Mountain Esso/Exxon station during the childhood; my mother worked at that Howard Johnson's when she was a young adult - and my mother's farming family boarded several of the workers who built the PA Turnpike near Blue Mountain. I also had the privilege of growing up with author Jim Minick and still consider him a friend (as well as relative). Jim has written vividly and beautifully of the Hopewell landscape and peoplescape. I was truly mesmerized by his rendering of these hearty and beautiful farming families. His storytelling kept me engrossed long past my usual bedtime; I was up again early the next morning to finish. Rarely have I started a book and stopped my life to finish it within 24 hours. Granted, I was invested in the location and the people since they were so familiar, but this is a book for anyone who cares about heritage, family, the power of love, and how faith and doubt are sides of the same coin. After the final page of this highly satisfying read, the only sadness I felt was that I never had the guts growing up to squeeze through the fence and traverse 4 lanes of highway to get some ice cream at HoJo's.… (més)

This is another book I had some trouble settling in to, but once I did, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Finding a Clear Path is a collection of short nature essays, many closer to meditations than anything else. Some of the pieces on farming and food remind me a bit of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, though that book is quite different in style. A pleasant read, akin to a short walk through the woods in words. Minick is also a graduate of my undergrad college (though he graduated some seventeen years before me, so our paths never crossed), and that's cool.… (més)