The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating | 
pickThis was without a doubt one of the most interesting books I've read. Part of my #nonfiction reading challenge this year this is going to be one of my favorites of the year. So much detailed information! This was really a page turner.
pickA sweet meditation on life and taking it slow. The author has a debilitating illness that keeps her bedridden. She begins watching a snail in a potted plant to pass the time. The author and the reader both learn a lot about snails.
At one pont she mentions The Quest for Blank Claveringi by Patricia Highsmith. That story of giant man eating snails traumatized me as a child.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was sweet. An author‘s meditation on observing the life of a snail brought to her in a flower pot as she convalesced from mysterious illness that left her bedridden for months on end.
With all its awards, I guess I shouldn‘t be surprised that this was sweet, heartbreaking, hopeful. (Did you know snails have almost 3,000 teeth? I had no idea they had teeth at all…) it reminds me of the later The Soul of an Octopus. Or I guess it should be the other way around except I read that one first. Interesting and timely thoughts on illness, disability, and humanity.
1. Yes. 'Unheimlich' = Uncanny by Ursula Isbel.
An omnibus of three YA supernatural thrillers sprinkled with a tad of romance. One of my fave books. I still reread it every now and then.
2. Absolutely! I'm definitely guilty of judging books by their covers. A cover can put me off of books I'd normally be interested in and make me choose a book that is out of my comfort zone.
3. Tagged. I have never read it, but the synopsis sounds like nature.
This beautiful snail on my #audiorun yesterday made me think of this gorgeous little book. If you love nature and/or resonate with the experience of being home/bed bound by chronic illness and/or disability, this is a must-read. ❤️
This book is exquisite! Lunch break reading at the local BN.
#day6 #rest #forevernovember
What is the meaning of life when the Doing is stripped away, and all you have left to do is whatever you can do from a place of rest? Is there still value? Yes, those of us who have been bedridden with #chronicillness would say. ❤️ I‘m adding this to my #TBR.
pickMight sound odd to call a book about a snail moving & lovely, but I promise it was! As someone w/chronic physical & mental disabilities (tho not nearly as physically debilitating as the author‘s) I connected w/this deeply. What she says about illness & being homebound rang so true. And honestly—learning about snails was fascinating, no snark! Far more interesting & amazing than I ever knew. Def recommend if it‘s at all intriguing to you. 4/5 ⭐️
From the severe onset of my illness & thru its innumerable relapses, my place in the world has been documented more by my absence then my presence...it wasn‘t that I had truly vanished...But being homebound in the human world is a sort of vanishing. When encountering acquaintances from the past, I sometimes see a look of astonishment cross their face, as if they think they are seeing my ghost...At times even I wonder if a ghost is what I‘ve become
Darwin‘s dispersal theories turned out to be right: a snail might attach itself to a bird, settling into the plumage as a stowaway on a long migratory flight. For aerial travel closer to home, a tiny snail has been known to catch a ride on the leg of a bee or may adhere to materials picked up by an avian nest maker.
[Please someone draw a bee with a teeny snail stuck to its leg 🐝🐌😍]
Those of us with illnesses are the holders of the silent fears of those with good health.
[Yup. And it‘s not a nice feeling.]
Each evening the snail awoke, and with astonishing poise, it moved gracefully to the rim of the pot and peered over, surveying, once again, the strange country that lay head. Pondering its circumstance with a regal air, as if from the turret of a castle, it waved its tentacles first this way and then that, as though responding to a distant melody.
[Okay yeah now I really want a pet snail.]
Given the ease with which health infuses life with meaning and purpose, it is shocking how swiftly illness steals away those certainties. It was all I could do to get through each moment, and each moment felt like an endless hour, yet days slipped silently past.
From the synopsis and reviews, of course there‘s more to this little book than just snail stuff.......but TBH I‘m also weirdly interested to read the snail stuff! 🐌🐌🐌 #nowreading
This autobiographical nature memoir is amazing. Read this a while ago and instantly fell in love. It‘s about the author watching a snail in a terrarium while she is bedridden due to illness. Watching the snail helped her to cope with her own illness, in doing so she learned about it and became aware of the richness of its existence.
#TheSoundofaWildSnailEating #ElisabethTovaBailey #autobiography #nature #memoir #snails
pickWhile suffering from a serious illness Bailey‘s world shrinks to the one room from which she recuperates. A friend brings her a wild snail on impulse along with some violets and at first she doesn‘t know what to make of her new roommate. As time goes on she realizes that the snail is the perfect companion for her days as she becomes absorbed in observing her new friend. Quiet and thoughtful, I enjoyed this book.
pickWhile the author is bedbound with a mysterious illness, she shares her small life with a wild snail. Through the course of the year she observes it closely, and later on incorporates research from translated poetry, early and contemporary science.
It's very much about dealing with circumstances that make life small, the beauty of small things, and so much more about snails than you ever knew you needed (but trust me, snails are amazing!)
Really thankful that I bumped into this article on BookRiot today 🥰🥰🥰 As a teenager/college student I spent so much time searching for books by and about people living with non-terminal, non-mental illness/pain/disability, with essentially no success. It was really hard not to be able to find my experience in books, and I'm so thankful that this list exists now! Added all 5 to my TBR, including the tagged!
Http://bit.ly/2VWHVYg
@kdwinchester
so-soAll you ever wanted to know about snails. Actually more than that but I wasn‘t feeling it.
I haven‘t left yet, but vacation starts NOW. Getting into a slower pace with this sweet read 🐌
A memoir about a woman who is bedridden by a mysterious illness, and becomes enchanted with a snail. Quite educational, it reminded me somewhat of Lab Girl.
It's time to start my second book for #LMPBC !!!
Thanks @monalyisha for the tasty treats, the Sour Patch bunnies are so yummy.
@Elma I hope my book arrived today and that the chocolates survived the trip. Let me know, and I'll have to think of another method of getting them to you.
#LMPBCnC @TheLibrarian
pickSmall. Fascinating. Contemplative.
A close friend of mine is going through a divorce. He recently purchased a modest, apartment-sized aquarium & has been painstakingly seeing to all of the tiny creatures under his care (including a snail named Snailizabeth), & their environs. He makes videos, which I admit, strike me as fairly boring. But it‘s the intricate, delicate thing sustaining him. I think I may buy him this book. It‘s a quiet treasure.
Elizabeth Tova Bailey includes these few lines from a poem about a snail by William Cowper. The last little bit is #goals:
“Well satisfied to be his own whole Treasure.”
Imagine having that kind of confidence, self-worth, & peace?
Look to the snail (apparently). 🐌
#LMPBC #LMPBCnC
This is just to say that I‘m about halfway through my first #LMPBC book.
I‘m planning to finish it up this weekend & send it, via “snail mail” (😅🙄🐌), along its merry way.
I haven‘t yet acquired the chocolate accompaniment, though. Fear not. It will be acquired. It will be tasty. It‘s possible it may be bought in duplicate. #nowillpower 🍫🤤
#LMPBCnC
I totally bought this book because of the cover and it‘s size but I was pleasantly surprised that it was such a heartwarming memoir. Elisabeth is bed ridden for months and the snail accidentally ends up in her bedroom. She forms a bond with the little creature and it keeps her company while teaching her life lessons.
#sleepingmydayaway #septemberdanes
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really, really enjoyed this book. It‘s a very different story about a woman diagnosed with a debilitating illness that renders her unable to stray too far from bed and she acquires a pet snail from a visiting friend. Throughout her illness she observes the snail and it becomes a new focus for her. Much of it is composed of research she found later on as she improved, and her observations make it a pleasant, relaxing read.
Very frequently I wish I could do the same! 😂 In all seriousness, I‘m learning a lot about how complex and interesting a gastropod can be! 🐌 #saturdayreads #introvertdreams
This book is such a relaxing read, you really can learn a lot from a snail!
This is the third time I've encountered a mention of the Wabanaki in a book I've been reading recently.
First The Witches, Salem 1692, then Ghostland. I love when this happens.
pickI really enjoy nature writing, especially when it offers a new perspective and this one is lovely. Though it is also a memoir, it doesn‘t suffer from “pity pot” woes, isn‘t long winded, or self important. It is a slim book I read today (mostly in the movie theater with the kids.) Highly recommend if you enjoy natural science and nature observations. 5 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌
pickWhat an absolutely lovely book! I read the original essay many years ago then promptly forgot about it until @Tamra & @Well-ReadNeck noted the Amazon sale that may still be current (I‘m buying a physical copy in any case). A nuanced, well considered meditation on illness, nature, the surprisingly enigmatic and complex snail and what gives value to our lives, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is highly recommend to anyone actually. Just a delight.
Yep, I am going to need the real thing....(the delicate pencil and ink drawings are less clear than ideal on an eReader).
I think I‘m going to need a physical copy of this book, it‘s just a glory of the natural world. ♥️♥️♥️
Me: *puts down The Wicked Deep (at some minutes past midnight), still feels very virtuous. Decides to just have a look at The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating before bed because, happy dance, I finally have it.*
Dawn Prayer just sounded. 🤦🏻♀️
Oops. Even Puff is not amused.
#catsofLitsy
With thanks to @Tamra (and @Well-ReadNeck for telling her!) for the FYI, I‘ve know for 3min and already bought mine!!! 😊😊😊 Run to Amazon people, run!! If the book is as good as the original article, this will be a quaint, lovely, feel good read with breathtaking nature and poignant insights into humanity... If it‘s like the original article that is. Also, do me a solid and just pretend that eBooks don‘t really count in a book buying ban...
Thanks to @Well-ReadNeck for the heads-up on Kindle Deals because I found one I‘d been wanting to read for a long time!
pickThis is a slow-in-a-good-way, gentle, relaxing read. A gem. The author wrote about the activities a snail 🐌 that she kept and cared for at her bedside during a year of much longer lasting chronic illness. There are lovely pencil drawings of the snail dispersed throughout the margins. Also, some snail facts that she was able to research from bed. 4/5⭐️
My backdrop is my enormous Hosta that I‘ve had for over 30 years and the snails are wind-up toys
My choice for Read Harder‘s book on nature. Not starting it yet, but it‘s arrived—here it is!
