Mountain and wild literature

You might try Ivan Doig, esp. This House of Sky about growing up in Montana

I loved My Side Of The Mountain when I was younger

Heidi is very evocative of the mountains, if you want Children's Lit.

Anything by Craig Childs. Big time recommend. Mostly has to do with South West & desert/canyon spaces, titles include SOUL OF NOWHERE and THE WAY OUT. Actually, email me your mailing address and I'll see what I can do about sending you a couple.

I also recommend Jessica Maxwell's I Don't Know Why I Swallowed the Fly: My Fly-Fishing Rookie Season and Femme D'Adventure: Travel Tales from Inner Montana to Outer Mongolia. Inspirational outdoorsy-ness.

I somewhat enjoyed Pan by Knut Hamsun. Think of it as Walden with more sex and freaking out.

I was supposed to read Pan at university, in Scandinavian Cultural History class. I don't think I actually bothered to open it, but I've still got my copy somewhere.

I suppose this is the perfect opening fo me to mention the book I wrote last winter and self-published, entitled Escape On Foot: A Tale of Fugitive Pleasure. It takes place within a wilderness area. However, I still have not fullfilled my plan to post a chunk of it on the web for free perusal.

In any event, I proclim this post to be the official start of my Dance of the Seven Veils, wherein I remove the first veil. [cue the music]

As of now, visitors to this web site can not only laugh scornfully at the idea of purchasing a copy for US$17.95, but also 1) learn my real name, and 2) view a small fuzzy picture of me that, while it does not actually reveal my features, tantalizingly hints at them to such a degree as to induce eyestrain among the morbidly curious.

As for reviews: I can honestly state that a number of my friends and relatives have shamelessly claimed to have enjoyed it. More impressively, ILB's own Michael White said several nice things about it, without any bribes being passed in his direction. (Of course, he did not know his name would be mentioned in this context when he said them, so I expect to be hearing from his lawyer shortly.)

Stay tuned to ILB/ILE for the next veil to drop, when many, many words shall be laid bare, free gratis, for you all to ogle at will.

Haaa, all your suggestions are already widening my sight and expanding my horizon, I can already feel a green gentle wind cooling down my urban exhausted self.
Please keep sending more!

Laurel, thanks for your offer, you can use this ilxor email address any time.

Aimless, I'm proud to have given you the chance for this coming out, I DO WANT to read the book, always loved elks. Do you think they may ship it all the way to Italy?

No idea what it's like, but I'm about to start reading "the silver darlings" by Neil Gunn, which sounds like it might fit the bill.

Thanks, misshajim. According to Cafepress, international shipping is available for US$7 for the first copy. Strange to say, some philanthropist in Edinburgh has already purchased a copy. God bless the Euro.

Gasp!

If you haven't already read it, Faulkner's Go Down, Moses!, especially "The Bear." Also, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain.

I'm currently reading 'the beckoning silence' by joe simpson. It's about climbing the Eiger, gives a real sense of what it's like to be there.

I would start with:

Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Barry Lopez, Desert Notes/River Notes

this page and this page have frequently duplicative, lengthy lists of selections, many of which are worthwhile

Remember "Mrs. Mike?" The Alaskan Wilderness, Indians, etc. A True Story, by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. An oldie, but worth it.

(I hated Desert Solitaire, but I have only found one other person who didn't like it, and many zillions of people who think it is part of god's own library, so.) (Also Desert Solitaire is not fiction.)

Go Down Moses seconded -- what a fantastic book. The Silver Darlings is wild, certainly, but isn't it more maritime than mountainous? (I seem to remember, it's been a long time). If you can cope with Celticism and extreme sentimentality, Pharais by Fiona Macleod is even more wild.

Thanks everyone, while I wait to find (or order, as soon as my credit card gets "refilled" next month) some of the many titles you have suggested, I have started reading Seven years in Tibet which was easy to find probably because of the film (which I haven't seen).
The author, Heinrich Harrer, was a famous skiier and mountain climber in 1939, then he was imprisoned in India and the book tells the story of his escape to and inside Tibet. He's no good writer, but the feeling of wilderness and adventure is there and the book is a very pleasant read.

Oh, I love MRS MIKE! I think I have my mother's childhood copy and I've read and re-read it over the years.

I love MRS MIKE too! Glad someone else does as well!

Oh, and there is A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC, by Aldo Leopold. Amazon says it is "a classic in nature writing, widly cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published." It's a collection of essays written in a shack on the edge of the Wisconsin River. And if you haven't read it, PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK by Annie Dillard gets my vote as the best ever! She got a Pulitzer Prize for this one.

PS OK, Aimless, I bought a copy of your book! It looks great! When I am finished with it, I will recommend it to my son, who lives in Oregon and loves to camp and hike. (geez. you can purchace a copy of MY book on Amazon.com for 4 or 5 bucks. What every writer loves to see--except for finding it on the sale table at the library for 50 cents.)

Thanks many times over.

The base price on a 246 page, perfect bound book at CafePress.com is a few cents under $14.50. I suppose I could lower the price some, but I'm not sure that a $15.95 item is going to whoosh off the shelves much faster than a $17.95 one will. Especially when the buyer must toss in at least another $4.00 shipping on top of the purchase price. So, I guess the real comparison is whether a buyer will pony up $20 willingly enough, but will suddenly balk at $22.

The economics are shite no matter how I slice them. OTOH, the beauty of using CafePress is that I have no carrying costs at all, because of print-on-demand. If I were to try to lower the per-copy price by pre-printing a few hundred copies, I'd be risking quite a bit more.

Anyway, I much appreciate the vote of confidence. When you've read it, please come back to ILB and enthuse... or not, as your conscience dictates.

I got your book in the mail today. Looks good! They did a good job for you.

I did the entire book design. I'm rather proud of that.

You should be! Good luck with the sales!