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The Living Mountain
The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland | Nan Shepherd
19 posts | 12 read | 20 to read
The Living Mountain is a lyrical testament in praise of the Cairngorms. It is a work deeply rooted in Nan Shepherds knowledge of the natural world, and a poetic and philosophical meditation on our longing for high and holy places. Drawing on different perspectives of the mountain environment, Shepherd makes the familiar strange and the strange awe-inspiring. Her sensitivity and powers of observation put her into the front rank of nature writing.
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Teresereading
Living Mountain | Nan Shepherd
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all_4_kb How are they??? 2y
Eggs Well done 👍🏼 2y
Teresereading @kbibliophilific have only read the Llewellyn, she is one if my favourite Oz writers 2y
18 likes1 stack add4 comments
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AllDebooks
Pickpick

I've just finished listening to the beautiful narration by Tilda Swinton. The prose is just exquisite, helping you stand alongside Nan Shepherd as she explores the Cairngorms over her lifetime. As a bonus there's also an hour long summary of Nan Sheperds legacy and influence by Robert Macfarlane

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charl08
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....Azoides, that clusters like soft sunshine in their lower reaches, cannot live apart from the mountain.

charl08 Photo via wikipedia 2y
DrexEdit wow! beautiful! 2y
Mitch I love this book. Folio have a new edition out! 2y
charl08 @DrexEdit @Mitch I'm glad I read it, such beautiful imagery. 2y
Mitch @charl08 I spent a week in stone Bothy a few years ago to walk her mountains and take photographs. It was a beautiful experience 2y
47 likes1 stack add5 comments
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charl08
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Original photo: Ali Elliot, Unsplash.

I watched, from the shoulder of Morrone, the Cairngorm mass eddy and sink and rise (as it seemed) like a tossed wreck on a yellow sea. Sky and the wrack of precipice and overhang were confounded together. Now a spar, now a mast, just recognisable as buttress or cornice, tossed for a moment in the boiling sea of cloud.

49 likes1 stack add
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charl08
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To 'make conversation, however, is ruinous, to speak may be superfluous. I have it from a gaunt elderly man, a 'lang tangle o' a chiel", with high cheek bones and hollow cheeks, product of a hill farm though himself a civil servant, that when he goes on the hill with chatterers, he could see them to an ill place'.

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LoriMcK
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Pickpick

Such a beautifully written book. I was transported to the Cairngorms in Scotland. Described as nature writing, it‘s so much more than that. It‘s more about just being.

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Mitch
Living Mountain | Nan Shepherd
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A few years ago I spent a week in a bothy in the Cairngorms just reading this book and channeling Shepherds relationship to them and and seasons. It was an incredible experience and this article took me right back there ♥️

https://www.elsewhere-journal.com/blog/2020/10/25/jenny-sturgeon-nan-shepherd-an...

Oryx I have this book on my shelf waiting to be read. 3y
55 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Moray_Reads
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Pickpick

If, like me, you find yourself struggling with a claustrophobic life at the moment I can't recommend this book strongly enough. So beautifully and vividly written yet calm and meditative, I found it profoundly soothing. If you're not lucky enough to be able to visit wild hills this must surely be the next best thing.

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quietlycuriouskate
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Pickpick

"Knowing another is endless. ... The thing to be known grows with the knowing."
What on Earth took me so long to get round to reading this gorgeous book?! Actually in recent weeks I've thought it might torment me, since the only wild available currently is my garden and the local duck pond. Well, she writes like a dream and I gulped each chapter down far too quickly. But I think this will prove to have been the first of several readings.

batsy Strangely enough, I also avoided it because it might make me heartsick for an idea of a beautiful, wild world that we don't quite have right now. But it's definitely on my TBR. 4y
46 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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BookishMe
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1) looking to completing the tagged book

2) there's usually a vague plan/TBR until I get distracted 😉😉

Thank you @greenreads and @EadieB for the tag

Consider yourself tagged if you want to play #Two4Tuesday
💟💟

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 😀 4y
sheshedbooks 😄 Thanks! Enjoy the tagged book! Looking forward to your review. 4y
BookishMe @greenreads thanks! 💗💗 4y
34 likes4 comments
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quietlycuriouskate
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For those on Twitter, Robert Macfarlane is hosting a readalong of The Living Mountain. I've been meaning to read it for ages!

BookishMe I plan to look through every reply to the first discussion. The book is mesmerising to say the least 4y
28 likes1 comment
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BookishMe
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Mini #libraryhaul after work yesterday. It's been busier than usual this past week (grateful for that) and I badly needed the zen of my sanctuary.
Picked up the tagged book for #CoReadingVirus on Twitter 😊😊

The Goethe classic has been on my radar and decided to borrow that as well... Then a pleasant coincidence was in store on my way out of the library ;D (next post ;))

Emilymdxn I‘ve been meaning to read the sorrows of young werther forever! I hope you like it 4y
BookishMe @Emilymdxn thanks! I hope so too ;D 4y
49 likes2 comments
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BookishMe
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Robert Macfarlane has announced the title for the first global Twitter Reading Group 😃☺️😀
Finding out that the library has this masterpiece available starts off my day on a cheerful note! Check out his thread on
#CoReadingVirus
https://twitter.com/RobGMacfarlane/status/1240007549853843458?s=19

#AllinThisTogether #KeepLitsyPositive

BookishMe @SquidgetsRoom have you read any of Macfarlane's books? I am about to start my day before heading off to work in few hours. Have a restful evening!! 4y
Ms.Story This sounds perfect!!! 4y
BookishMe @Ms.Story I know right! So thrilled books are providing the ultimate comfort all over 4y
44 likes3 comments
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GlassAsDiamonds
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How do you know you grew up in Australia? The phrase “She pokes fingers down mouse holes...” makes a portion of your brain screech “Nooooo...funnel web!!!!” 🤦🏻‍♀️😂🤦🏻‍♀️

At the hair dresser. Sometimes, life.... 😶. India was polluted. We got sick. Coughing in Singapore at the moment sends people into a panic so we stayed home until getting the news that a very close friend had died suddenly so I‘m heading unexpectedly home. Chaos. Sad chaos.

Megabooks I‘m so sorry. 💕 4y
julesG I'm so sorry. 4y
28 likes1 stack add2 comments
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nosferatu
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Pickpick

A pleasant read that left me craving something more plot-heavy.

StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Welcome to Litsy 📚🤓 6y
8 likes1 comment
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Mitch
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My view of the mountains has disappeared under snow clouds. Postponing my long walk for a little! Starting a new book huddled next to the stove instead ! Ps... who knew using an axe to chop wood was so hard! I‘ve been trying for ages and have a small pile of wood shards to show for it😩

CoffeeK8 Beautiful photo! 6y
CoffeeCatsBooks So beautiful! ❄️ 6y
LauraBeth This looks lovely 6y
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Tamra I‘m surprised you have WiFi! You are on your adventure, correct? (edited) 6y
Mitch No WiFi @Tamra but if I walk about a mile and smile at the sky in a certain direction I can get a mobile phone signal (just!) 6y
Tamra @Mitch 👍🏾👌🏾 6y
106 likes6 comments
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Mitch
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Nan Shepherd wrote Living Mountain, during WWII. It wouldn‘t be until 30 years later that it was actually published. It captures her lifetime love of The Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland, their magnificence, beauty and soul. Inspired by the book, I‘m spending this week in those mountains- off grid ( no heat, light or water and it‘s -10!) - staying in a small Bothy and walking the mountain. #findingquietnessinnature

Tanisha_A Woah! 😮 6y
Tanisha_A Commendable! 👏 6y
AmyG It should be beautiful. Bring good books! (edited) 6y
See All 11 Comments
Cathythoughts Beautiful ❄️❄️💕💕 6y
Mitch Yeah - my one carry on bag was packed with just thermals and books @AmyG ! 6y
Tamra Envious! 6y
Mitch You might not be @Tamra when you think about how I‘m washing in the morning - plastic bag of water hung up outside in the snow! 🤣 Or I might just skip that !! 6y
julesG You do so many awesome things. 6y
Tamra @Mitch skip! 😁 6y
Zelma Wow, beautiful. And that is some commitment! 👏 6y
LeahBergen Lucky you! ❤️ 6y
79 likes1 stack add11 comments
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quietlycuriouskate
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#bookmail
My Kathleen Jamie book has returned from its visit to @RachelO and has brought a friend along! Thank you, Rachel; this one has been on my wishlist for ages. The chapter devoted to it in Robert Macfarlane's Landmarks has made me want to read it all the more. 😘
#Littensarethebest

rockpools ☺️Glad they arrived safely! 6y
SusanInTiburon Love all three 📚! 6y
53 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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RedLeaves
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Poetic, philosophical meditation on our longing for high and holy places. Perfect book for folk like me with a love of literature and the outdoors. Also, look how golden and shiny! 😍