Bird Songs of the Mesozoic: A Day Hiker's Guide to the Nearby Wild (The World As Home)
*Starred Review*   Poet, professor, and author Hopes turns his gaze toward the landscape of Asheville, North Carolina, and points farther afield. Knowledgeable, gifted with curiosity and a superb talent, the author writes "about the portion of nature I see around me, the dragonflies that buzz into my studio, the opossum cornered in the garage, the cats asleep on the desk." Hopes knows how to find the magical in the quotidian: he sings to listless rhinoceroses at the Mississippi zoo and catches the fringes of hurricane Ivan in the middle of a bank parking lot. On another day, a routine hike leads to the exhilaration of running behind a catamount up a dark mountain. Throughout, he provides history and sublime detail (thoughts about a resident groundhog outside the author's studio lead to musings on the solstice, national identity, and the grief of mammals). One can open any page and find a gem: "Rolling thunder before dawn; the moon behind the bunched clouds is trembling." This collection of wondrous and near-perfect essays should bring Hopes a wider audience.Rebecca MakselCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved