From Booklist
Season by season, Kooser reflects upon life in, around, and beyond his home nestled in the rolling hills of eastern Nebraska, an area he slyly calls the "Bohemian alps," then honors the German and Czech immigrants who originally settled the area by liberally scattering their inspirational homilies throughout his essays. His are sweet little observations, nothing monumental or earth-shattering, just the everyday kind of occurrences we've all been privy to: the satisfaction that comes from cleaning the garage, the possibilities that can occur when answering a wrong number. An artist and poet, Kooser takes delight in the ordinary treasures found in one's own backyard: "If you can awaken inside the familiar and discover it new," he says, "you need never leave home." Kooser is full of other such gentle, homespun wisdom: what it takes to be a good neighbor, what it means to be a dutiful son. Through his eyes, we learn to see, then appreciate, the beauty and grace in everyday miracles, the comfort and sanctity in local wonders. Carol Haggas
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Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers
Poet Ted Kooser is the kind of neighbor you'll wish you had: no-nonsense, sentimental (without being maudlin), generous-hearted, good-humored, and so frugal (he inherited that trait from his dear, departed mother) that there won't be any "keeping up with the Joneses" to worry about!
His thoroughly delightful collection of reminiscences, collected in his first work of prose, is a faithful tribute to a place he loves and lives in: the "Bohemian Alps" of southeastern Nebraska. His observations betray a keen insight -- into people, places, and things -- and a simple way of approaching life that is, frankly, bewitching.
Reminiscent of Annie Dillard's Pulitzer Prize–winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Kooser takes readers in, really in, until they visually inhabit the territory that is his own. For Ted Kooser is the best kind of lover, one who is faithful to the beloved but eager to share the joy he's experienced with his friends. A cross between the best of Charles Kuralt, Dillard, and Garrison Keillor, Ted Kooser's memorable and poetic Local Wonders is a treasure not to be missed.
Fall 2002 Selection
ANNOTATION
Third-place winner, 2002 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, Nonfiction.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Ted Kooser describes with exquisite detail and humor the place he calls home in the rolling hills of southeastern Nebraska known as the Bohemian Alps. Nothing is too big or too small for his attention. Memories of his grandmother's cooking are juxtaposed with reflections about the old-fashioned outhouse on his property. In the end, what makes life meaningful for Kooser are the ways in which his neighbors care for one another and how an afternoon walking with an old dog, or baking a pie, or decorating the house for Christmas can summon memories of his Iowa childhood. This writer is a seer in the truest sense of the word, discovering the extraordinary within the ordinary, the deep beneath the shallow, the abiding wisdom in the pithy Bohemian proverbs that are woven into his essays.
Art & Photography
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