The Land of Little Rain by Mary Hunter Austin
Non-Fiction suggested by Shirley
A series of short essays written >100 years ago about California’s southeastern Sierra mountains and deserts and some of their most interesting characters.
From Shirley – I very much am liking “The Land of Little Rain” by Mary Austin. Different versions of it are available, one with photographs. It’s a series of short essays about the California landscape and characters from the eastern Sierras and the deserts. Lots of interesting characters. The original was written over 100 years ago. I like it.
From Amazon – “Between the high Sierras south from Yosemite — east and south over a very great assemblage of broken ranges beyond Death Valley, and on illimitably into the Mojave Desert” is the territory that Mary Austin calls the Land of Little Rain. In this classic collection of meditations on the wonders of this region, Austin generously shares “such news of the land, of its trails and what is astir in them, as one lover of it can give to another.” Her vivid writings capture the landscape — from burnt hills to sun-baked mesas–as well as the rich variety of plant and animal life, and the few human beings who inhabit the land, including cattlemen, miners, and Paiute Indians.