Nature Notes for 1906

By: Vanessa Benjamin

Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin

Exactly 100 years ago, a sensitive woman naturalist, nature lover, and accomplished artist began to chronicle all that she encountered while walking and cycling around the countryside of her native England and neighboring Scotland.

Besides noting the flora and fauna, she included poems and quaint folk sayings, saints' days, mottoes, and tidbits of history. Follow along with her month by month as she chronicles the summer thunderstorms and the first hard frost, notes Lady Day and Candlemas Day, watches birds nesting and raising their young, and quotes Shakespeare's praise of the fickleness of April and Browning's description of early November hours.

Known in its facsimile reproduction as The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, Edith Holden's Nature Notes of 1906 will take the listener back in time 100 years to when a young woman had the leisure time to deeply explore every nook of her countryside, sweetly celebrating the progress of the seasons on every page of her diary.

©1936 George R. Stewart (P)1996 Blackstone Audiobooks

A Natural History Tapestry Woven with Poems Et All

Where does Nature Notes for 1906 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is my favorite nature treatise next to Annie Dillard's Pilgrim At Tinker Creek. It is soothing and delightful.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Nature Notes for 1906?

Her expressions when discovering things are great. She includes well thought applicable poems with the seasons.

Which scene was your favorite?

Without giving anything away it is really one of my favorite books.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Delight.