Hannah Coulter

"This is the story of my life, that while I lived it weighed upon me and pressed against me and filled all my senses to overflowing and now is like a dream dreamed. So close to the end now, what do I look forward to? "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Some morning, I pray, I'll have the good happiness of "the man who woke up dead," who Burley Coulter used to tell about.

This is my story, my giving of thanks."
from Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

If I ever write an autobiography, I will start it with that paragraph.

I devoured Hannah Coulter this week. And yet, as voraciously as I read through it, I didn't want it to end. When it ended, my heart was broken and yet, I wanted to do it all over again. Hannah Coulter is that kind of book. I am borrowing it from the library, and I have to procure my own copy before this one is due, in order to transfer the dog-eared pages marking passages I adore (S- think Shadow of the Almighty :-) to some sort of permanence.

Hannah Coulter is that kind of book.