Söndags-smakbit # 39

Bloggen Flykten från verkligheten ger oss varannan söndag chansen att publicera ett litet smakprov ur en bok vi läser.

De senaste veckorna har jag tillbringat fantastiskt spännande tid tillsammans med Caroline van Hemert när jag läst hennes bok The Sun is a Compass
Titeln är länkad till förlaget där du kan läsa mer om boken.

“The author is a biologist, writer and adventurer who set off on a 4.000 mile wilderness journey with her husband from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan Arctic, traveling by rowboat, ski, foot, raft and canoe.
A unique blend of science, adventure and personal narrative, the book explores the bounds of the physical body and the tenousness of life in the company of creatures whose daily survival is nothing short of miraculous. It is a journey through the heart, the mind, and some of the wildest places left in North America.”

Smakbit sid. 78

“The restlessness I felt before we left Anchorage has been replaced by a growing dread. Unlike the godwits and gulls that inspired me as I sat in my office cubicle, I have no wings, no magic carpet that will carry me north. Neither my body nor my mind feels ready, and I´m rowing a boat that refuses to obey my commands.”

sid. 130

“Minutes later, a pebble whizzes past my head. I look up to see a mountain goat high above us as he steps onto the precipitous edge of a waterfall. It pauses for a moment on a tiny vertical patch of moss and bends his head for a drink. His horns parallel the ground as he sips from a rivulet that plummets several hundred feet to the glacier below. The goat is all grace. The mountains are his home. We are only visitors here, clumsily finding our way. But it is also a place of magic. As I walk, I whisper a quiet thank-you to the goat.”